


Scars

by DarkHououmon



Category: Dino Squad
Genre: Blood, Depression, Dino Squad - Freeform, DinoSquad, Dinosaur - Freeform, Dinosaurs, F/M, Gore, Pain, Scars, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-15
Updated: 2012-08-25
Packaged: 2017-11-12 05:17:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 34
Words: 641,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHououmon/pseuds/DarkHououmon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?</p>
<p>What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Responsible

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old Dino Squad story, and my longest fanfic ever, at 1,000 pages. I wrote it not long after Dino Squad first aired and finished it..I think it was little over a year later. I worked on it every day, writing at least an additional 1,000 words. I apologize ahead of time that I did not edit this. I got lazy with it and never finished going through correcting spelling mistakes and such. So again, I apologize for that.

The landscape was tranquil. The air flowed through the hundreds of trees that lined along the mountain side. Birds soared overhead, cawing out their calls to each other as they disappeared over the horizon. The sky was a perfect light blue, and clear save for one or two tiny white clouds, puffy and streaky at the same time. The sun lay directly overhead. Its yellow rays bathed the land in a warm glow, and a couple lizards crawled out of their den to sunbathe.

Then, without a single warning, the tranquility was destroyed as a roar echoed in the jungle.

RAAAAAAAAAAOOORRRR!

A large red foot stomped onto a tree, kicking it up from its roots and flattening it on the ground. The earth shook as this massive behemoth walked out. The creature was a Tyrannosaurus Rex, nearly solid red save for the couple white stripes that decorated its back. The creature's eyes glowed an unnatural yellow-orange, and it opened its massive jaws, revealing several different sized teeth. The lizards nearby looked up and quickly dashed underground before the monster could stomp its foot on them.

From underneath the T-Rex came another figure. This creature was much smaller and swifter, sporting a green hide with purple stripes and a white underside. It looked up at the enormous animal and screeched at it and attempted to look intimidating. It wasn't working. The Tyrannosaurus Rex merely looked at this animal, a Velociraptor, as though it were a meal, licking its scaly lips with anticipation.

The Velociraptor immediately retreated, running towards the safety of the jungle where the vines and thickly packed trees would surely slow down this behemoth. However it had little effect as the T-Rex effectively and efficiently cleared the path by using its body to push the trees aside so it could fit through. It snapped its jaws at the Velociraptor, but only ended up getting a mouth full of plants.

Wrinkling its nose in disgust, it opened up its maw quickly, allowing the leaves to spill out as it desperately drooled to get the awful taste out. As it hung out its tongue and shook its head, the green Velociraptor had managed to get away, heading towards a rock face that formed a mountain. When the giant dinosaur realized that its prey had gotten away, it looked up and spotted the raptor, apparently cornered. Almost grinning, the animal lumbered towards the helpless raptor.

The green raptor just hissed, backing up against the wall, as the larger predator stomped towards it. It let out another roar, one of triumph, and it gave into a sprint, and lunged at the Velociraptor. At the last second, the small carnivore jumped up, and landed on the big animal's head. It made a mad dash up the Tyrannosaurus's back and jumped off the end of its tail, and landed on the ground nearby. The T-Rex, looking infuriated, turned its body around to have another go. The green Velociraptor simply pointed a clawed finger towards the animal, and the T-Rex turned its head, and its eyes widened.

An ocean of orange ooze was erupting from the mountain. It was actually a volcano! The earth began to rumble as the eruption continued, and the ooze, burning hot to the touch, swept towards the T-Rex. It tried to run, but the ooze spread too fast. The raptor seemed to smirk as the strange lava now encircled the T-Rex, making even jumping an unlikely solution. The red-skinned T-Rex looked left to right, desperately trying to find an exit. But it could find none.

Then just as things could not get any worse, a massive eruption ejected several orange lava-covered boulders in the air, crashing in the area near the two theropods. The Velociraptor squealed as it narrowly dodged getting hit. The Tyrannosaurus Rex was not so lucky. Its massive bulk made it helpless to escape two boulders that slam into it. One smashes into its back, a second hits it in the head. The animal falls to the ground, and, in just a couple seconds, disappears into a short of pixels. A score is displayed.

10,000 POINTS

“What?!” came a groan. “That wasn't fair! You totally tricked me!” The voice came from a seventeen year old boy named Buzz. He wore an orange sleeveless shirt and dark green jeans. His head was bald except for a green mohawk that spiked along the middle of his head. He set his controller down, and leaned back in his chair. He turned to face his opponent, who sat in a desk on the other side of the room, a laptop set in the middle of it.

“I'm sorry, Buzz.” The voice came, sounding feminine and elderly. She pulled the laptop cover down, turning off her computer. She appeared to be in her fifty's or sixty's. Her hair was gray and she appeared to be a bit overweight. She wore a green shirt with a purple vest and a long, dark purple shirt. She smiled sincerely at the young boy as she stood up from her desk, supporting herself with a wooden cane. “But it was important to teach you this lesson.”

The punk teen groaned and folded his arms. “What lesson? The 'Do Not Dive After A Raptor' lesson?” He was not pleased to losing to a girl, especially since he played the game longer than his mentor, Moynihan, has. He only agreed to play with her because he thought he could win. After all, the old woman probably never played video games before and would probably have been easy to defeat. However, he had misjudged her, and paid for it.

Ms. Moynihan chuckled light-heartedly. “No. Don't you remember? This was supposed to teach you that you should be more aware of your surroundings. If you pay too much attention to your opponent, they could take advantage of that, and lead you straight into a trap.” She pointed at the screen next to Buzz, which was now flashing Game Over in red letters. “Just like what happened in there.”

“That was just luck.” Buzz muttered, turning his head away.

“Oh don't be so sore about it.” The old woman cooed as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Remember it is only a game.”

“Yeah..I suppose you're right.” The young teenager's frown turned into a smile. He looked at his teacher, and said, “It was a pretty cool trick you pulled. I guess you are better at games than I thought you were.”

This was the first time Joanne Moynihan has trained any of her mutant students through the use of a video game. At first, she did not see any benefit of having such a game on her computer except for recreational reasons. But when she decided to play through the game herself, she saw a lot of potential in it for training, especially since the game contained the very dinosaurs they could transform into, and more. The training with Buzz was not a complete success, as he was not able to avoid the trap she set up for him. But it was not a total loss. He still learned something from it.

“So are you ready to join the others?” Joanne asked Buzz as she headed towards the spiral stairs. As she walked by, a small white dog with a few black spots lifted up his head. The dog wagged his tail as he quickly jumped up and dashed down the stairs. Moynihan did not fear him getting loose. The doors were all closed and the rest of the Dino Squad were down in the lap section of the lighthouse. Rump, the dog, would not be able to run off without one of the kids spotting him.

“Almost.” Came Buzz's reply. “I'm just going to continue..training..on this online game.” He picked up his controller again to start a new game on Multiplayer. Rodger had upgraded the game, so it now included far more dinosaurs and more levels to choose from. He selected his favorite avatar, the green Pteranodon.

Moynihan smiled gently. “All right then. You can play for twenty more minutes, then you have to get off.” She started to climb down the stairs. “After all, you are not the only one I intend to train using that game.”

“All right, Ms. M!” Buzz called out to her, although most of his focus was on this game. He flipped through the list of opponents that were online at this time. There was not a whole lot, which didn't surprise him. There was some sort of extreme sale going on in the mall nearby. He figured the locals would be attracted to it, so not many were near a computer to play this game.

Although Buzz did not mind. There was still a good number of people to challenge online, and he scrolled to try to find one that closely matched his skill level. When he came across one, he quickly put on his headset. He moved his mouse over the avatar, which looked like a raptor with a crest on its head. Buzz had never seen this kind of dinosaur before, but shrugged it off. A dinosaur was a dinosaur.

He clicked on the icon, allowing the avatar to enlargen. The dinosaur was a Guanlong Wucaii. It had a red crest with orange streaks. Its head was black in color with a red lower jaw, the color extending on the underside of its neck. A small feathery mane was centered on the nape of its neck, and a white streak went along the top and bottom of its eyes. Buzz clicked on Challenge, which would send an invitation to the user for a one on one battle.

“Hey! Raptor! Do you want fight me?” Buzz said into the speaker.

In a few seconds, the response came. “All right, sure. Ready whenever you are.”

Buzz narrowed his eyes. The voice that came was feminine. “Another girl?” He was not looking forward getting tranced by another girl raptor.

The user, obviously annoyed and had taken offense to Buzz's remark, said, “And what's wrong with girl players? You think we can't play or something?”

Buzz's eyes widened. “Whoa! That's not what I meant at all!” The punk kid quickly said in an apologetic manner. “It's just that I got my tail kicked by two other users playing as Velociraptors, and they were both girls. I'm just afraid I'm going to lose again.” Well that was only partially true. Buzz had been challenged by two Velociraptors, but he only lost against one of them. He won against the other, but he isn't sure if that could count, since it was really Victor Veloci.

Buzz frowned as the memories came back to him. When Rodger had first showed off the video game to the Dino Squad, Buzz had taken a huge risk and gave out more information than he should have. He should have realized he was being tricked by an online creep, but he was too busy having fun to realize that. And he was almost turned into Veloci's lab rat because of that. If Ms. Moynihan hadn't tricked Victor using the same technique as Victor did to trick him, Buzz probably would have never returned. He shuddered, not wanting to think about what it would be like to have Victor experiment on him.

“I'm sorry to hear that.” The user responded. “But don't think this means I will go easy on you.” She chuckled.

Buzz chuckled. “That's all right. I wouldn't have it any other way.” The green-haired kid said, smiling in a determined way. “Now let's get this show on the road!”

The screen turned a bright blue for a few seconds, and quickly faded as the level loaded up. It was the ice level. Buzz groaned again. He had not trained for this level. He skipped that lesson, and now fully regrets it. In cold weather, his Pteranodon would lose body heat rapidly. But then again, so would the Guanlong Wucaii, so they were still on even playing terms.

The avatars loaded up. On one end, a green Pteranodon emerged, sporting an orange chest. It spread its wings proudly and screeched at the opponent, a Guanlong Wucaii, standing on the other end of the icy level. In edition to having an ebony body and red underside, it also had white rings around its tail and limbs. It responded with a cry of its own, sounding very raptor-like but had more of a growl to it than a raptor did.

“A..Gu-Gua...” Buzz started to ask, but couldn't get the word out.

“Guanlong Wucaii.” The user responded, chuckling. “It was an ancient ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

Buzz grinned. “Whoa... That's wicked!” The punk teenager was surprised to hear this.

“Yeah. So..are we going to sit here chatting all day or are we going to play?” She asked.

“Oh yeah. I only have about twenty minutes to play so...” Buzz held up his controller and began his attack. The Pteranodon dove down towards the raptor-like dinosaur, its beak opening to try to cut into the smaller animal. The Guanlong Wucaii responded by jumping out of the way in time. It quickly whipped around and jumped on the pterosaur's back.

“No way!” Buzz said, his eyes wide with shock. The Guanlong Wucaii didn't waste anytime and sank its teeth into the neck of the Pteranodon. Buzz quickly maneuvered the flying dinosaur in between two closely grown trees. The theropod bonked its head against a low growing branch and fell off the pterosaur's back. “All right!” He quickly turned his pterosaur avatar around and dove towards the raptor again.

The Guanlong quickly ducked down, making the enormous dinosaur miss it by several inches. “Nice moves.” The user playing as the Guanlong said. “But you will have to do better than that if you want to beat me.”

“Oh don't worry, I will.” Buzz said with confidence.

“By the way, I didn't catch your name. Er..your username I mean.” She said quickly, sounding rather embarrassed. “My username is PreGuan20. That's short for Prehistoric Guanlong..I'm not sure why I added in the 20. Guess I thought it sounded cool. Anyway what's your username?”

“My username...?” Buzz said slowly.

“Don't tell me you aren't allowed to reveal your username.” The voice came teasingly.

“Of course I can! It's Buzzinator.” Buzz said.

“All right, Buzzinator,” It was clear PreGuan20 found this username to be hilarious. “Either pick up the pace or you will end up like that poor creature over there.” She was referring to a skeleton of a large sauropod that Rodger had programed into the game.

“In your dreams, Guan-girl! Time to get serious!” Buzz declared as he concentrated even more on the game, determined to defeat this girl.

Ms. Moynihan reached the bottom of the steps and approached the remainder of her students. Three of them were seated at the nearby table, looking over their weapons, or Rodger's Toys as Caruso would say. The students sitting down were Caruso, Fiona, and Max. Caruso was of a tall light build, wearing a white shirt and dark blue tie. He wore jeans of a reddish hue. His hair, as blue as his tie, spiked upwards through the use of hair gel.

Next to him sat Max, the jock of the team. He was the only member taller than Caruso. He was more muscular, and had very dark hair. He wear a white shirt with a green jacket and dark blue jeans. And next to him was Fiona, the active female member of the team. She had long red hair and wore a pale beige long-sleeved shirt with a dark brown open top and yellow-orangish pants.

The final member, Rodger, was over at another table, working on fixing one of the Chillers. Fiona had talked about it not shooting properly and Rodger suspected a clog of some sort. He was easily the largest of the team, and the only african-american. He wore a white sports shirt, sleeveless, with baggy black pants. His hair was black and extremely short.

The kids heard Ms. Moynihan's footsteps and turned to face her. Almost immediately, Caruso got up from his chair. “So is it my turn now?” He asked. Moynihan was planning on training the kids alphabetically, with Buzz being first. Caruso was next on the list, then Fiona, then Max, and finally Rodger. “It's been ten minutes already.” The training sessions were to last only ten minutes each.

Ms. Moynihan frowned as she recalled that, and felt a little guilty. “I'm sorry, Caruso, but he wanted to play another round so I let him.”

“What?!” Caruso exclaimed, his mouth open. “But you said this was only going to last ten minutes!”

Moynihan shook her head. “I know...” The woman said apologetically. “I'm sorry.”

“So how much longer do I have to wait now?” Irwin Caruso asked, sitting back down in a pout.

Moynihan shook her head at this behavior. “Twenty minutes.” She said.

“Twenty?! Oh man...” Caruso groaned, leaning back in his chair. “Now I'll never make it to the mall in time for the big sale! And I was so looking forward to that new hair gel too...” He earned a rough nudge from one of his team mates. He winced, and glared at Max. “Hey, what was that for?”

“For once, can't you just go through a training session without thinking about yourself?” Max scolded. “It's not like the world is going to end if you don't get that hair gel of yours in the next minute!” He groaned when Caruso turned his back on him.

“For me it will..” Caruso muttered.

“Come on, Caruso.” Fiona joined in, showing her disapproval. “It's just hair gel. You can get it any day of the week. Perfect hair isn't as important as being ready to save the world. Why can't you ever understand that?”

Caruso whirled around to face her. “I do understand that! How can I not understand it when you guys keep shoving it down my throat every single day?!” He took in a few breaths before continuing. “Any time you guys want to do something for yourselves, everyone is fine with it! But whenever I want to do something for myself, you all scold me, saying how selfish I am!”

Max gripped the shorter teen by his shoulders and stared at him intently. “You know very well we only scold you if you put your own petty interests ahead of our mission, especially during a mission or training!”

Ms. Moynihan had seen enough. She walked towards the boys, swift for a woman her age, and pushed them apart. “That's enough you two.” She said sternly. “I expect my Dino Squad team to behave better than that.” She wasn't surprised in Caruso's behavior. He may have seemed vain, but he still cared about the team, and wasn't as selfish as he appeared. This was proven when he gave up being famous a couple times for the sake of the team. But she was a little disappointed in Max. She expected him to handle the situation better than that. “You two shouldn't waste your energy on each other.”

“Ms. M is right, yo.” Rodger said, finally looking up from the Chiller. “We should save that fighting energy when taking down Veloci and his goons, not wasting it on personal things, or on each other.”

“Besides, Caruso,” Joanne said gently, “twenty minutes isn't that long of a wait. It will even go by faster if you keep your mind occupied on something.”

Caruso slowly sank back into his chair. “Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Well, I could tell you about my final battle with Victor Veloci.” Moynihan suggested. It would be an entertaining story indeed, and could easily take twenty minutes, if not longer, to tell. She knew it would peak her students' interest, since she rarely talked about her early battles with the anthropomorphic Velociraptor. “I think you may find it quite entertaining.” She said, smiling.

“Oh?” Caruso looked up.

“All right then, Ms. Moynihan, let's hear it.” Max said. Rodger had set down his tools and came towards the table.

“You've peeked my interest, Ms.” Rodger said, smiling as he sat down in a chair across from Max.

“All right.” Moynihan sat down near the students. They all gave their full attention to her, waiting for her to start telling her story. “Here it goes.” She said as she began her tale.

FLASHBACK: 

“Hold still!” Yelled a man holding what appeared to be a gun. But instead of bullets it shot out a blue laser. “I can't neutralize your dinosaur powers if you keep moving around like that!” The man had long black hair with red streaks. He wore a red corporate outfit, looking like an important figure. But looks were deceiving. He was Victor Veloci. He was no friend to mankind. He dreamed of the day humanity was wiped from the face of the earth.

He blasted again, narrowly missing a swift moving green raptor. The raptor leaped over him, and lunged from behind, knocking Victor on the ground. She quickly grabbed the gun from his hand and tossed it away. She changed back. It was Ms. Moynihan, though at this age, she was a bit taller, skinnier, and had dark hair. She picked up the gun and pointed it towards Victor, who glared at her.

“What's the matter, Vic?” Joanne said mockingly. “Can't you fight without your precious toys?”

“How dare you say that, Joanne...” Victor seethed. “You should know me like a book now. I don't need that weapon to fight you.”

“We'll see about that.” Moynihan placed her finger on the trigger. When Victor started making a run towards her, she pulled it, but only heard a click. “What?” She looked at the gun carefully. She noticed the safety lock was on. Her eyes widened. Victor must have turned the safety on before she knocked it from his hands! It was a distraction, meant to preoccupy her long enough so he could...

Moynihan looked up, hoping she could prepare to dodge him, but she did so too late. As soon as she looked up, she felt herself being slammed into the ground. She looked up, and growled. She was now pinned to the ground by her former partner, Victor. “You tricked me.”

Veloci laughed half-heartedly. “I had no choice, dear Joanne...” He leaned in a bit closer. “It was the only way to deal with a traitor like yourself...”

“I am no traitor, Victor.” Moynihan declared, trying to get him off of her.

Victor bared his teeth, now transformed into sharp canine-like protrusions. “Liar! You betrayed me to be with the..the.. HUMANS!” He said the last word with pure hate in his voice. “You betrayed someone of your own species for these inferior monkeys!”

“If you would just open your eyes, you would see the humans are not as bad as you...” Moynihan tried to explain. She was stopped short when Veloci slapped her across the face, causing her to yelp, and look up at him in shock. He had never done that to her before.

Victor showed no remorse for what he's done. “I'm sick and tired of you saying that everything will work out! Don't you get it, you fool?! Nothing will work out until the humans are gone!”

“Why shouldn't we share the planet with them?” Joanne said cautiously. “After all, they didn't become dominant overnight. It was no fluke, don't you know. Why can't you see they were meant to rule the planet? If they weren't, they would have died out a long time ago.”

“They were just lucky!” Victor spat out. “That's all there is to it. They got lucky! They should have died in the Ice Age! The world rightfully belongs to the dinosaurs.” His eyes started to glow. “And I'm furious that one of my own BLOOD does not see that.”

“The time of the dinosaurs is gone, Vic! Can't you see that? They are never coming back! Your mutant DNA will never be able to bring back the dinosaurs!” Joanne transformed her legs and kicked Victor in the stomach. The Velociraptor man fell to the ground. She slowly rose to her feet, and looked at Victor with determination. “And if you are going to continue to try to defy nature, I will continue to fight you. I will stop you!”

“Such foolishness coming from a once proud dinosaur.” Victor said. “It seems these filthy humans have gotten to you. Look what happened to you. You've become just like THEM! All right then, if you're going to act like a human, then you will be treated like a human...” An orange symbol on the form of a Velociraptor, positioned on the left side of his chest, glowed a bright orange. He grew taller, his teeth grew sharper, his mouth grew longer. His clothes disappeared, replaced with scales. Now in Velociraptor form he licked his chops. 'I always thought humans tasted like chicken...'

Joanne took a fighting stance. “Bring it!” An orange symbol on her left shoulder, another Velociraptor, glowed, and she too changed form. Her clothes melted into green scales, a purple crest appeared on her head, and her hands and feet sharped into claws.

Now two Velociraptors stood on either end of the rocky and messy battle field. A green Velociraptor with purple stripes and white underside and a red Velociraptor with black stripes and a pale beige underside. They began to circle each other, their glowing eyes never leaving the other's. They growled and snarled, flexing their muscles. But neither made a move. They instead studied each other, trying to calculate the other's strength.

'Just because I've institutionalized myself with the humans, don't think I've grown weak.' Moynihan stated, her lips curling back to reveal her gums and razor sharp teeth. 

Victor opened up his jaws in a dinosaur-style laugh. 'You've grown too soft... You don't have your primal advantage anymore...'

'Oh we'll see about that...' Moynihan held out her arms in a manner a human would if they wanted to hug someone. But to a Velociraptor, it was an invitation to battle, and a threatening posture. Victor accepted the challenge and ran towards her. His maw opened up, saliva spilling out the sides of his reptilian lips as he snapped his jaws at his opponent. Moynihan made a dodge to the left, and struck Victor with her hand, and managed to knock him to the ground.

The red raptor shook his head as he got back to his feet, and slammed against the green raptor's side, knocked her down. He quickly stepped on her and bent down. He tried to bite her, but she pushed his snout away with a clawed hand. She kicked him in the stomach again with her feet. But when she tried to get up, Victor managed to grab onto her back. She screeched as she felt his sharp talons dig into her skin as she fell back down with him.

She desperately kicked away at him, but because he was now on her back, she couldn't reach him with her feet. Struggling onto two legs, she turned her head around and tried to snap at Victor's head. She didn't quite managed to reach him, but managed to land a hit on one of his hands. His eyes snapped open as he let out a screech of pain.

RAAAAAAAAAAA!!

He quickly let go of her and backed up a few steps. This gave Joanne the opportunity to head butt Victor in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards, but he did not fall down. Victor looked at his hand. It was a bit shredded, and blood was pouring out. He glared at Moynihan hatefully. He snarled as he gave her his next message, one that nearly sent chills down her spine.

'All right then, fool... I was considering in letting you live, but after this...' Victor held up his shredded paw. 'I will make sure you don't live to see your next birthday! I will make sure you don't leave this place.. alive! You will die at my feet!'

'Wait!' Joanne cried. 'It doesn't have to be this way!' She suddenly regretted attacking him like that. When Victor really gets angry, he only becomes stronger. And when he declares something, he means it, and won't stop until he's fulfilled that statement. She quickly sidestepped when Victor tried to tackle her. 

'I'm sorry. But this is the way it has to be. This is what I must do..' Victor said calmly. 'It is what I must do...' He managed to tackle her this time, pushing her against the rocky earth. 'I'm not being cruel, Joanne. I'm just being reasonable.'

'If you're being reasonable, then you'd let me go!' Joanne said angrily.

Victor ignored her. He lowered his head towards her neck, intending on snapping it with his jaws. He opened up his mouth and set his jaws around her neck and began to apply pressure slowly. He could feel Moynihan struggling in his grasp, trying so hard to knock him off. He responded by sinking his teeth into her faster. He was getting close now. His grip was sturdy. All he needed to do was give one quick twist, and it was all over. But something..something just didn't feel right about it. Could he really go through with killing one of his own kind?

He felt like he had to. She did betray him. No, not only him, but all of dinokind. He would never be able to bring back the glorious dinosaur rule with this traitorous raptor around. She knew him too well. She could warn the humans about him. She knows too much. She had to be disposed off... But then again, she couldn't possibly reveal his secret identity without revealing her own. And what if he did something to her..something that if she were to explain would expose her secret? Victor knew how paranoid the human race was. He could get them to turn on Joanne, make her go back to him. He smiled. He liked that idea better.

Victor released his grip on her neck. 'I've got a better idea.. Why should I end your life when I can make you come over to me?' He lifted up his eyes, and started to find a more suitable target. He decided to go for a leg. A leg would do nicely.

'And how are you going to do that?' Joanne asked, her glowing eyes trying to see what he was about to do.

'I'll give you something to remember me by.' Victor sneered, then snapping his jaws on her left leg, at the ankle, at full force. Joanne roared as she felt the white hot pain in her leg. Victor worked his teeth deep into her leg, feeling and tasting the blood as it seeped from the female raptor's leg and into his mouth and along his lips. Once he had a good grip, he gave a sharp twist.

CRUNCH!

The sickening sound of bone snapping filled his head. A pain filled cry of agony escaped Joanne's mouth as Victor got off of her. Moynihan quickly changed back into her human form and pulled her leg towards her. Despite the transformation, her injury remained the same. Her left foot now faced an odd angle. She couldn't even touch it without crying out in pain. She looked up at Victor as tears of pain flowed down her face.

Victor changed back, and looked at her, his eyes narrowed unsympathetically. “Don't look at me like that. I had no choice..Maybe this will teach you a lesson...”

“You monster...” Moynihan managed to say through her pain. “You..you think this will stop me?”

Victor only chuckled in response. It was clear who won this battle today. Joanne hung her head in defeat, shivering from the intense pain she was in. Victor just stood victoriously, smiling down at her in satisfaction...

END FLASHBACK: 

Ms. Moynihan finished her story. It was clear, from the look on her face, that this was a really hard story for her to tell. Even though it's been a few decades, the memory of it still haunts her, still pains her. She could still feel the pain of Veloci's jaws on her leg. This is why she carried out a cane. While it had healed, and she gained most use of it back, it still hurts sometimes when she walked, and now has to, sometimes, rely on the cane to help her. 

The kids stared at her in awe, their mouths and eyes wide open. Moynihan was right. The story was entertaining. But it was also sad. In the end, the bad guy had won, despite Moynihan's determination. And she still had the scars of that battle.

Caruso opened up his mouth to say something, but only managed out one word. “...whoa...” Suddenly, hair gel and the computer game was no longer on his mind.

“Wait a minute...” Max spoke, pushing himself upwards from his chair with his strong hands. There was something about Moynihan's story that just didn't add up to him. “How could breaking your leg make you 'go back to him'? Wouldn't that just make you less willing to join up with him again?”

Joanne looked up. “A valid question, young Max. You see, Victor knew that I was an honest person. A bit too honest, really. And he knew I couldn't explain my injury to a doctor without lying, if I wanted to hide my and his secret identities. He was hoping that I would reveal the truth, and be forced to join him once more.” She chuckled light-heartedly. “But as you can see, I didn't fall for the trick.”

“So what happened afterward?” Fiona asked, her hand held out in a human mannerism that signified she wanted her to continue her story. “I mean, how did you manage to get to safety with such an injury?”

“I probably would have died there if some workers hadn't come onto the scene. They helped me to a hospital where my broken leg was treated.” Moynihan explained. “They said I was really lucky. If my leg was twisted just a bit more, I would have likely lost the leg entirely.”

“Ouch...” Rodger grimaced, eyeing the mentor's left leg sympathetically.

“Oh don't worry about it.” Ms. Moynihan said, trying to lighten up the mood a bit. “It was about thirty years ago that happened. We shouldn't dwell on past matters now.” She then remembered about Buzz. She looked up to glance at the clock hanging on the wall. She got up from her seat and headed towards the door. “Come on Caruso, it's your turn. The twenty minutes has passed.” As she made her way towards the stairs, Caruso, a bit slowly at first, got up from his seat and followed her. He knew better than to disobey her, although she has never been harsh with them before.

“Ahhh!” Buzz screamed as he narrowly dodged one of PreGuan20's attacks. She had managed to get her avatar behind his and almost ripped one of the Pteranodon's wings to shreds. Luckily, at the last minute, he performed another maneuver, this one sending the Guanlong Wucaii smashing into a tree. “That was close!” He could feel his hands were getting really sweaty. This girl was even tougher than Veloci was! And he almost didn't believe that. “But it'll take more than a cheap trick to take down the Buzzinator!”

“Well, Buzzinator, prepare to lose!” PreGuan20 declared. The Guanlong Wucaii had already recovered from its headlong collision with the tree, and was now back in action. Screeching almost like an eagle, it made a dash to where the green pterosaur had retreated to. The Pteranodon had flew inside a slippery ice cavern. As the Guanlong entered, it struggled to stop as it started to slip along the ice.

Buzz grinned. This is exactly where he wanted to lead PreGuan20. If Ms. Moynihan could trick him into going too close to a volcano, he knew he could trick this female gamer into going into an ice cavern after him. He had judged the Guanlong's feet were not designed for such surfaces, and he knew that PreGuan20 had not had much experience in this level. She had told him so herself. And since he was playing as a flying dinosaur, he had the upper hand in the cave. “Got you right where I want you!” He quickly started mashing buttons on his controller, turning the Pteranodon around from a sharp and dark corner, right to where the raptor-like dino was slipping and sliding.

The opponent didn't have much of an option now. She could no longer defend herself, and she couldn't turn around fast enough or efficiently enough to stop him. The pterosaur flew in fast, the wings outstretched as it dove. Within seconds, the beak collided with the Guanlong Wucaii, and made a critical hit. The Guanlong Wucaii reared its head up and roared as the avatar disappeared, and a score appeared across the screen.

5,000 POINTS

“Yes! I just whooped your prehistoric tail!” Buzz exclaimed happily, leaning back in his chair, his arms outstretched as though he was preparing to give someone a big hug.

The user on the other side forced a chuckle. It was clear she was not happy about loosing. But it was a fair game and all. And she shouldn't expect to win all the time. “That was a good game, I admit.” She said after several seconds. “That was some trick you pulled, luring me into that ice cavern. Maybe we could play again sometime?”

“Oh sure, of course!” Buzz said cheerfully. “It was a blast playing with you.”

“It was a blast playing with who?” asked a voice behind Buzz. Eyes wide, Buzz whirled around to see Moynihan and Caruso emerging from the stairs. Caruso was trying hard not to laugh. “Did you meet a new girlfriend or something?”

Buzz glared at Caruso. Sometimes he just couldn't understand that boy. “She's not my girlfriend!”

Caruso grinned. “Ooo...but she's a giiiiirrrlll...” The blue-haired taunted playfully. “You should so give her your phone number!” 

“Don't fight you two.” Ms. Moynihan was again annoyed. She didn't want to have to deal with even more of these problems. She glanced over at Buzz. “It's Caruso's turn. He's waited long enough. You can go back downstairs with the others.” 

“All right.” Buzz turned back to the monitor. “I've gotta get going now. So see ya later!”

“See ya.” PreGuan20 said, and then the connection died. The screen went back to the main title screen. Caruso had that mischievous grin on his face, but quickly wiped it off when he earned a glare from Buzz.

Buzz got up from his seat. As Buzz went towards the stairs, Moynihan continued, “But don't tell them about the..surprise.” She winked.

“Huh...? Oh! That surprise!” Buzz grinned sheepishly. “Don't worry, Ms. I won't.” He began his descent down the stairs, chuckling to himself as he imagines Caruso falling into Moynihan's trap like he had, possibly even quicker. Knowing Caruso and his big ego, he was sure to slip up very easily. He noted to himself to take a picture of Caruso after his humiliating defeat. It would be a sort of revenge on Caruso's teasing just a few moments ago.

As Caruso went towards the chair, he looked out at Buzz with a quizzical look on his face. “A surprise..?” He looked at his old-aged mentor. “What surprise? What are you guys talking about?”

Joanne Moynihan gently pushed Irwin into the seat. “Sorry, but I can't reveal that. You will have to find out for yourself.” She walked back towards her desk and opened up her laptop computer. She logged back onto the website, and prepared to set up the duel. “So are you ready, Caruso?”

Caruso tentatively picked up the controller. “Yes, I'm ready.”

“So Buzz,” Max asked as his punk friend sat back in his chair, “How was it?”

“It went well.” Buzz said. “At least I passed anyway..I think.. I mean that...” He quickly stopped himself. He almost disobeyed Moynihan. Luckily the others didn't seem to notice the abrupt ending of his sentence. “She was right of course.” He said quickly. “It was an excellent way to train.”

Rodger chuckled. “I knew my video game wasn't a waste of time.” He couldn't help but feel ecstatic that Moynihan had chosen his game to be part of their new training program. While it was not the same as training physically, it was a safer alternative. There were situations presented in the game they have not yet encountered, but may have to sometime in the future. Why risk their necks training in the real situation when they could just play a simulator and be better prepared that way? And who said video games were a waste of time?

“Sure wasn't.” Buzz grinned at his large friend. “It was really helpful. I...”

“So Buzz, I hear you got yourself a girlfriend.” Fiona said teasingly, though to a less extent than Caruso said it.

“No I don't I...” then it hit Buzz. “Wait a minute! How do you know I was playing against a female gamer?” Fiona chuckled as she pulled out her cellphone and opened it up. She sat it on the table and pushed it towards Buzz, who then picked it up. On the little screen, it had a picture of Caruso grinning, and next to it it said 'hey buzz has a grlfrnd online'. Buzz gritted his teeth. “Why that...I'll kill him!” He started towards the stairs when Max grabbed him by the arm.

“Just let it go.” Max said. “He's just teasing you.”

Buzz sighed. “All right...” He let Max guide him back to his seat. “So...” He said, trying to start up a conversation to pass the time. If Moynihan spent ten minutes on each of them, it means they'll be here for about an hour, longer most likely due to his extra time on the computer. “What did you guys talk about while I was up there?”

“Well...” Fiona said. “She told us about her final battle with Victor. He almost ripped her leg off.”

“Whoa...no way...” Buzz said, eyes opened up wider. “How did that happen?”

“She was battling with him, and he managed pin her down, and broke her leg with his jaws.” Max explained.

“The doctors said she was lucky she didn't lose it.” Rodger said.

“Oh man...” Buzz grimaced, mentally picturing a near crippled woman in his mind. He stared down at his own legs, not wanting to imagine what it would be like to have a blood thirsty raptor tearing at them.

Without warning, a scream filled the air. The Dino Squad jerked up with a start, preparing for battle. Then another scream, this one sounding more like a word. When they recognized what it was, they started to giggle a bit.

“NOOO! NO IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!!” Came Caruso's voice from upstairs. It was apparent that he had already lost to Moynihan. It has only been about three minutes too.

Buzz laughed, and took out his cellphone. “Oh I gotta take a picture of this!” He dashed back up the circular stair case. Fiona, Max, and Rodger looked at each other, not understanding why Buzz would want to take a picture of Caruso. 

After a few seconds, they heard Caruso shouting, “HEY! COME BACK HERE WITH THAT!” Then they heard the pounding footsteps of people running down the stairs rapidly. In a matter of seconds, Buzz was back in the lab, holding his cellphone in his hand. Right behind him was Caruso, lunging at Buzz to get the cellphone. “YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SHOW THAT TO ANYONE!”

“But you told Fiona that I had a girlfriend!” Buzz said in a playful tone. “This is just me getting back at you!” He tossed the phone to Fiona. “Take a look!”

“DON'T LOOK!” Caruso screamed as he lunged at Fiona, who just sidestepped. He fell to the ground.

On the cellphone screen was Caruso. He was sitting in the seat, still staring at the monitor. His eyes were wide as saucers, his mouth wide open. His hair looked spikier, like a cat that felt threatened. His face was red in anger and frustration. Fiona chuckled. “Awww.. Caruso, you look so cute when you're angry!”

Caruso blushed intensely as she said this, and the others started to laugh about it. He glared at Buzz, and declared, “I will get you for this!”

“We're even now.” Buzz said, grinning mischievously.

In another part of the United States, in a large city, bustling with activity, a red helicopter, armed with sharp teeth along the front, giving it the appearance of a dinosaur, casted a shadow over the city. It approached a tall building in particular, and landed on the roof. The doors opened up, revealing a tall, handsome-looking man. It was Victor Veloci. He had just gotten back from a search. He was attempting to locate his perfect dinosaurs in Maine. That is where that punk kid Buzz said he saw the perfect dinosaur.

But it wasn't like he could get information from him now. The kid was probably eaten by the Pteranodon, and when Victor tried getting back on the game, it told him he was banned. He was annoyed, but he shrugged it off. He would just have to find some other way to track down his perfect dinosaurs. He had to admit, it would have been nice to have captured Buzz too. He could have forced more information from him. Maybe he even knew where the dinosaurs' lair was.

But regardless of where the dinosaurs were, he found it puzzling that none of the humans have been giving any solid evidence or reports on it. Surely these creatures weren't stupid enough to miss a dinosaur, something that big. There had been some reports, but they were all talking about how there weren't any dinosaurs, that it was just a stunt, or balloons, or whatever. He seethed silently at this. Even when the evidence was out in their face, they still believe it was all fake. They refused to believe their own eyes.

But still, not all humans were that stupid, he had to admit. There would have been at least a few humans who would have tried to report the truth. But so far he found no such person. He had found no leads as to where his perfect dinosaurs were spotted. They appeared in various locations, not just in Maine. And they were the same ones as well. They were the same species, the same colors, the same sizes, and they always seemed to appear wherever his primordial ooze. They were the ones neutralizing his experiments. He theorized it was because of their perfect genes. They were probably canceling out the effected genes.

But what he didn't understand is how they could appear in so many states in such short periods of time. This wasn't normal migrating behavior for these dinosaurs. Maybe the landscape was just confusing them. It has been over sixty-five million years and a lot has changed in that time. Even if humans had never appeared on the planet, the continents would not have stayed the same. They would have shifted, and the weather would have changed as well. 

Regardless, he had considered the puzzling issue of the dinosaurs traveling so far so quickly. There would have to be some logical reason. And why would they be traveling together? If anything, that T-Rex should have tried to eat the Stegosaurus or the Styracosaurus. The Pteranodon should have flown off and the Spinosaurus would either challenge the Tyrannosaurus Rex or attacked the Pteranodon. And yet in the times he's met up with the dinosaurs, this has yet to occur. It was very strange indeed.

He was pondering this as he entered his lab. It was a fusion of modern human technology and the prehistoric Mesozoic Era. Victor took pride in the design, as this was the closest to home he could feel in this modern world. He headed towards the computer and sat down in the chair. The huge monitor in front of him was displaying a map of the United States. He scanned all around, but the computer was not picking up anything on the dinosaurs he so longed to capture. “Still nothing...” He growled under his breath. “They always appear and disappear as though by magic. How is that possible?”

He slowly gazed up at Maine, and leaned back in his chair. He was sure the lair was there, somewhere. His thoughts slowly unraveled the events that occurred when he saw that yellow SUV. It had some sort of trace of something in it. He couldn't tell exactly what it was. He recalled how the Stegosaurus suddenly appeared, and gave away his position. Then the other perfect dinosaurs showed up and freed the Stegosaurus when he nearly captured it.

Why had the Stegosaurus showed up? All that lay ahead was some useless lighthouse. And it seemed as though it was trying to protect the SUV. That didn't make much sense to him either. A dinosaur would never protect a human... Well most dinosaurs wouldn't anyway. He knew of one dinosaur who would...

“Joanne Moynihan.. Somehow I'm sure she's involved with these dinosaurs.” Victor said as he put his hands together. “And I'm sure she's the reason I can't track these dinosaurs. Anytime I get a clear shot of them on my monitor, it goes static. It can't be a coincidence.” He chuckled darkly. “Oh you're clever, Moynihan. But not as clever as me.”

If Moynihan really was the reason he couldn't track the dinosaurs, then all he would have to do is locate the source. If he could find out where the radio waves are coming from that are blocking his monitors, he could track down Moynihan and capture her. Or he could at least override her attempts to block him. Yes, that sounded a bit easier for him.

He looked around his lab and spotted the large containers of primordial ooze he had stored up. None of them contained genes perfect enough to accurately transform anything. He had already tested them. But something had to have perfectly mutated the dinosaurs. There had to be something that ooze had that the others did that. But just what was that? To find out, he needed to locate the dinosaurs and capture one of them, just one of them. Then he could perfect his experimental DNA and really change the face of the world.

Just then, his phone rang. He picked up the receiver and placed it against his ear. “Victor Veloci speaking. Who is this?” he said, trying to sound polite. Despite his hatred of humans, he hasn't shown too much hostility towards his henchmen, since they all agreed to turn into dinosaurs and help him take over the world. He didn't see the need of killing off humans who shared his vision, or submitted to his will. After a few seconds, he suddenly sat straight up. “What? Are you sure?” He asked carefully.

The voice on the other end confirmed their statement. “I'll be right there!” Victor quickly got up out of his seat and hung up the phone. He had just received a phone call from one his men. They had just interrogated some kid, who claimed to have been trying out for the Raptors football team. He had mentioned that he saw some kid transform his arm into the leg of something bluish purple, and scaly. He could be making this up, but he might as well talk to the kid to get more information from him. This was the biggest lead he has had in a long time. If this teen knows enough, he could soon capture all the perfect dinosaurs...

The flight took him back to Kittery High, where the football field lay. The helicopter landed nearby, since it would be strange for a dinosaur-like copter to land on school property. He climbed out of the helicopter and walked towards the mens' locker room, where one of his men was standing next to a teen, still in his football outfit. As he saw Victor walk in, he quickly stood up. “S-Sir, I...” He was unsure of how to talk to the high-ranking man standing before him.

“Please, no formalities.” Victor raised his hand, making the young human stop. “Don't be nervous. Just tell me what you saw.”

The teenager swallowed quickly. “W-Well, sir, I was trying to tackle this other player in front of me, and then he told me to talk to the hand, and then he changed his arm into a leg.”

Victor cocked an eyebrow. “Could you describe it?”

“Well, it was scaly, purple..or maybe blue.. had really short stubby toes.” The football player answered.

Victor recognized this description. He recalled his perfect Stegosaurus had such legs. “Tell me..did you see any..plates form on his back?”

“Now that you mention it...” the player said. “I did, for a split second. I heard someone say ouch, and thought I saw what appeared to be a reddish plate growing from his back.”

Reddish plates were also present on the back of the perfect Stegosaurus. Victor was almost certain now. This football player could very well be his ticket to capturing all the perfect dinosaurs! But still, he would have to find someway to confirm this. He couldn't just walk up to the guy's house and ask for a blood sample. That would be too suspicious. And besides, he didn't even know what this guy looked like, or knew his name.

“Could you tell me anything about this guy? His name? His appearance?” Victor asked.

“Oh yes, of course. He's Irwin Caruso. He goes to this school, hangs out most of the time with some friends.” The football player said, sitting back down. “He wears a white shirt with a dark blue tie, and his hair is spiked upwards, dyed blue. You'd recognize it.”

“Irwin Caruso.” Victor repeated, memorizing the name. “Thank you for the information.” Now all Victor needed to do is figure out a plan to get a blood sample from Irwin to confirm his suspicions.

“That's enough of this childish behavior!” Moynihan said as she stood between Caruso and Buzz. For the past hour, they have been constantly bickering at each other. Moynihan tried to focus on training the other students upstairs, but sometimes the arguments go so loud it just distracted her from the training session. After she failed to complete the training with Rodger, she has had enough. She had stormed down the stairs, something she has never done before, especially given her weak leg.

Moynihan had also never really yelled at them before, but Caruso and Buzz had pushed her patience. She calmed herself down before continuing to speak with them, but they could tell she was still angry with them. Caruso and Buzz backed away from each other. “Is there any reason why you two are wasting so much energy fighting each other? You two aren't enemies, don't ya know? I would expect such childish behavior from two-year olds, but not from teenagers such as yourselves. You should be mature enough to know better.”

“But, Ms. Moynihan, he won't erase that embarrassing picture he took of me!” Caruso complained.

“I only took it because you wouldn't stop calling PreGuan20 my girlfriend!” Buzz spat back.

“I was only teasing you! I can't believe you were taking me seriously!” Caruso exclaimed.

“And I can't believe you thought I was serious when I said I was going to post this on my blog! You know I agreed not to post any pictures of us on the web!” yelled Buzz.

Professor Moynihan groaned, rubbing her temples with her fingers. This arguing was starting to give her a headache. Trying so hard to keep herself calm, she gave both boys a stern but gentle look. This caused them to shut their mouths. When Moynihan looked at them like that, they knew they had better listen to her. They walked back to their seats, and sat back down. They refused to look at each other however. Moynihan smiled softly, but was still upset with their behavior. “You two seem to be forgetting that you are supposed to save your fighting energy for Victor Veloci. You will need all of it, don't you know?”

“Yeah yeah...” Buzz muttered.

“We know.” Caruso said.

“If you ever have to fight Victor, remember this. You will need all the willpower you have. He has his ways to make humans like you submit to him. Don't waste all this energy on petty arguing. Save it up in case you need to use it against Victor.” Moynihan tightened her grip on her cane. “I hope such a day never arrives, but if it does, remember what I just told you.”

“Like Victor will ever find out about us.” Caruso said, almost laughing.

“With the way you try to transform for fame, I wouldn't doubt he'll find out.” Rodger said as he finally came back down the steps. He was busy testing out a new level in his game.

“Do you honestly believe that I will be the one responsible for Victor find out our secret?” Caruso asked, raising his arms in the air. Everyone in the room except Moynihan nodded their heads. “I can't believe this... I'm being blamed for something that hasn't happened yet!” 

“Calm down Caruso.” said Fiona. “No one is blaming you for anything. We're just saying...”

Caruso growled. “I know what you're saying. You're all saying that if Victor catches us, it'll be completely my fault!”

Moynihan placed a hand on Caruso's shoulder. “Perhaps it's time for you and the others to go home. It is getting late anyway. Perhaps sleep will help calm your nerves.” She said in an almost motherly way. She hated to see the children upset. She smiled softly as she felt Caruso relax his shoulders and breathe a sigh of defeat.

“All right, Ms. Moynihan.” Caruso said. 

“Oh man, I promised my folks I would be home about ten minutes ago!” Fiona said, running towards her motorcycle and hopping on. “Goodnight!”

“And I need to help out my folks with the garage.” Max said as he hopped on his motorcycle. “See ya, Professor Moynihan!”

As Buzz and Rodger got on their motorcycles and said their goodbyes, Caruso lingered behind a little. He placed his hand on his bike, and was about to get on. But something was stopping him. Something was on his mind. He turned back to Moynihan, who was still standing there. He sighed, and walked back towards her.

Moynihan frowned slightly. “Is something the matter, Caruso?” The woman inquired.

“Do you think they're right?” Caruso asked. “Do..you think Victor will find out the truth..because of me?”

“Oh don't worry about what the others said.” Moynihan said in a comforting tone. “They're just as capable of exposing the secret as you are. All it would take is one slip up. Anyway don't worry so much about it. You should get some rest now.”

“All right.” Caruso said. “Goodnight, Ms. Moynihan.” With that, Caruso got on his motorcycle and drove away.

Moynihan smiled, and closed the door. She heard some kind of beeping coming from the computer upstairs. She hurried up as fast as she could and made her way towards the computer she had used to train her students on. She closed down the game and opened up another menu. It was a map of the USA, similar to Victor's. The radar had picked up something.

She couldn't suppress a gasp as she recognized the symbol flashing on the screen. It was Victor's symbol. He was coming back to Maine. And to make matters worse, it looks like he was heading straight towards Kittery High. “Oh no...”

She swiftly picked up a phone and dialed Max. He was assigned second-in-command after all. The phone rang twice and she heard a click, and then a voice on the other side. “Hello?” Max asked. “Who is this?”

“This is Mothersaurus.” Prof. Moynihan said.

“What is it?” Max asked.

“I just picked up something on the radar.” Moynihan said, sounding concerned. “Victor is coming to Kittery High.”

“What?!” Max said breathlessly. “Why? Is he going to try to spread his mutant monsters or mutant plants again?”

“I wish I knew, Max.” Moynihan said. “But I regret to inform you that I do not know what he wants at Kittery High. Maybe he wants to interrogate some students and...” Her voice trailed off. Her eyes gazed on the date the monitor displayed. She started to shake visibly, and she almost dropped the phone in her hand.

Max noticed the abrupt stop and became concerned. “Is something wrong?”

“He isn't heading towards Kittery High... he's already here.” Moynihan said, barely above a whisper.

Now it was Max's turn to gasp. “What?! He's already here? Why would he go to Kittery High?”

“He must know something, but..I can't think of what...except...” Moynihan trailed off again. There was something that happened at Kittery that Victor Veloci may have found out about. There was the football tryouts that Caruso and Max participated in. Caruso had been using his dinosaur powers to cheat so he could please his parents. He admitted to not using a whole lot, but could Victor of spotted him somehow anyway? Or could one of the students reported the strange behavior directly to Victor? “Oh no...” She breathed.

“Do you know why he came?” Max asked worriedly.

“I think I do...” She said. “I think he's coming for Caruso.”

“What..but why... how did he.... Oh no.. the football game!” Max slapped himself in the face. “Someone must have seen it..and they must have told Victor! What are we going to do, Ms. M?”

“I'm not sure at the moment. I doubt he knows where any of you kids live, so I suspect he'll be at the school tomorrow to find Caruso. Tell the others to keep an eye out for him. If you see him, try to behave like you normally would. Don't draw attention to yourself. “ Moynihan explained. “Tell Caruso if he sees Victor, to just get away. Chances are whoever told Victor what they saw may have also given a description of him. We can't risk Caruso getting spotted.”

“Will do, Moynihan. Max out.” Max said. Then the phone went dead.

Moynihan hung up the phone, and looked out the window at the darkened sky. She felt her heart grow heavy. What were they to do if Victor knows the truth? And what if Victor found her there? He didn't know she worked as a teacher at Kittery High. Even in her old age, he'd still recognize her by scent. Would he single her out as well? She shook her head. She shouldn't have to worry. As long as Caruso stayed hidden, and she and the others acted casually, there would be no reason for Victor to suspect anything. She prayed he would be discouraged and leave disgruntled and disappointed.

“Good luck to us all.” Moynihan said as she turned out the lights and headed to the bedroom. Rump ran up next to the couch and curled up next to it, and went to sleep.

The next day, the Dino Squad, now in Kittery High, were gathered in the library, where they hoped to discuss the situation without drawing attention to themselves. They all sat at one table together, a couple times looking around to make sure no one was watching. Caruso folded up his arms angrily.

“I still don't understand why I have to go running like a chicken.” Caruso said a bit bitterly.

“Because, Caruso, Victor might know you can turn into a dinosaur, and if he catches you, he could force information from you.” Max tried to explain.

“I doubt that player got a good enough look at me for...” Caruso started.

Fiona interrupted him. “But we can't take that risk, Caruso. Max is right. The best thing you can do is hide anytime you see Victor. Don't let him see you. Who knows? He might even recognize you from what the football player told him, provided that's what happened anyway.

“See?” Caruso stated. “Even you don't know if that really happened at all. Maybe Victor was here for another reason. Why should I get myself all worked up over nothing?” Buzz opened up his mouth to give a remark of his own, but stopped when Rodger gave him a nudge.

“Look, Caruso, this is serious. Victor is here, in our school. If he knows anything, anything at all about what what happened...we just can't risk it. We don't want you to get hurt.” Max said as gently and firmly as he could. “And we don't want to jeopardize the team. If something happens to us..who'll save the world from Victor Veloci?”

Caruso growled softly. “I can take care of myself!” The blue-haired teen said, sitting up from his chair. “I don't need to be babysat!”

“We're not babysitting you, Caruso.” Rodger said. “We just want you to keep out of harm's way. We're just trying to help you.”

“Yeah, Caruso. Don't be so sour about.” Fiona chimed in.

Caruso sank back in his chair. He had to admit, he did seem to make a big deal out of this. They were speaking the truth after all. They were just worried about his welfare. And not just his welfare, but the safety of themselves, and others. He didn't want to believe Victor might know he was a dinosaur. But if he did know, he couldn't really risk getting spotted. If Victor did know what he looked like, and if he saw him, he could come up with a valid excuse to get him alone.

“All right...” Caruso said softly, giving into his friends. “I promise I'll hide if I see Victor rearing his ugly head my way.”

“Promise?” Max said, his hand on Caruso's shoulder.

“I promise.” Caruso said, managing a small smile. “Don't worry about me. Victor won't know I'm here.”

At that moment, the school bell rang. The group of teens looked up at the nearby clock. Science class was going to start soon. They knew they better pack up their things and get going. Prof. Moynihan didn't like to deal with tardy students. Max pushed himself away from the desk and slowly rose up to his feet. “Well, time for class.” He said as the others got up from their seats as well. One by one, they started to walk out of the library doors. Science class was on the other side of the building. They would have to move quickly if they wanted to get there before the doors closed and the class started.

After Fiona, Buzz, and Rodger left, Max stopped in the doorway, and realized Caruso hadn't left yet. He turned around to see Caruso had sat back down. The jock groaned slightly. He didn't have much time to waste. He was about to walk out the door, but stopped himself. Giving another groan, the teen walked back to the table, and put his hands on it and leaned towards Caruso. “Hey, it's time to go class. Are you coming or what?”

Caruso looked up at Max, appearing confused. “I thought I was supposed to stay hidden.”

“Not during Science class. Remember, we're all in that class. If Victor knows anything, he wouldn't try to...” Max tried to explain.

“Well you do have a good point there.” Caruso said, smiling a bit. He then frowned a bit. “So what am I supposed to do the rest of the day? Maybe I should just call in sick and go home.”

Max was growing a bit impatient. If they didn't hurry it up, they would be late for class. And what if Victor spotted them on the way there? It wasn't like he didn't have the power to make them come with him. Surely he would have spoken with the teachers, and they probably gave him permission to do that if he felt the need to. The only place they were really safe was Ms. Moynihan's class. And they only had a couple minutes now to get there.

“Listen, Caruso. We'll try to discuss this in Ms. Moynihan's classroom.” Max said, trying to pull Caruso from his seat. “It's going to start soon, and we don't want to get caught in the hallway. Victor might spot you and try to take you with him. He's probably convinced the teachers to allow him to do that.”

“So..why doesn't he just tell them to send me into an office alone with the vicious raptor?” Caruso said sarcastically, trying to hide a grin.

“Don't give him any ideas.” Max hissed. He roughly pulled Caruso out of his seat and started to drag him out the door with him. “Now let's go.”

“All right, but can you at least let me go?” Caruso complained. “I have legs you know.”

Max released his grip on Caruso and they started down the hallway. Hordes of students were walking in every direction, heading to their respective classes. It was unusually crowded this day, making navigating the hallways even more difficult than usual. Max and Caruso had to push and squeeze their way past many other students who are trying just as hard to get through themselves. Caruso felt himself being pushed back a little. Grunting, he managed to squeeze through two more students, and Max was not having an easier time himself. He was nearly knocked in a whole new direction because of a student that wasn't paying attention to where he was going. 

Caruso suddenly felt himself being pushed up against a locker due to another group of students walking his direction. He looked around to try to find Max, but he had already disappeared down the hallway. Caruso knew there had to be only about a minute left to get back to his class. He pushed his way through the crowd and tried to follow Max's direction. But with so many students desperately trying to reach their own class, Caruso didn't notice he was being herded in another direction, and towards another part of the school.

Max arrived at Moynihan's class just in time. As he walked in, the bell had rung again, and everyone else was already seated down. He made his way to his seat and sat down. He looked at Ms. Moynihan as she was starting the class. Today's subject seemed to be about DNA again. This past week she seemed to want to focus on DNA and genes in general. Max didn't mind. He was pretty good on this subject. So were the others, well except for Caruso. Caruso may have been good with sports, and good with looking good in general. But he was no whiz when it came to subjects like Science and Math.

He chuckled softly and looked behind him to greet Caruso. Caruso would sit next to Buzz in class, and they were at the top row. But his smile cleared away when he only saw an empty chair. Where was Caruso? He was right behind him in the hallway, and Caruso knows very well where Ms. Moynihan's room was. It wouldn't be like him to get lost. Maybe he was just lagging behind a bit, yes. That had to be it. Max tried to calm himself down and turned back to the teacher as she pulled out some slides to begin the class with.

The class had started now. The jock was trying to focus on the teacher, and tried to follow along with what she was telling them. But his thoughts kept going back to Caruso. About ten minutes had passed already, and there was still no sign of him. He was never this late. He would sometimes be caught in the bathroom, putting in hair gel for several minutes, trying to make it look good. But he wasn't vain enough to be more than ten minutes late, could he?

Max eyed the remaining team members. They each gave him the same worried look. Something just wasn't right. Caruso should have been here by now, and yet they hadn't heard the door open, or hear one of his usual excuses of being late. And Max could tell Ms. Moynihan was looking worried as well. Several times, she would quickly glance up at the door, expecting Caruso come in. But since she was in the middle of teaching, she couldn't just leave the class to find Caruso. This wasn't an elementary school. This was high school. The students were should be responsible enough to show up in class at the right time. 

Ms. Moynihan was thinking of calling up the principal to let him know there was a student wandering the hallways. But she decided against that. She didn't know when or if Victor was going to be in the school at any given time. If she told the principal, the principal would speak over the intercom, telling Caruso to go the office. If Victor happened to be inside the building, he would hear that, and he could make his way towards the office to catch up to Irwin. She couldn't take that risk. She trusted Max had given Caruso the warning, so he would know to hide if he spotted Veloci.

Buzz fumbled with his pencil and glanced again over at the empty seat where Caruso was supposed to be sitting. He couldn't imagine what was taking him so long. The hallways indeed crowded today, but that shouldn't have been a problem, right? They've dealt with crowds like that before, and still made it to class on time. But on the other hand, he had noticed it was a bit too crowded today. He couldn't really figure out why, though. There weren't anymore students today...Then it hit him. He recalled some classes had switched, making more students go in one particular way, which would contribute to an increased difficulty of navigating the hallways. If Caruso was caught up in that crowd, he could have been pushed towards another part of the school...

“Hey, what's wrong?” asked a voice from someone below him.

“Oh..hey McFinn.” Buzz greeted. McFinn had been moved to a new seat after the bullying incident, and he no longer picked on Buzz. While they hadn't been that close of friends, they now respected each other. “I'm just worried about Caruso. Have you seen him?”

McFinn, the chubby student, shook his head. “I'm sorry, I haven't. Why?”

“No reason. I'm just...a bit worried about him.” Buzz said before turning his attention back on the teacher. He didn't want to get detention for talking in class, and neither did McFinn.

Caruso panted as he leaned against a broad door. “F-Finally..got here.” He heaved slowly as he tried to catch his breath. The bell had already rang, and he knew he was so very late. But he hadn't run into Victor at all in the hallway, and once he entered the room, he would be out of Victor's sights, at least for the next hour or so. He fumbled with the door handle and turned it. He opened up, about to call out to Moynihan, but he shut his mouth at the site.

The room was completely dark and empty. The room didn't look anything like Moynihan's. Instead he saw instruments strewn across several desks and on the walls. Music sheets were plastered on the wall, and the room in general was of a different color. One of the windows was shattered due to a baseball incident. Caruso looked around the room. Unless Moynihan suddenly changed profession, he was clearly in the wrong room. The music class was nowhere near the Science room. He must have taken a wrong turn.

“Oh no..the guys are gonna kill me...” Caruso grumbled as he shut the door and turned around. He looked down the hallway, and tried to remember where he needed to go. He had gone to this school for a couple years now, so he should know his way around by now. But today, today was different. He must be getting as worried about Victor as the others are. He had to laugh it off. Although he agreed to hide from Victor if he saw him, he still refused to believe Victor would recognize him. Oh sure he's seen his face before, but not for very long. The first time Victor laid eyes on him and his friends was when he used a trick to fool Victor into thinking one of his own men was crazy. He remembered how Veloci reacted to that. He had scared off that one guy when he mentioned something about dinner. Caruso pondered what happened to that guy.

He suspected Victor probably ate the poor guy. Just the way he was looking at him just made him shudder a bit, feeling sorry for that guy. In a way, he couldn't blame him for running off like that. He felt relieved, at that moment, that Victor didn't know that they knew he was a Velociraptor. Victor was still hiding his secret identity from the world, and, despite how much it bothered him mentally, he had to continue acting like a human. The only ones who knew his secret identity was his own henchmen, the Dino Squad, and Ms. Moynihan. And they had to keep it a secret themselves, for if the truth were to come out, Moynihan had feared that more harm would come. The people may not understand, and label the Dino Squad, not just Victor and his goons, as the enemy.

But he pushed it aside. He had to stop thinking about that insane Velociraptor now. “Okay..so if Music class is here, then Science class should be...” He told himself as he made his way back towards the library where he had been about fifteen minutes ago. He stopped in front of the doorway, and looked down both hallways that branched out a few inches past the library doors. “Then Science class should be... down here.” He made a turn to the right. “Man, how am I going to explain this to Ms. Moynihan?”

“Ms. Moynihan?” said a voice behind him. Caruso stopped short. He recognized that voice. But he couldn't act so suspiciously. He slowly turned around and saw Victor Veloci standing there, leaning against the wall. He was smiling at the young boy, and was making no threatening gestures. He didn't make a move towards the boy, nor did he try to lure the boy to come near him. Instead he just folded his arms, and asked, “Who is Ms. Moynihan? Is she your teacher?” Victor asked softly.

“I...” Caruso started, but Veloci interrupted him.

“And why aren't you in your class? Wouldn't she be angry with you?” Victor asked, trying to make himself sound concerned. He was trying his best not to sound angry or annoyed when talking about Moynihan. He was not expecting to hear her name while in this school. So this is where she was hiding the whole time. She had disguised herself as a school teacher. If he didn't think she was institutionalized before, this would surely change his mind. Moynihan had disappeared from his sights about thirty years ago. He wouldn't be surprised if this is where she was hiding the whole time.

Such a coward she was, Victor believed. He recalled how furious he was when his initial plan to bring her back hadn't worked. In fact, it only made her worse. It made her even more like the humans. She had become even closer to them than before. And this, working as a teacher, was proof. Teaching the next generation of humans... Victor couldn't think of anything lower for a Velociraptor to be part of. The Joanne he knew wouldn't waste time on humans. She would follow him, no matter where he went. And now the humans had brainwashed her... The thought of it sickened him.

“Well...” Caruso broke his train of thoughts. “You're probably right.” He said hurriedly. “I'd better get back to class now. So if you don't mind, I best be going now.” He suddenly felt someone stop him, a hand gripping his shoulder. He looked up at Victor, and asked, “What are you doing?”

Victor tried to look as concerned as he could without appearing suspicious. “You seem..troubled. Is something the matter?” 

Irwin let out a sigh and turned his head away. “Oh nothing is the matter, sir. “

“Oh come now..surely there must be something bothering you.” Victor said, trying to coax the teen to relax his shoulders. Victor didn't want to make his move if the teen was too tense. Drawing blood without being noticed wasn't going to be easy. He couldn't very well just order a blood draw from the kid. That would appear too suspicious. He would have to get a tiny amount. A tiny amount would be enough, and he could do that without the use of a needle. Oh sure he could have just sent a mutant mosquito after Caruso, but insects aren't known for their intelligence, and it would surely feed on more than one student.

“Well I should be heading back to class anyway.” Caruso said, trying to get himself away from Victor.

“Then let me walk you to your class.” Victor offered, gently pushing Caruso towards the door he was headed. Caruso gulped, but tried not to show his nervousness. Victor was just leading him to the door that's all. Maybe he really hadn't recognized him.

When Caruso wasn't looking, Victor slowly transformed three of his finger nails into raptor talons. He slowly applied pressure as they got closer and closer to the door. With a quick flick of the wrist, he broke the skin, and three small cuts were now present on Caruso's shoulder. Caruso let out a yelp. “What was that?” He said, looking at Victor in shock.

Victor attempted to look apologetic. “Oh dear..must have slipped.” He said, his bloodied hand now behind his back. “I apologize.” He backed up away from Caruso, and turned toward where a student would walk if they were going to exit the building. “This concludes my visit to Kittery High.”

Caruso frowned slightly. “What were you doing here?” asked the young blue-haired student. “I thought big businessmen like yourself had better things to do than visit high schools.”

Victor chortled at this remark. “Right you are, boy. But you see, I heard reports of something..strange going on here. But I guess I listened to the wrong reports.” He shrugged. He had been disappointed many times before anyway. He just learned to deal with it. “Anyway, I must get back to my company, Raptor Dyne, before they begin a search party for me. Pleasure doing business with you, Irwin Caruso.”

Caruso gaped. “Wait..how did you know my...” But when he turned around, Victor was gone. “..name...” Man, when he wanted to make an exit, he was really quick about it. And pleasure doing business with him? What was Victor talking about? He hadn't even gotten any important information. Maybe it was just his way of saying farewell. But..he hadn't said that the last time they had a run-in with him, or any other time.

Victor was already out of the door and walking towards his van. He smirked as he looked at his still transformed hand. There was some blood on them, enough to have his scientists test them for dinosaur DNA. He opened up the door to his van, and hopped in. “Let's head back to the lab. I have something I want the scientists there to test for me.”

“Yes sir, Veloci.” responded one of the drivers as they turned the vehicle on and drove away from the school.

Victor eyed the school one last time before closing his eyes and laughing to himself. “Caruso, truly you are the key to help me complete my dream.” He was fighting against his raptor instincts to lick the blood on his fingers. The sheer smell was starting to get to him, but he would have to try his best to ignore it. This would probably be his only chance at getting a blood sample.

“And if you turn out be a Stegosaurus, just like that football player said, then you will be my first guinea pig...” Victor said silently, almost as though he was warning the student. “And with you, I will find the others...”

Caruso placed a finger where he felt the sharp pain. He winced a little. It wasn't that bad, but it still hurt nonetheless. He pulled his finger up and saw a few dots of red. That idiot had cut him! He couldn't understand why he would do that. Maybe he really did just slip up and accidentally cut him. Victor may have been feeling really angry and transformed involuntarily. No, that wasn't like Victor at all. As he pondered this, he reached for the door with his other hand.

Suddenly the door opened up, and he almost collided with another student. “Whoa..watch where you're going, you clumsy...” He stopped when he realized who it was. “Oh Max! I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you.”

“Where have you been?” Max asked sternly. “Moynihan just sent me out to look for you.”

“I was just...in the bathroom...” Caruso said.

“Caruso...don't lie.” Max warned.

“Okay, I won't lie...” Caruso looked at Max straight in the eyes. “I'll tell you exactly what happened. I got lost, that's what happened! Thanks for leaving me behind.”

Max narrowed his eyes. “Why didn't you try to keep up?” The jock folded his arms.

“What did you think I was trying to do?!” Caruso complained. “I was trying to catch up to you, but there was just so many people, and you disappeared so quickly...!”

“Why didn't you just call us on your cellphone?” Max asked.

“We aren't allowed to use our cellphones in class, remember?” Caruso folded his arms as well.

“Well that surely didn't stop you, now did it?” Max growled softly.

“I...” But he knew Max was right. Caruso had turned on his cellphone in class once. He was out of hair gel, and needed to order some more. But he couldn't wait until class was over. Instead, he had picked up the nearest phone, his cellphone, and called up a store that delivered. It was in the middle of one of Moynihan's lectures. Needless to say, he was caught shortly afterward and his cellphone was confiscated for the rest of the day. “Well I learned my lesson after that, so...”

Max had to laugh at this. “Oh no you didn't. Remember the time when you called the hospital in the middle of the class because you thought you were balding?” Caruso blushed a bit at this comment. He was right after all. Last month, he had done such a thing. He saw a few hairs on his desk and jumped to conclusions that he was balding. He considered it a medical emergency and had dialed up the hospital about it. People still joke about him involving that incident, and the hospital still doesn't take him that seriously because of that ridiculous phone call. While he didn't lose his cellphone, he had earned detention for disturbing the public or something like that. He couldn't remember what the reason was exactly.

“I would have been back in class sooner if Victor hadn't...” Caruso started, and this really caught Max's attention. 

“Victor?! He was here?” Max looked a bit horrified, and relieved that nothing happened to Caruso. “Did he see you?” Caruso nodded his head solemnly. “Why didn't you hide?”

“Like I could. He saw me before I saw him, and if I ran away, that would just make him grow more suspicious. Anyway I didn't think he recognized me. He didn't try to lead me away or anything. He just..walked me up to the door.” Caruso explained.

“And that's all he did?” Max said. “He didn't do anything else?”

“Well, he did call me Irwin Caruso...” Caruso explained.

“What?!” Max gripped his shoulders. “He knew your name? You didn't tell him your name did you?”

Caruso gritted his teeth in slight pain. The cuts were a bit more painful than he had initially believed. “No..I didn't.” He tried to push Max's hand off his shoulder. “Ow! Don't touch me there, please.” Once Max's hand was removed, he gently rubbed the sore area with his hand. “It stings.” Max narrowed his eyes, and gripped Caruso's hand and pulled it from the shoulder. He pulled the collar of the shirt until he could see a reddish tinge in the skin, along with three small cuts. There was still a bit of blood coming from them, but it didn't look too serious. Still, this alarmed Max.

“Victor slashed you.” Max released Caruso. “He walked right up and slashed you.” 

“I don't think it's that serious...” Caruso said. “It's just a little cut. It was probably just an accident.”

“No..you know when it comes to Veloci, it's never an accident.” Max said seriously.

“Still...” Caruso started, but a look form Max shut him up.

Max turned back to the door. “Come on, we should head back in class. Ms. Moynihan said she'll let this incident slide, just this once, considering the circumstances. When we get to the lighthouse today, tell Moynihan what happened.” 

The two students walked into the classroom. A few students look up at them, but most of them were continuing with their work. Moynihan temporarily stopped to look up at Max and Caruso. She gave a quick smile and nod, acknowledging them. She looked relieved that Caruso was now in the classroom. So she continued to focus on her work.

Caruso walked up to his seat and sat down next to Buzz, who gave him a quick nudge. “What is it?” 

“So where have you been? We were worried about ya.” Buzz asked, tapping his pencil on his paper. “I mean you were gone for a pretty long time. Did you run into Victor?”

“If you must know, then yes I did.” Caruso replied after a few seconds. Buzz opened up his mouth to say something. “But I'll tell you about it when we get to the lighthouse okay?” Buzz nodded, and Caruso leaned back in his seat as Ms. Moynihan continued the class.

After ten more minutes, she stopped, and sat back down on her seat. She shuffled some papers on her desk and set them aside. She cleared her throat to address the students. They put down their pencils and looked at her, awaiting for her to say what she needed to tell them. She eyed the door, as though she was expecting company. “Class, I have an announcement today.” She said, interlocking her fingers and placing her palms on her desk. “We have a new student starting today. She just moved in the neighborhood and this is her first day of class, so I hope you all make her feel welcome.”

The door opened up, and a single figure walked in. She had short curly hear of an auburn shade. Despite the warm weather outside, she was dressed in a red sweatshirt and darker red sweatpants. She gave a friendly smile as she strode through the door, down the steps in the middle of the classroom, and walked up to Ms. Moynihan. “Hello am I in the right class?” She asked in a polite manner.

“Yes of course.” Moynihan said before addressing the class. “This is Michelle. I would like one of you to volunteer to help her out on the assignment today. Do I have any volunteers?” She looked around the room, looking for someone she felt would be suitable for this task, although it was simple. She finally let her eyes fall on one student in particular. “Buzz, why don't you help out our new student?”

“Oh, sure, Professor Moynihan.” Buzz said. Michelle made her way up the steps and sat in the empty seat next to Buzz. “Hello, Michelle. My name is Buzz and..”

“I know.” Michelle interrupted him. “I heard the teacher call you by your name.” She chuckled.

“Do you find my name funny?” Buzz asked.

“It reminds me of someone I met online yesterday. He had a name, very similar to that one.” Michelle explained as she pulled out her new Science book and tried to find the chapter they were currently on. “Buzzinator or something, he called himself.”

The punk teen gasped. He stared at the new student for several seconds, almost not believing what he had just heard. And that voice, it sounded so familiar... “Hey Buzz! What's wrong?” He heard Caruso ask him, who was shaking him a bit by the shoulders. Buzz shook himself back to his senses and looked at Caruso. “What's the matter with you? Why did you daze off like that?”

“Dude..it's her.” Buzz whispered, pointing at Michelle. “She's the one I was fighting on that game yesterday.”

“No way...” Caruso whispered, staring at Michelle for himself. “What are the odds of this?”

“Ten thousand to zero?” Buzz had said randomly, looking back at Michelle.

Noticing the two boys were staring at her for no apparent reason at all, Michelle frowned and folded her arms. “What are you two looking at?” She didn't like getting stared at, because when people would look at her that way, it was usually because they wanted something, and it would usually involve something she didn't want to do or have any part of. And to make things worse, this time it was two guys staring at at once.

“Nothing.” Caruso and Buzz said in unison. Michelle just rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders in a manner that said she either didn't believe them or she didn't care. She picked up her book and started to skim through it.

“We're on this chapter.” Buzz said as he leaned forward to show her his open book. She looked over and took note of the page numbers.

Michelle nodded and flipped through the pages until she got to the right one, page one hundred twenty. She narrowed her eyes as she read the chapter title. “DNA and Genes. Great, my weak subject.”

“You can always ask for help, Pr—I mean, Michelle.” Buzz offered, nearly calling her by her username. Luckily he caught himself and stopped. And Michelle didn't seem to notice. She just gave him a nod, and the class continued on as usual, with the occasional incident of Michelle having to ask Buzz for help. It was her first day, so it was permitted, but she knew that the next day or so she would have to be on her own. She couldn't keep asking for help.

Unbenownst to everyone in the room, except for Michelle herself, her foot glowed, and transformed into a scaly black leg with sharp talons. She stretched the talons, spreading the toes apart. As she glanced over at Buzz, she quickly changed her foot back, narrowly missing him catching her changing. She may tell someone about this secret, but for now, she'll have to keep her mouth shut. However, someone did see the transformation. Caruso's eyes widened but he kept himself quiet, except for a whisper.

“...another one...?” Caruso spoke softly.

After school was over, the Dino Squad walked out of the building. They headed towards the rack where their fancy motorcycles were. No one in the school questioned them about them. The usual comments were that they looked cool. Victor would most likely just think the kids were big dinosaur fans, and probably wouldn't make the connection between the bikes and the perfect dinosaurs. Fiona walked up to her Spino-Cycle and knelt down to unlock the chains connecting it and the other bikes to the rail.

Rodger was busy drinking a can of soda he got out of the school's soda machine. It had gotten hotter as the day went on, and he was dehydrated being in the school all day with little to drink. Once the last bit of soda was gone, he wiped his brow, crushed the soda can in his hand, and tossed it behind him. It landed in the trash can.

Max still had his sports uniform on, and his helmet was still on his head. He reached up and unbuckled it and pulled it off, carrying it on his side. He stood next to his Tyranno-Cycle and set down the football helment and picked up the motorcycle one instead, and placed it on his head. Fiona put her helmet on her head as well.

Buzz and Caruso were walking side by side. They were the last ones to reach the bike rack, and they weren't looking where they were going. Their eyes were on each other, glaring, focused. Max sighed. They were arguing about something again. As the bickering teens got closer, their words became more and more audible over the sound of other students bustling around.

“I'm telling you, I saw her change!” Caruso pointed at Buzz accusingly. “Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen!”

“Look here, dude, just because she's new doesn't mean you have to go making up stories about her!” Buzz said, attempting to defend the new student, Michelle.

“All right you two.” Max walked up to them, wanting to stop them before things got ugly. “What are you two arguing about now?”

“Knowing them,” Fiona chuckled in her helmet, “it isn't anything that important. Probably have something to do with hair again.”

“Or the cellphone.” Rodger chimed in, his hand on his mouth as he giggled. “Maybe Caruso sent him another message.”

“No!” Buzz pointed at Caruso. “He said Michelle transformed her leg during class!”

Caruso growled. “But it's true!” The blue-haired teen held out his hands as he tried to reason with the others. “It didn't last very long, but I saw one of her feet turn into a dino foot, black and scaly... You've got to believe me, I wouldn't make this up!”

“But..we're the only ones that got infected with that dinosaur DNA, remember?” Fiona inquired. They had all got infected by diving into that specific part of the water. And they didn't see anyone else dive in. No, if what Caruso said was true, there would have to have been another way. But what other way could there be other than direct contact with the contaminated ooze?

As Rodger picked up his helmet, he decided to have his input. He had his own idea of how it would be possible for someone else to have been infected. “There could be a way for that to happen, Fiona.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked, walking back to his Tyranno-Cycle.

Rodger said, “What I mean is it might be possible to get second-hand exposure to the primordial ooze that infected us.” When the others gave him a quizzical look, he gave a sigh. “Well it's like second-hand smoke. Even though you aren't smoking it, you can still get sick from inhaling the smoke from the cigarette.”

“But I still don't understand.” Buzz placed his helmet on his head. “How could she get second-hand exposure if she just moved here? We were the only ones who jumped into the water to go after that stray dog.”

“Buzz has got a point there, Rodger.” Fiona said thoughtfully.

“Is it possible she got it some other way?” Max asked.

Caruso threw his arms up in the air. “She must have! She transformed, I swear!”

“Well,” Max jumped on his bike. “We'd better tell Moynihan about it. Let's roll!” The Dino Squad hopped on their motorcycles and made their way back to the lighthouse.


	2. Deception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“So are the tests back yet?” Victor asked as he sat at his computer. He had arrived several hours ago with a blood sample from Caruso. He was now waiting for it to be analyzed. Normally this kind of test would take a few weeks, at least by normal human means. But Victor had created a technology that would detect dinosaur DNA in a few hours. After sitting down for a few hours, he started to feel a little uncomfortable and started to shift a bit in his seat.

“Negative sir,” said one of his minions. “But it shouldn't be too long.”

“I've been waiting here long enough.” Victor's nictating eyelids closed, and when they reopened, they were just tiny glowing spheres of yellow with a black background. The minion backed away immediately and hurried to where the scientists were. Victor's eyes changed back to their human state and he leaned back in his chair. That would hurry things up a bit.

Before long, one of the scientists came out with a sheet of paper with the DNA patterns on it. He stood next to Veloci, and said, “Sir, we found some...rather unusual traces in this kid's blood. I think you may want to take a look at this.”

Victor grabbed the sheet of paper and looked through the data written on it. At first he didn't see anything really unusual about it. The DNA was typical of that of a modern human, and there were no unusual spikes in it. But as he skimmed further, he did notice a change. There was an abnormal pattern hidden deep in the kid's genetic code, one that didn't resemble anything he's seen in a human. He peered closer to try and recognize the pattern.

The odd DNA looked a bit..thicker than the rest, and appeared a bit flimsy, as though it didn't fit perfectly in the DNA code. And yet it stayed there, unmoving, as if it was glued there. As he read down the paper further, there was a description of the strange DNA, including the acids that made it up. And he recognized the pattern.

“..Stegosaurus.” Victor whispered, narrowing his eyes. “Caruso has Stegosaurus DNA in him.”

It was starting to make sense to him now, and memories started to flood back to him. The talent show, the park, the abandoned building, the motorcycle tracks.. oh why hadn't he noticed this before? Why hadn't he put the pieces together? How could he miss something that was so..obvious? He crumbled the paper in his hands as he seethed with anger. “I've been such a fool. The answer was right in front of me the whole time.”

He couldn't track the dinosaurs not because they were too perfect. He couldn't track them because they weren't really pure dinosaurs at all. They were just teenagers that could turn INTO dinosaurs, and apparently at will. He didn't know how they gained control of their forms so easily and so quickly, but he would worry about that later. Regardless of them being human, their dinosaur forms were still perfect, not any bizarre mutations.

He then recalled the lighthouse again. There would have to be some signifance with it. The Stegosaurus..no Caruso..he had tried to stop him. The yellow van was heading towards the lighthouse. There had to be something special about that SUV. Maybe Caruso's other dino-transforming friends were in the van, yes. Yes, yes that had to be it.

And the lighthouse...that must be their lair. That must be where they gather, where they keep their instruments, their tools, everything. And if the students knew about his plans to take over the world, if they knew how to neutralize the ooze he spreads, then someone must have trained them. Someone who knows his plans, knows the way he thinks, knows about the primordial ooze.. Someone like... Joanne Moynihan! It figures she would be the one training these teenangers.

And the incident involving the park, when he had punished one of his men because he thought he tricked Victor by trapping five children. Now that Victor thought of it, his men have never intentionally lied to him before. And he had spotted some dinosaur tracks in the vicinity the following morning. Due to him still being sore with his employee, he paid him no mind when he reported he spotted the dinosaur tracks mixing in with human ones. If the children could turn into dinosaurs, that would very well explain how they were able to fool him so easily. Those clever little tramps... Moynihan had indeed taught them well.

Then something else started to add up, something he had suspected before. He knew that Moynihan was almost as clever as he was, maybe even more so in some ways. When they were partners, she had displayed remarkable talent in human technology. Even after thirty years, this knowledge would not have waned. Victor did recall that, anytime he got a perfect dinosaur in the sight of his satellites, the picture would go static. He had thought it was just bad luck or coincidence. But now it seemed it was a deliberate act of sabotage. Someone was preventing him from seeing the perfect dinosaurs, and no doubt it had to be Ms. Moynihan. He had already suspected this before, but now, knowing that Caruso could turn into a Stegosaurus, his suspicions were confirmed. Moynihan was protecting these kids.

“I knew it. She really is blocking my satellites. Well now...” Victor said as he started to type on the keyboard. He clicked a button and it enlargened several times, showing the Kittery area. He followed the road down a ways. If his suspicions were correct, then when he would try to view the lighthouse, he would see static.

And sure enough he did. The screen went black and white noise filled the screen. This proved it, he believed. It really was Moynihan blocking out his satellites. He now had the location. Victor grinned evilly. “I gotcha, you little traitor...”

“That was close...” Moynihan whispered as she closed the lid on her laptop computer. The computer had alerted her that Victor was trying to scan the lighthouse with his technology. She didn't understand why, since as far as she knows, Victor doesn't know there's anything special about the lighthouse. And the Dino Squad hadn't arrived yet, so there was literally no dino activity. Either way, she couldn't let him detect any of her equipment in the building, or else they could be in big trouble. That crazed Velociraptor could easily trap them in the lighthouse. There wasn't a lot of room to run around, and it was dangerously close to a ledge.

The only advantage they would have being trapped inside is that they would know the building better than Veloci, and possibly better able to trap him that way. Victor probably has little idea of all the weapons Moynihan actually had. There were even some she kept secret from the children. It was for their own good. These weapons were far too dangerous for youngsters to play around with. Only she had ever operated them, as she was the only one with the knowledge necessary to activate them and control them safely. The only other one who might have the skills necessary is Victor Veloci.

But she didn't believe she had much to worry about. She had been hiding from the male Velociraptor for thirty years. The odds of him finding her now were relatively slim, near zero. But according to humans, the more time passes, the higher the chances of something occurring. If they were right, then Veloci's chances of finding her may have doubled now...or tripled. She drew in a deep breath as she grabbed her cane and scooted her chair back. It was almost time for the Dino Squad to arrive for their daily training.

As if on cue, she heard knocking at the door. “I'm coming!” She shouted as she made her way towards the door. She turned the knob and opened it, and was greeted by a familiar group of five teenagers. “Hello. Come in, come in.” She said, smiling. It was nice to finally have her mind on something other than Victor. Her students walked in, their motorcycle uniforms now off. Max and Rodger immediately sat down on the couches to relax while Fiona went over to greet Rump, who had been waiting patiently for the team to arrive. Caruso and Buzz, on the other hand, were still arguing about Michelle. They had been arguing on the entire ride to the lighthouse and was driving the other members insane.

“What are they arguing about?” Ms. Moynihan asked as she sat down in a chair and set her cane aside. Her voice was more that of annoyance rather than concern. It seemed the boys hadn't learned their lesson from yesterday.

“Caruso keeps trying to explain how he saw the new student transform into a dinosaur.” Max said.

“Well it was just her foot... but still, I'm not sure how it's even possible.” Fiona said.

“I told you, second-hand exposure.” Rodger said, looking up from a magazine he had brought with him.

“I still don't believe it.” Fiona said as she scratched Rump behind the ears. “It just sounds too unbelievable...isn't that right Rump?” Rump barked happily and licked her hand.

Joanne smiled and slowly shook her head. The reality of it hadn't quite set in yet. At first she just thought it was another prank or joke. She was about to start the lessons until she thought about the kids' words again. Had they just mentioned something about transformation? She looked back at them again, and made her way towards Caruso and Buzz, who looked like they were about to kill each other.

“Quit defending your girlfriend! She's a dinosaur!” Caruso yelled.

“She's not my girlfriend! And you're a dinosaur too! Does this mean I shouldn't trust you?!” Buzz yelled back, forming fists with his hands.

“Oh you want to fight now?” Caruso got into a fighting stance. “Well bring it!”

“Settle down, you two! It is clear you did not learn anything from yesterday, have you now?” Moynihan rapidly tapped her can on the floor to express her displeasure. This got their attention. Slowly, they relaxed their fists and let their hands hang loosely at their sides. “Have ye forgotten what I told you yesterday? About not wasting such energy on each other over ridiculous reasons?” She was now standing right next to them, her frown not lighting up as she looked back and forth between them. “What is it about this transformation that you two seem you have to argue over?”

Buzz and Caruso looked at each other, pondering on what they should tell the teacher. “Well...” Caruso began, “..during class, I saw that new kid..what's her name? Michelle?” Joanne nodded her head. “Well I saw her transform her foot.”

“Yeah, but I'm sure he's just making it up.” Buzz shrugged. “I mean, no one else saw it.”

“No one, with the exception of a few, have ever seen you transform into dinosaurs.” Moynihan explained. “Does that mean you aren't real?” She asked them and awaited a response from her mutant hunting team.

“But...how could there be another dino-human mutant?” Fiona walked over, holding Rump in her arms. “Weren't we the only ones who got exposed to that mutagen?”

At this question, Moynihan frowned slightly. She turned her head away, slightly bowed. She knew this day would come. There was something about Veloci's DNA experiments that she had never told them before. She regrets keeping it a secret for so long. She should have told them on day one. She should have warned them about the true extent of the DNA's powers. “There's...something I didn't tell you kids before, about that DNA.”

Rodger frowned slightly. He set down his magazine and sat straight up in the couch. “Ms. M, are you saying you were hiding something from us?” She nodded. “But..why? Why would you do a thing like that?”

“It was to protect you. I didn't want you to worry so much...” Moynihan looked to the ground. “And I never thought this day would come so quickly.” She interlocked her fingers and put them on her lap. “The DNA doesn't need to spread through direct contact with the substance. It is also airborne, spreading as small particles in the air, so small it's impossible to see. I do not yet know if it's possible you all are breathing out these particles, but in any spill, some DNA gets swept up in the air. From here, they are usually broken, or too small to make any real change. But if one were to accidentally inhale enough DNA, they could become mutated.”

The others stared at her in shock. But she wasn't finished yet. “It is highly unlikely this girl has much control over her transformation, or even if she has perfect dinosaur DNA just as you do. I haven't figured out just what caused that gamma contamination that perfected your forms, but the odds of it happening to a sixth person is low. But I will not rule out that possibility. She might have a perfect dinosaur form just as you all do.” Moynihan frowned and rubbed her head with her right hand. “But in order to transform perfectly, a master would have to have given her that ability.”

“Like you?” Max asked. “You were the one who helped us completely control our dinosaur forms.”

Moynihan nodded. “However, I wasn't the one who gave her that ability. There's only one other person who could have done that....” She didn't have to say it. The Dino Squad already knew who she was talking about. They know that there was another Velociraptor out there who could have easily given this kid the ability to control her dinosaur form.

And who knows how many others there could be...

WHOOOOSH!

The sleek metal doors of an elevator pulled apart, wide enough for a figure to stop inside. The figure leaned against the right wall as they pressed a few buttons. The elevator jerked a bit and then started to move up. Near the ceiling it displayed the floor it was on. The number kept rising until the number glowed red, and the elevator stopped. The doors pushed open, and the figure stepped out.

They made their way down a hallway. Doors were on both sides, and the floor was covered in tiles, and no carpeting. One of the lights on the roof was flickering. The figure groaned. They knew they had to change the light bulb sooner or later. They walked to the end of the hallway and turned left. The door was a darker color than the rest, and it had large letters on it that read 'Restricted Area.' The figure held up their hand and placed it on the scanner just outside the door. The small device whirred to life, and a faint red light scanned the hand. After a few seconds, the words 'Access Approved' flashed on the screen. There was a clicking sound, and the door was unlocked. The figure slowly opened the door, stepped inside, and shut the door behind them.

The figure walked forward, now entering a narrow metallic hallway. There were plenty of warning signs planted on the walls. The large door in front of them had a large yellow X on it and had a warning about what would happen to trespassers. The figure completely ignored these signs as they did not apply to them.

The doors opened up automatically for them as they walked by. There were scanners planted near the ceilings and were programmed to open up automatically for a select few individuals. But the final door would not open. Next to it was a card slot. The figure reached into their pocket and pulled out a silvery black card and swiped it in the slot. Another click, and the door opened up. The figure stepped out, and was now in a reddish room. It was hard to tell if the person had stepped back in time or not. It was Victor's lab!

Nearby, another figure leaned against the wall. They were about the same height as well. “Well...” said a feminine voice. “I thought you'd never get here.”

The figure stepped into the light, revealing who they were. It was Michelle, the new student at Kittery High! Michelle still wore the same outfit as before. She strode into the large room, and scoffed at the new figure. “At least I got here.” She put the card back in her pocket. “I still don't know why Victor wants me to spy on the children in that classroom...”

“He doesn't want you to spy.” said the other figure. “Just..observe.”

“And how is that different from spying, Oscura?” Michelle asked.

Oscura wore a sleeveless black top and blue jeans. Her hair was long and black as the night. She merely chuckled at Michelle. “Trust me, there's a difference.” She pushed herself from the wall and walked towards the auburn-haired girl. She gave her a quick smirk and then walked straight past her. Michelle just rolled her eyes. Oscura always had an attitude, and not even Victor could change that. Oscura pulled out a chair and sat down on it. She swiveled it so she could face Michelle.

“So, Oscura,” Michelle said as she leaned against the wall. “Any idea why Victor wanted to meet with us in here?”

Oscura simply shrugged her shoulders. “No idea. Not like I care anyway. I could easily pull off any task he lays out to me. There's nothing I can't do. Victor should make me his second-in-command..or even better. Leader.” Michelle could have sworn she saw stars in Oscura's eyes as she said that. “Oh yes..then we could really get the progress going around here...”

“Dream on!” Michelle scoffed, stifling a laugh. “Like Victor would ever let you run. You're only seventeen years old!”

“Yeah? And you're only eighteen, so shut your trap.” Oscura sneered. “You're just jealous that Victor prefers me over you.”

“I am not!” Michelle said bitterly. Even though she and Oscura were partners, they just couldn't stop getting on each other's nerves. They both sometimes wondered why Victor paired the two up. They could only reason it was because they both shared the same secret, and it would help aid Victor in his quest of transforming the world back to the way it was when dinosaurs roamed. Michelle wasn't all for this idea, but she decided to stay anyway. She had nothing better to do with her time, and she was receiving excellent pay.

Oscura on the other hand absolutely loved Victor's plans. She didn't care much about money. She just wanted to wreak as much havoc as she could. She felt a bit bitter than Victor barely let the two go out and cause any real trouble. They were mainly sent out as spies to try and find any unusual activity, and to find the perfect dinosaurs. Oscura wanted to fight someone, to sink her claws and teeth into them, and make them plead for mercy. Perhaps this is why she rarely go to on any missions. She was the type of person who would rather attack first and ask questions later. For the moment, Victor didn't want to engage anyone unless he had a really good reason, well other than hating humankind in general that is.

Michelle had been recently assigned to take part in Ms. Moynihan's classroom. It was such a sudden mission she was almost ill-prepared for it. But Victor refused to tell her exactly why he wanted her in that particular classroom. She hadn't seen anything in particular interest in the room. It just seemed like any other science room to her. “It just seems like a waste of time.” She said out loud. Oscura stared at her. “I mean, assigning me to an ordinary science class? Just..how ridiculous is that? I mean, there's nothing special about it. Why did Veloci make me waste my time?”

“I don't know...” Oscura said slowly, a dark grin spreading across her lips. “But why don't you ask him yourself?” She lifted a single finger, and pointed.

“Wha...?” Michelle turned towards the door, and her eyes widened. She hadn't heard the door reopen. There, in the doorway, stood Victor Veloci. He had a cross look on his face as he walked towards Michelle. “Veloci, sir! I-I-I didn't see you there...” She stammered, backing up against the wall. She knew the consequences for talking about Victor behind his back like that. “I'm sorry.”

“I made you waste your time? Well sorry, I guess next time I should check to see if it's okay with you!” Victor said sarcastically.

“I said I was sorry! It's just that...you didn't tell me exactly WHAT I was looking for in that room. All I saw was a bunch of useless students...” Michelle tried to explain.

“You were to keep an eye on Caruso, and any of his close friends.” Victor said, his expression softening. “That was your task. Just to observe them, and to tell me if you see anything unusual. If you did, you were not to engage them, just tell me.”

“Caruso? Why?” Michelle tilted her head quizzically.

“I've confirmed he is the perfect Stegosaurus I've been searching for.” Victor responded.

“No way...” Michelle looked at her hand, and for a few seconds, had it transform into a dinosaur's paw. “So we're not the only ones...” She wasn't sure what to make of this new information. She had always thought that only she and Oscura were 'infected' with dinosaur DNA.

Victor nodded. “And I suspect the other perfect dinosaurs are really teenagers as well. And since I usually spot the dinosaurs together, in a group, Caruso is part of a pack. But I have no idea what the names, or appearances, are of anyone he hangs out with. So although we can capture him, we aren't much closer to capturing the other four.”

“When am I going to see some action?” Oscura rudely interrupted the two, walking over, hands held out in a questionable manner. “Come on! I want to sink my teeth into something!”

The anthropomorphic raptor held his hand up to make her stop talking. “Patience, your time will come soon enough. I have a task for you, Oscura.” Victor turned to Michelle. “This tasks applies to you as well. I am sending both of you out to do something for me. ”

“Finally! A real mission!” Oscura gleamed. “Am I going to tear someone up this time?”

“Not yet...” Oscura's smile fell and she slumped her shoulders in disappointment. “However, part of this plan will involve some..combat.” Oscura looked up at him expectantly. “You two are going to work together to help me capture Caruso.”

“Just him? Why not all of them?” Oscura asked.

“Oh don't worry. We'll get them all. But I need to know their weaknesses and strengths. And Caruso will provide that information for me...” Victor grinned. 

“Like he's just going to give it away...” Michelle said, looking at her hand, transformed back into a dino paw. She flexed the claws. “I doubt he'll turn on his buddies just like that.”

Victor chuckled. He knew very well Caruso wouldn't turn on his teammates. And he had prepared for this. “Oh he'll talk...” His eyes glowed and his head shifted, and soon took the form of a red Velociraptor's head. 'Trust me...' He grinned a toothy smile. 'And I have more planned for him... But that's not of your concern right now.' He turned his head towards the monitor. 'I have located the source of the radio waves that have been blocking me from seeing the perfect dinosaurs. I couldn't figure out what to do about it at first, but I believe I have the solution.' He faced the girls again. 'And that's where you come in, Michelle.'

“Me sir?” Michelle took a step forward. “What do you want me to do? Disable their equipment or what?”

'Not just disable it... sabotage it. I don't want Moynihan to be able to track me. I want you to cut off power to that lighthouse.' Victor Veloci told her. 'Do you understand your task?' He inquired. He wanted to be sure she understood the task, as he did not like repeating himself. She gave a simple nod, though she did frown with uncertainty. Victor ignored it, and turned to Oscura, who was eagerly awaiting her assignment. 'And as for you... your task is to lure them all outside.'

“And how shall I do that, sir?” Oscura questioned, rubbing her hands together with anticipation.

Victor narrowed his glowing eyes. 'Anyway you want...'

“Oh dear...” Michelle commented softly, rubbing her head. Victor must really be desperate if he was going to send Oscura out to cause some trouble. And she could tell Oscura was going to enjoy this. A little too much, in her opinion. But she didn't question Victor's orders. If this is the way he wanted to catch the Dino Squad, then so be it. But she wondered how she could infiltrate the lighthouse without being seen. If it was really high tech, how would she manage?

“Yes! Finally, some mischief!” Oscura said excitedly, acting like a kid in a candy store. 

“What I don't understand is how am I going to get into that lighthouse? Just walk in, invited?” Michelle held her arms in the air. “Should I just ask to come on in? I'm sure they'll let me.” She was being sarcastic and they knew it.

'Why that....' Victor trailed off, and a gleam appeared in his eyes. 'That sounds wonderful!'

“You mean..she's just going to ask..?” Oscura stared at Victor in mild shock.

'Yes...and here is how it's going to work...' Victor started to explain to them his plan in more detail.

On the wall on the other side of the room, the silhouettes of the three individuals could be seen. The shadow of a raptor, looking down at young female figures as they chatted away about their plans. After about a minute, the raptor shadow pointed away, seemingly giving off an nonverbal command. The two human figures bowed in respect, and faced the other way. In a matter of seconds, they started to change form. One of them appeared to have a large crest on their head, and was relatively large. The other was smaller and more slender, a long skinny neck head up high connected to a slender head. The two dashed off. The raptor simply turned and walked away. The mission has begun.

“And I win again!” Buzz threw his arms in the air, celebrating his victory. He turned to his opponent. “Ready for another round?”

“Only if you let me win...” His opponent, Caruso, grumbled. “This is the fifth time in a row you've beaten me.”

Buzz had to laugh at that comment. Ms. Moynihan had wanted Buzz to help train Caruso with the video game. It was her punishment she assigned them. Provided, it wasn't a really harsh punishment, but it would still teach the two of them a lesson in getting along. They had really been at each other lately, and she couldn't understand why. And she had recalled how upset Caruso had been since he lost three minutes in a battle with her on the computer game. And she knew Buzz had lasted the longest of her students against her, so that influenced her decision to have Buzz and Caruso play with each other on the dinosaur game while she trained the other three.

“You know I can't do that, Caruso. Ms. Moynihan said you had to get better using your own skills, not by someone letting you win. You'll never improve that way.” Buzz told his blue-haired friend.

“Well I'm getting sick of losing.” Caruso complained. “This game must be rigged!”

“It's not rigged. You just haven't gotten the hang of the controls yet. Don't worry,” Buzz assured his friend. “You'll get the hang of it soon.” When Caruso turned to face him, Buzz couldn't help but laugh at his expression.

“That's what you said about half an hour ago!” Caruso yelled, squeezing his controller tightly.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Watch your temper. We don't wanna have to pay for a new controller, now do we?” Buzz said teasingly. “And besides you can't expect to be an expert at this in a short period of time. So don't be so hard on yourself, Irwin. Just give it some more time.”

“I don't know why I'm wasting my time on this game anyway. I should be at the store getting some more hair gel. My hair can't stay perfect on its own you know.” Caruso ran his fingers through his hair. Buzz rolled his eyes. Typical Caruso and his typical vain ways. Even after all this time fighting to save the world, he hadn't changed much, caring so much about his appearance, and often regarding his hair as perfect. “If I don't get some soon, I'll have split ends!”

“I thought only girls worried about split ends.” Buzz sniggered.

“Laugh while you can, Buzzard boy! My hair will be world famous one day!” Caruso declared.

“Sure..whatever.” Buzz picked up his controller. “Now come on, Ms. Moynihan doesn't want this lesson to end until you beat me fair and square.” Caruso groaned, but he couldn't go against Moynihan's orders. He picked up the controller and prepared himself for another losing battle. He glanced at the time, and groaned. There was still about four more hours before they all had to go home. And Moynihan wasn't going to let him stop playing the game until he either won or they had to go home. Considering his poor game skills, Caruso predicted that he would be stuck up in that room with Buzz the whole time, and so far that prediction is coming true.

“Are you sure it was a good idea having Caruso and Buzz in the same room together?” Rodger asked as he worked on another broken Chiller. “They good friends and all, but they have been fighting more frequently lately. I don't understand it, yo.”

“Caruso's just a little edgy that he missed that big sale yesterday.” Fiona tilted the spout of the bucket she was holding as she watered one of Moynihan's plants. “He'll get over it.”

“And he's probably still a bit bitter at Buzz for what happened yesterday.” Max said. He was sitting on the couch, waiting for Ms. Moynihan to return. She had gone into a restricted part of her house. She hadn't let the children venture in there, and while they never opposed, they had wondered just what she keeps in there. She said she would be back in a few minutes. The teens didn't mind, since they were in no hurry to leave. They enjoyed their visits to Moynihan's lighthouse, even though the majority of the time they were scouting for Victor Veloci or partaking in rigorous training.

“What Buzz did was immature.” Rodger said as he rubbed a cloth onto the Chiller to dry it up a bit. He wiped his brow, and wondered, for a moment, if he would ever get a day off from working on the Chillers and Spillers. Just what was the team doing with these things anyway? It was like everyday something would go wrong with them.

“Although it was hilarious.” Fiona chuckled to herself.

“As hilarious as it was, Buzz didn't have the right to do that.” Max was also not happy with Buzz's behavior no more than he was with Caruso's behavior yesterday. Sure he found it amusing, but he was a bit upset with how those two behaved the other day. Caruso was worried about some stupid sale, and Buzz just wanted to get even. “He does owe Caruso an apology.”

Fiona nodded. “As Caruso owes him an apology.” The red-haired female set the bucket down, and strode towards Max. “Remember, he was giving Buzz a hard time about some person he was playing with on that game.”

“No time to worry about that now.” The kids turned to see Ms. Moynihan standing there, a worried expression on her face.

“What is it, Ms. M?” Max asked.

“The scanners picked up traces of primordial ooze just a few yards from the lighthouse!” Joanne said with a sense of urgency in her tone. And the kids shared her fear. Primordial ooze had never been this close to the lighthouse before. “Go out and investigate it! I'll go get Caruso and Buzz.” With that, she disappeared into the room where Buzz and Caruso were.

“Let's go, team!” Max said as he made his way towards the door, quickly followed by Rodger and Fiona. They opened the door and exited out. Since the ooze signature was coming from so close to the lighthouse, they didn't bother taking their motorcycles with them. Instead they started jogging forward until they could see the familiar orange glow of the primordial ooze. There was a large metal can of it just laying there. There was a deep cut in it, causing the stuff to leak out.

“This has Victor Veloci written all over it.” Max narrowed his eyes at the site.

“But this doesn't make sense. I don't detect any mutated lifeforms in the vicinity.” Fiona knelt down further to get a closer look. “I don't see any animal tracks or anything.”

Rodger held out his small radar and typed in a few numbers. The instrument lit up, and a thin bright line began making circles around the monitor. Then, in a few seconds, a tiny white dot began flashing on the screen. Rodger looked up at his two teammates. “Something did come in contact with this stuff. And it's heading off in that direction.” He pointed.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Caruso and Buzz quickly arrived on the scene. “Let's go!”

“And I'm coming with.” Said another voice. The Dino Squad turned around and were surprised to see Moynihan running up to them. Due to her old age and injury, they didn't think she would ever participate in very many missions. She was usually just there to help guide them. They were the muscle. She was the brains. That's how it worked out. Moynihan caught up with the kids pretty quickly despite her old age. 

“Ms. Moynihan...?” Max gaped. “But-But... You almost never directly joined on any of our missions in the past.”

“Yeah...so why you coming this time?” Rodger inquired, cocking an eyebrow.

“If my fears are confirmed, then you are going to need my help, Dino Squad.” Moynihan said, eyes narrowed slightly. The next thing she did was something she hadn't done in so many years, and was hoping she'd never have to do again. The Dino Squad stepped back as she got a strange aura around her. Her eyes suddenly glowed yellow, and her body transformed. Her mouth became long, and her teeth became sharp. She grew larger in size, her legs grew slender, and a tail extended from behind. A purple crest appeared on her head. For one of the first times since her final battle with Victor, Joanne had transformed into her true self, a Velociraptor...

“Did they pick up the signal yet?” Oscura asked impatiently.

“I'm sure they did. We just have to wait for them. They'll be here shortly, I'm sure.” Michelle explained, looking through the foliage to look for any signs of dinosaurs heading their direction. She and Oscura had planted some primordial ooze pretty close to the lighthouse to lure out the Dino Squad. It was part of Victor's plan.

“I hope they show up soon.” Oscura said bitterly. “I'm growing tired of waiting.” She flexed her hands as she would if she were a dinosaur.

“Haven't you ever heard of the phrase 'Patience is a Virtue', Osky?” Michelle said in a teasing manner.

Oscura gritted her teeth and pressed her fingers into tree bark. Her nails extended into talons, and Michelle could hear the sharp claws scraping against the bark. “Don't call me Osky...” She warned the auburn-haired girl. “I may be younger than you, but I'm no kid.” She looked at her with glowing yellow eyes. “And to answer your stupid question, no I never heard of that stupid phrase.”

Michelle chuckled. “I didn't think so.” Michelle then started to hear some footsteps. She peered over, and squinted as hard as she could. It was hard to make it out, but she could see some figures coming their direction. Rather large figures in fact, dinosaurs! Michelle's eyes brightened, and a grin spread across her face. She turned to her partner, gesturing to her. “They're coming. Time to put this show on the road.”

Oscura perked up, her eyes brightening with a gleam of mischief. “Finally!” She walked forward and peered over to see if the Dino Squad was still coming. They were, and now they could make out the different dinosaurs that formed the group. There was a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Stegosaurus, a Styracosaurus, a Spinosaurus, a Pteranodon, and a Velociraptor. “Velociraptor...? Hmm... Could that be...?”

“Most likely.” Michelle said. “So you remember the plan right?”

Oscura nodded. “Yes.”

“Good.” Michelle got on the ground. She lay on her back, and she tried to make herself appear as helpless as possible. “Let's make this look as convincing as possible, all right?”

Oscura grinned darkly and gave a nod. Even though this will just be pretend, it's still the entertainment she's been wanting since she joined Veloci's ranks. A symbol of a thinly built dinosaur appeared on her shoulder, and in her eyes, glowing yellow-orange. She leaned forward as her body grew ever thinner, and yet at the same time muscular. Her jaws extended, becoming thin and slender, serrated teeth now decorating her jawline. Her skin changed to red and orange as her hands stretched out, two long claws appearing and a third opposable claw as well appeared. Her legs grew thin and muscular, two claws serving as a foothold, a third raising above the ground in a small sickle shape and a fourth serving as a dangerous dewclaw. A long thin tail grew out of her body and her neck stretched out, raising high above the body. She screeched. She had turned into a Troodon.

'All right, time to put Victor's plan into motion.' Oscura told Michelle with her thoughts. She opened up her jaws, and let out a loud hiss, hoping the Dino Squad could hear her. She then lunged on her partner, pretending to attack her while at the same time trying to look savage. She clamped onto her arm, drawing some blood. She knew she had to injure Michelle in some manner to make it look convincing. Michelle could hear the footsteps getting closer and began to play out her part.

“AAAAAH! SOMEBODY HELP ME!” Michelle screamed, gently pushing Oscura's head to make it look like she was struggling. “A DINOSAUR IS ATTACKING ME!”

The screams soon fell on the Dino Squad's ears. Max's massive T-Rex head looked over. He could see someone pinned down by what appeared to be a very thin raptor, and he could smell blood. 'Someone's in trouble!' He said in his mind, broadcasting it to his team mates. Buzz flew up into the sky to get a better view. With his eagle-like vision, he soon recognized the individual.

'It's Michelle! And some..thing is attacking her!' Buzz said urgently.

'Uh yeah..we can kind of tell.' Caruso said sarcastically, earning a verbal growl from Fiona.

'No time to joke! Let's help her!' Fiona said as she was about to run ahead of the team. Ms. Moynihan, however, stopped her.

'We cannot let her see us as dinosaurs.' Joanne warned Fiona.

Fiona reared her head back. 'Then what was the point of us turning into dinosaurs if we...'

Moynihan shook her green-skinned head. 'I didn't know there was going to be a human out here. Sorry children, but we must deal with this without our dinosaur forms. We don't want Michelle to report us, now do we?'

Caruso almost laughed at this. 'Report us? Why? She is a dinosaur herself.'

Buzz shifted his harsh gaze to Caruso. He's about had enough of Caruso's accusations of Michelle being a dinosaur. So far, no one had been able to come up with any positive evidence of her being a dinosaur. They only had Caruso's witness to it, and he hasn't always been reliable. He has lied to them before, so they weren't sure if this was just another one of his lies or not. 'You just won't shut up about that, will you?'

'Not now, you two!' Rodger shouted. 'She's in trouble! And you two are... Ugh!' He had to shut himself up before he lost his temper. He quickly changed back into a human. Without saying a word he ran to where the screaming was coming from. Buzz and Caruso looked at each other, and changed back and followed Rodger.

'Should we go after them?' Max asked, looking at Ms. Moynihan. 'Or do you think they can handle it? The dinosaur I saw didn't seem that strong...'

'No, we should help them.' Moynihan said. 'I could smell it. It's a Troodon. Clever dinosaur. Not very strong, but still cunning, and a trickster. They're a handful, and their teeth are worse than a T-Rex's. They can shred flesh up pretty badly' She transformed back herself. She looked up at Max and Fiona. “Come on!”

As Ms. Moynihan struggled to catch up with Buzz, Caruso, and Rodger, Fiona and Max changed back as well. Max held the Chiller and Fiona held the Spiller. They ran as fast as they could, and nearly bumped into Moynihan as they did so. They soon caught up with the others and stopped in their tracks. Ahead of them, in an open area, they could see the new student, Michelle, struggling to get a Troodon off of her. The Troodon had attacked Rodger, and shredded up his arm pretty good. Without a weapon, Rodger didn't stand much of a change.

Buzz and Caruso were nearby, trying to fight the Troodon with sticks and rocks. But it just ignored them, and continued to attack Michelle. They could easily beat the Troodon if they could turn into dinosaurs themselves. But they couldn't change in front of Michelle. She'd see them. Buzz turned and saw the remainder of the team was coming. “Moynihan! How do we get the Troodon away from here?”

“Use the Chiller and Spiller!” Joanne told them. “Return the Troodon to its original form!” She didn't know why she had to tell them that. They should have already known what to do.

“But..we don't have any weapons!” Caruso shouted, tossing another rock at the Troodon. This got its attention. It shifted its head towards him, baring its teeth. “Well..I got its attention...” He said, backing up a few steps.

“Way to go Caruso.” Buzz said, picking up a stick to attack the red and orange Troodon with.

“Don't let it bite you!” Moynihan warned. “Troodons have a cocktail of bacteria in their saliva! It'll infect you and make you sick!”

Michelle's eyes widened at this. Victor hadn't told them about this. And she was sure Oscura didn't know either. This would probably make Oscura happy, knowing she was more dangerous than she thought. She stared at the bite marks Oscura gave her to make the acting look good. Maybe this won't end so badly after all. She could still get in the lighthouse, and it just made the ruse all the more convincing. She smiled, though it was unseen by the others.

Ms. Moynihan caught sight of Rodger, who was trying to stop the bleeding. “Rodger!” She went to his side, and looked at his arm. Luckily the Troodon only bit him once, but it did a heck of a job on him. Its teeth had shredded into his skin, leaving being several short gashes, though they did not go deep into the skin. At first glance, one would believe there wasn't much to worry about, but Joanne knew better. 

Shortly, Fiona and Max arrived on the scene, the Chiller and Spiller ready. They go the Troodon in their sights. “There it is!” Max ran forward with the Chiller, his finger on the trigger. The Troodon looked in his direction, and its eyes seemed to widen with fear. Max quickly pulled the trigger, sending a wave of cold air at the dinosaur. Reacting fast, the Troodon ducked, allowing the cold blast to pass harmlessly over it. The Troodon then leapt over Max and Fiona, and took off. “Come on, after it!”

“Not so fast, Max!” Ms. Moynihan called out to the jock as she tried to help support Rodger. The african-american was starting to succumb to the infection in his arm, his hand on his head now. “We have to get Rodger and Michelle back to the lighthouse for some treatment! Troodon saliva is quite dangerous, don't ya know?”

“Um..no I did not know.” Max said to the old Scottish woman. 

“Rodger!” Fiona looked alarmed at her friend's condition. “Are you all right?”

“Y-Yeah...” Rodger said, rubbing his head. “I'll be fine...”

“He needs to take some medicine.” Moynihan said to Fiona. “Don't worry. I have something that'll do the trick.”

Buzz knelt by Michelle's side, and offered his hand. “You all right?”

Weakly and starting to succumb to the infection, Michelle took his hand, and struggled to gain her footing. “I'll be all right... Thanks for coming to my rescue.” She said, smiling a little. She knew if she kept up the acting, she'd be inside the lighthouse in no time. Victor was right. They were rather gullible, unable to detect a trap. Buzz smiled as he helped support her, but he didn't respond.

Oscura ran behind some foliage, and changed back. She fulfilled her part of the plan, although she didn't like the idea of running off like a coward. But it was for a good reason. She had to make it look like they defeated her, and make it look like she just vanished. The Dino Squad had taken care of the primordial ooze that was on the floor, and was now helping the two injured ones, Rodger and Michelle, back to their lair.

Oscura grinned. She pulled out her communicator and pressed the red button. “The plan is in motion, sir. They fell for it.” She said into the microphone.

“Yeowch!” Rodger yelped as Ms. Moynihan applied pressure to the injury he had received from the Troodon. The cloth was covered with an antiseptic to help clear the infection. Even though it is supposed to help Rodger, it still hurt. He tried to pull his arm away but, despite her old age, Moynihan had a strong grip.

“I'm sorry, Rodger, but you don't want this to get infected, do you?” Moynihan asked as she placed the cloth down and picked up the medication she mentioned earlier. She poured a bit of the contents onto the cloth and pressed it against Rodger's arm. The teen winced in pain, but didn't put up a struggle. “I know it hurts, but it'll kill off the Troodon bacteria.”

“Are you sure, Ms. M?” Rodger said through clenched teeth. The medicine was stinging horribly. It was worse than getting a splinter removed. It was more like getting a shot on the gums and the gums were swollen and hyper sensitive.

“Oh yes, Rodger, I'm sure.” Ms. Moynihan assured him. She removed the cloth and grabbed a large gauze, like what doctors use to help stop the bleeding, and pressed it against Rodger's wound. She took some medical bandages and wound them around his arm tightly, but not too tight. She didn't want to cut off his circulation. “There, finished.”

Rodger smiled, and got up from the seat. “And how long do I keep this on?” He asked, pointing to the bandage. He tried his best not to touch it, although it did start to itch a little. If he touched it, he would recoil in pain.

“A couple days.” Ms Moynihan told him. “Your arm should be all better by then.”

Rodger nodded. He turned to their guest, Michelle, who was sitting down on the couch with Fiona, who was applying the medicine to her arm. Michelle was having as much difficulty dealing with the stinging as Rodger had. “Are you sure it was safe to bring her with?” He asked Ms. Moynihan. “I mean, what if she finds out about...”

“So long as we keep her in this one area of the lighthouse, she won't know.” Moynihan said softly so Michelle couldn't hear them. “Besides we didn't have much choice. Modern science doesn't have a cure for Troodon poison.”

“You've got a point.” Rodger stated, but still sounding concerned. “Still..I don't think we should take our eyes off of her. She could wander off and find something we don't want her to see.” He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Max standing next to him.

“Relax Rodger. She's just as injured as you are, and all of us are in here. What could she possibly do?” He turned to see Buzz struggling to hold Michelle still while Fiona applied the painful medicine to her arm. “She's harmless.”

“Harmless? That's a laugh!” Caruso walked up from behind, his arms folded, and the expression on his face told them he wasn't happy. He was the only one opposed to bringing Michelle into the lair. “Bringing her here was a terrible idea. What if she works for Veloci? What if she's spying on us? What if this is all an elaborate scheme to let down our guard?!”

“Dude..you're paranoid.” Rodger explained as he shifted his arm. He felt a sharp pain and yelped, holding his arm. “That..was one vicious Troodon.”

“Oh relax, Caruso.” Ms. Moynihan smiled at him. “Michelle isn't going to do us harm.”

“But still...” Caruso began.

“Look, would it make you feel better if we send Michelle on her way home after Buzz and Fiona are through treating her injuries?” Max asked, sounding just slightly annoyed with Caruso's attitude about this girl.

“Ow...” Michelle grumbled as Fiona wrapped up a bandage around her arm.

“Hold still. It's almost over.” Fiona told her, tightening the bandage to stop the bleeding.

“Doesn't seem like your friend doesn't like me very much.” Michelle commented. She was trying to keep her mind off of the stinging pain.

Fiona looked over her shoulders, and saw Caruso standing with the others, looking rather disgruntled. Fiona sighed. He was obviously ranting about his displeasure in having Michelle in the lighthouse. Fiona did see his point, since Michelle was a stranger and all. But they were all in the lighthouse and they could all keep an eye on her. There wasn't really anything that could go wrong.

“Oh you mean Caruso? Don't worry about him.” Fiona told her. “He's a nice guy despite his attitude.”

“Heheheh. I'll believe it when I see it.” Michelle said, rolling her eyes a little.

Buzz chuckled at that comment. “Took me a little while to get used to his attitude as well.” Buzz recalled how they all first met on that field trip. Well technically they didn't just meet, but it was the first time they had to work as a team and that first mission allowed them to get to know each other better. Buzz hadn't liked Caruso much because of his vain attitude. And he believed the feeling was mutual. He sensed Caruso didn't feel comfortable working with him due to his appearance. Buzz was used to this attitude. In the past, people have judged him as being 'dangerous' simply because he dressed up like a punk.

But after a few missions, tensions had lightened up, and they grew closer, eventually becoming true friends. While the others still tease him once in a while for his appearance, he knows it's all in good fun and they don't mean to hurt his feelings. They, overall, accepted his interests, the way he was. He was glad he could trust them, to confide in them, that they could see he was a really nice guy despite his looks. McFinn used to give him a hard time for his looks, but even he had a change of heart when he saw that Buzz wasn't such a bad guy after all, and there was no reason to be so afraid of him. 

“Fiona is right, though.” Buzz said. “Even though Caruso has acted selfishly in the past, he comes through for the team in the end, and he does genuinely care about us. He's not really a bad guy. I'm sure if you two gave each other a chance, you could be friends.”

Michelle placed a hand on her arm, wincing as pain shot through it. She quickly removed her arm, and gave a low sigh. She glanced over at Caruso and the others, pondering what they were talking about her. No doubt her. Caruso was probably trying to talk the others into throwing her out. She frowned slightly. If he succeeded, she wouldn't be able to complete her mission. “I'll consider it.” She told Buzz before going into deep thought.

She knew there had to be a room in this place somewhere where Moynihan kept her monitoring equipment and her computers. She would have to find someway to locate it. She suspected it would probably be on a higher floor. But she couldn't just ask them. They would become suspicious and realize Caruso was right. She couldn't have that happen. She looked around herself. There was no way she could just sneak away. Someone would spot her quickly.

She could go outside and act like she was going home, and then just sneak back inside. But then, this could also be tricky. She could still get spotted. If the radar equipment was as good as she had been told, Ms. Moynihan would know she was still around the lighthouse parameters. That is, if she were in the equipment room. There was chance she could pull this off. If she waited until the others left, then Moynihan would be all alone, and it would be easier to sneak around the lighthouse with less eyes around to see her.

Or maybe she could find another excuse, like she had to use the bathroom. But what if the bathroom was on the bottom floor? She couldn't very well get lost upstairs if the bathroom were downstairs, could she? There wasn't a high chance of the bathroom being anywhere near the location she needed to be. If she asked for an escort, that would look rather odd.

And on top of that, exactly how was she going to pull this off? Victor had instructed her to implant a virus, claiming it would be more subtle. Michelle mentally rolled her eyes. Victor didn't know the first thing about being subtle. The guy drives around in a red van with a dinosaur face on it, and he wonders how the Dino Squad evaded him before. She did admit though, the virus thing would be a quick solution, and it would make it difficult to recover.

She had also been considering Oscura's idea. Oscura said that the best way to sabotage the equipment would be to completely destroy it, to go dino and just tear up all the wires and such. This would be just as devasting, though far less subtle. She would have the make a clean getaway, since someone was bound to hear it. Such a move would make the equipment harder to recover, since they would have to buy whole new equipment. And Ms. Moynihan wasn't as rich as Veloci was. She couldn't just throw money away to get new equipment.

She closed her eyes and placed her hands gingerly on her head. She was becoming frustrated as to how she was going to pull this off. She would have to quickly decide how she was going to put this plan in motion. She didn't want to know what would happen to her if she failed and Victor found out about it. She guessed she'll just have to wing it and hope it'll work. She then remembered Caruso. He was the specific target of Veloci, for now. She had been told to tag him with a transmitter without being caught. The transmitter was small and designed to cling to the skin without causing an itch and was so tiny the recipient couldn't feel it.

The transmitter had another feature which will prove useful later on. With a push of a button, the transmitter can send a wave of disabling electricity through the body, paralyzing the victim and making them easier to catch. It was Oscura's idea to add in that feature, and Victor loved the idea.

“Hey...” She was shaken out of her thoughts when Buzz nudged her gently. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, you were spacing out there. Is something wrong?” Fiona asked, standing next to Buzz and looking over his shoulder.

“Oh? Oh! I'm fine.” Michelle said quickly, slowly rising up off the couch.

“Michelle, is your house far from here?” Michelle turned to see Ms. Moynihan walking over, Caruso standing by her side with his arms crossed.

“Why?” Michelle asked.

“Because you've been treated, so there's no more reasons for you to be in the lighthouse...” Caruso muttered under his breath, and just earned himself a glare from Ms. Moynihan.

“I'm sure your folks must be wondering where you are.” Moynihan said gently. “And it is getting late. Perhaps you should get going.” Joanne was right. The sun was starting to set. She'd been there longer than she thought.

Then Michelle realized this could work in her favor. She could go with her one plan, to pretend to leave, and wait for the others to go home. She assumed they would be leaving soon anyway. She would just have to be patient and wait until they left. If Moynihan stayed downstairs to wave goodbye to them, she could sneak back in and follow the old woman up to the equipment room. But then...what of Rump, their dog? She eyed the dog cautiously, wondering what she was going to do with him.

“Are you worried about Rump?” Joanne asked her. “Don't worry about Rump. He's gotten a little sick earlier today, so he won't do anything to you.”

Perfect, just the news she needed to hear. Okay it was settled. Michelle knew how she was going to pull this off. Without hesitating, she answered Moynihan's question. “No I don't live far from here.” She made her way towards the door. “I'll be able to walk there on my own.” As she reached for the door handle, she turned back and gave the Dino Squad a smile of appreciation. “And thank you for rescuing me from that horrible Troodon.”

“It was no biggie!” Buzz said with a big grin on his face.

“Just be more careful next time, all right?” Max said. “Next time we might not be there to help you.”

Michelle chuckled. “I'll keep note of that. See ya.” She walked out the door and closed the door behind her. She started to walk away, assuming the Dino Squad was watching her. She started to make her way towards the road, not looking back. When she was out of sight of the lighthouse, she made a sharp turn, and behind a tree to disappear. She lay low to the ground, and peered out to the lighthouse. She was close enough so she could see the children leave, but far enough so they can't see her snooping around.

She heard a low ring, and pulled out her communicator. She held it to her ear, and heard Oscura's voice on the other end. She groaned. Oscura had seen her leave the lighthouse and somehow could tell she hadn't done anything yet. “Yes, I left the lighthouse. No I did not sabotage their equipment yet... Why? Because there were too many of them around!” Oscura was definitely not happy with her. “You aren't in charge of this mission you know! Look I know what I'm doing. Trust me...their equipment will be gone by tonight. ...the transmitter? Oh no.. I didn't plant it on the boy yet...”

Michelle nearly banged her head against the tree. She had forgotten all about tagging Caruso. She was too lost in her thoughts on how she was going to pull off this plan. And when Caruso was near enough for her to tag, she blew the opportunity. “Oh dear...I'll find some way to get the transmitter on that boy.” She continued to listen to Oscura's rants when she saw the door to the lighthouse open up. “Shhhh! They're coming out.. I'll contact you when the mission has been completed.” She closed her communicator before Oscura could get out another word, and waited patiently for the teenagers to leave.

“I still don't trust that Michelle girl.” Caruso said as he put on his Stego-Cycle helmet. “It just seems too...weird for...”

“Too weird for what?” Max asked. “I don't get what you have against her. She hasn't done anything to harm us.”

“She was too close to the lighthouse.” Caruso insisted. “No one comes way out here... Well no one except us. But still..just what was she doing here? Don't you think it was too much of a coincidence that she just happened to be here, this close to the lighthouse, just due to exploring?”

“....okay I'm going to try to agree that what you just said made any sense.” Buzz said, scratching his head.

Caruso groaned. He knew he wasn't going anywhere with this. And he started to wonder if he was just overreacting. Maybe he really had imagined the transformation. Maybe it was just a coincidence that Michelle was close to the lighthouse. She probably wasn't a threat after all. He started to feel a little guilty about the way he treated her. Maybe he should have given her a chance.

“Look guys..I'm sorry.. I guess you're right.” Irwin said, slumping his shoulders. “Maybe I am making a big deal out of this. Maybe I should apologize to her.”

“You can apologize to her if you want if we pass her on the way.” Max said. He jumped onto his motorcycle.

“I'm sure we'll her on the road.” Rodger told him. “If you wish to stop to talk to her, we won't stop you.”

Michelle watched from a safe distance. The teenagers were all on their motor-bikes now and headed along the road. It wasn't far from the patch of forest she was hiding from. She almost decided to remain hidden when she realized she still need to plant the tracker on Caruso's body. This could provide the only other opportunity she'll ever have. She decided to walk near the road and walk down, to make it appear as though she's been walking this whole time. She didn't see how they'd become suspicious of that.

The sound of the motorcycles got louder, and she grew a little tense. They could just pass by her, or one would stop and it would be the wrong one. She felt the wind whoosh as four motorcycles drove past her. She realized the fifth was missing. She looked around, and heard the sound of metal clanging. She whirled around and saw the Stego-Cycle laying on its side. She then saw someone jump out of the seat and slowly walk towards her.

He pulled off his helmet, revealing himself to be Caruso. “Hey...” He said. His tone was different this time around. He sounded apologetic, and calm, no longer harsh or brash as he had before. “I just wanted to...apologize for how I treated you before.”

Michelle walked closer to him. She hid the transmitter in the palm of her hand. “Oh?”

“Yeah..I guess I'm just so jumpy because of monster...” Caruso quickly caught himself. “Monster tests.. Yeah, the monstrous tests at school. They put me through a lot of stress.”

Michelle chuckled light-heartedly. “Yeah I know what you mean. Those tests are murder!”

Caruso nodded. He held out his hand. “So...no hard feelings right?”

Michelle looked at his hand, and her eyes slowly trailed to her own hand. She looked up at him in the face, and smiled. She thrust forth her hand and clasped his, and shook it. “Right.” As she shook his hand, the transmitter clung deeply into his skin without his awareness of it. At least one part of the plan was now out of the way.

Caruso returned the smile, and headed back to his bike. “Well, see you Monday in class then.” He said as he got back onto his motorcycle and drove away. Michelle simply waved goodbye to him, watching him as he disappeared onto the road.

When he was out of earshot, Michelle smirked to herself. “The fool...He doesn't even realize he walked straight into a trap...” She turned towards the forest and disappeared into it, and started to head back towards the lighthouse again. She still needed to fulfill her other part of the plan. All alone, she didn't think Joanne could do much to defend herself. And with Rump sick, getting in the house without being spotted won't be too difficult either.

“Are you hungry Rump?” Joanne asked as she knelt by the white dog. She placed a hand on him gently and stroked his fur. Rump whined a little, lifting his head up to look at her. He had a slight fever, and was taking it easy. He didn't attempt to get up though, and he did not accept Moynihan's food offer. He must not be hungry right now. “Oh you poor thing...”

She had to check on the monitoring equipment now. She knew Rump would be all right on his own. He just needed to rest. He would be fine by tomorrow or the next day. He just caught a slight dog cold, is all. She headed upstairs where she kept her equipment she used to keep an eye on Veloci. To this day she'll never understand his hatred for mankind. But she already tried to reason with him and it didn't work.

“I often wonder how that mind of his works.” Moynihan said softly to herself. As she reached the top of the stairs she made her way towards a group of computers. They were all turned off. She did this so that Victor would not be able to track down the source of the hacking. She suspected he already knew she was meddling with him, but since he didn't know where she was or track her down through cyberspace, there wasn't much he could do to stop her.

She smirked to herself. Victor was clever all right, but not as clever as she was. She's been doing this for years, and has not yet once got caught. Thanks to her knowledge of computers, she's been able to thwarted him enough to ensure his plans don't pull through. It had been hard working along, and with the Dino Squad with her, a weight was lifted off her shoulders. Now she had help to defend the world from Victor.

She felt a little guilty about something, now that she thought of it. Maybe she should have taught the kids how to intercept Victor. After all, they must have computers at home, or at least Rodger, being the geek of the class and all. She wasn't sure if it would ever have come in handy, but maybe there would come a time when she would be unable to monitor Victor, and someone else would have to temporarily take her place...

She shook her head. She realized she shouldn't be worrying about this right now. It had been pretty quiet lately when it came to mutant monsters. Other than the ooze they found earlier and Victor visiting the school, there hasn't been much cause for alarm. There wasn't anything to worry about right now. She strode towards the computer and sat down. She pressed the power button and it whirred to life. The light green monitor flickered on, displaying information she needed to see.

The monitor was not registering anything at the moment. She sighed with relief. Looks like it was going to be another quiet night. She shut down the computer and got up from the chair. She was about to head towards the stairs when she realized she forgot to shut off her laptop computer, which was still sitting on her desk. She slowly shook her head. She felt a bit foolish she left the computer on and now the batteries were low. She sighed. She'll have to buy more batteries tomorrow morning.

She then remembered that she told the kids to meet her early tomorrow morning. It was the weekend after all. She wanted to get some extra training in and felt Saturday would be the perfect day to do so. “I'll ask Rodger to help me with the computer.” She told herself as she shut the laptop computer to preserve what little power the battery had left.

Back downstairs, Rump's ears started to twitch. His eyes snapped open, and he lifted up his head. He saw the doorknob moving, and he began to whimper a little. Someone was coming inside! He struggled to his feet and began to growl softly as the figure strode inside the house. His expression softened slightly when he saw it was Michelle. But he could sense something was not right about her. He somehow sensed she was in this house without permission, and believed her to be an intruder. He slowly climbed to his feet and opened his jaws to bark at her, but in a flash, a pair of claws wrapped around his neck. He yelped quietly as a snout full of sharp teeth pressed against his head.

'Now be a good little doggie and I won't have to tear your head off...' Michelle told him as she dropped him back on the floor. She quickly changed her head and hand back into a human and looked to the stairs. She chuckled softly. This is probably where Ms. Moynihan went, and probably where she's going to find the equipment room.

She started to walk towards the stairs when Rump suddenly glowed. She turned and saw that Rump was growing larger, a mane sprouted from his head, his jaws grew massive, his feet grew large sharp claws. Her eyes widened slightly. She hadn't been expecting this, especially from a sick pitbull terrier. The dog growled at her and lunged. Quickly Michelle ducked, letting Rump sail over her. The dog reacted fast and turned around and went after her again.

Michelle only had seconds to react. She could guess, just by looking at him, that he had a very powerful bite. She would have to avoid that maw of his. Rump was now in the air, his jaws wide open for the attack. She narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth, now transformed into fangs. Her hand glowed to reveal a black paw with three hooked claws. She pulled her arm back and struck forward. The claws slashed into Rump's side, blood splattering from them, and the dog fell to the ground, letting out a loud yelp of pain....

AAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!

Ms. Moynihan's eyes widened as she heard the howl. “Rump!” She made her way towards the steps as fast as she could, and walked down the steps as fast as she could. When she reached the bottom of the steps, she quickly looked around. She finally saw Rump laying on the floor, whimpering as he tried to get up. He had three gashes in his side, and was bleeding a bit heavily from them. “Rump!” She yelled again as she rushed to his side, not noticing a figure behind her going up the steps.

She placed a hand on his furry face, trying to calm him down. “You poor thing... What happened to you?” She didn't see the intruder anywhere, but the door was wide open. Someone was inside that's for sure. She cautiously looked around. The attacker was no where in sight, and she couldn't hear any signs of things being packed, and she couldn't hear any footsteps.

“Who's here?!” Moynihan said loudly, holding Rump in her arms gently. “Come on out and show yourself!” There was total silence. “I'm warning you..you don't want to make me angry!” The warning fell on deaf ears. Whoever was in the house, they either didn't hear her or were just plain ignoring her. She gently set Rump on the couch, careful not to injure him more. “Answer me!”

She heard a laugh coming from upstairs. It took her a few seconds before she realized just what the intruder was after: the monitoring equipment! She gasped and made her way back upstairs. She could only hope she wasn't too late. She reached the top of the steps and looked around the room. She narrowed her eyes in slight confusion. There wasn't anyone up here either. And nothing seemed out of place. “Now where did they go...?”

Michelle chuckled. Her plan was working perfectly. She knew she could trick Ms. Moynihan to lead her into the equipment room. But she never suspected that this one large room would be it. There wasn't a lot in here, it seemed. But then again, she couldn't afford much equipment, so it would be understandable. She watched as Ms. Moynihan began cautiously walking around the room. Michelle grinned darkly. She would just have to take out the old woman and then she could sabotage the equipment.

Ms. Moynihan could have easily given up on the search. If her eyes couldn't see anything, it would mean no one was there, right? The answer to that would be wrong. As a Velociraptor, Moynihan learned there was so much more to tell than just by sight. There was also her sense of smell, and her hearing. She closed her eyes. Her face grew green, and her jawline extended until her head was now a raptor's head. Michelle looked a little surprised. She had seen this before. Victor would sometimes do this.

Ms. Moynihan held her nose up in the air to pick up scents in the air. She caught whiff of something unfamiliar, and snarled. She shifted her gaze towards one part of the room, where Michelle was hiding. She narrowed her eyes and walked over there, and shifted her head back to normal. “I know you are there. Show yourself!”

“Heheheh...” Michelle chuckled as she walked out of her hiding place. She smirked at Moynihan's shocked expression. “I bet you weren't expecting me eh?” She asked, flexing her fingers a bit.

“Michelle? What are you doing back here?” Joanne asked. She then noticed the blood on Michelle's hands, and gasped. “You..attacked Rump? Why?”

“To keep him from attacking me of course.” Michelle told her, licking the blood off her fingers. “I must apologize. This is such an..awkward way to talk isn't it? Should we talk as humans, or as dinosaurs?” She looked at the woman straight in the eyes. “What do you think, Ms. Moynihan..or should I call you Velociraptor Lady..?”

Ms. Moynihan was at a loss of words. “H-How did you..?”

“How did I know?” Michelle chuckled. “I'm sorry, but you should already know that..”

A symbol of a dinosaur with a crest appeared on her chest, and in her eyes. Her body began to glow, and darken until it was pitch black. Her jaws elongated and serrated teeth, like miniature T-Rex teeth, grew from her jawline. Her hands stretched, forming three sharp talons. Her feet flexed and bulged, and four talons emerged from her food. A black tail shot out from behind her. White markings and a red underside appeared on her body. On top of her head, a prominent crest, red with orange streaks, grew, and a short feather mane grew from the nape of her neck.

Michelle had transformed into a Guanlong Wucaii. It was the earliest known ancestor to T-Rex. Despite the head ornament, it didn't serve a head butting purpose, but was rather just a display, to allow Guanlongs to recognize one another. Unfortunately this limited her field of vision somewhat, but she could deal with it.

“So Caruso was right... You can transform...” Ms. Moynihan said after witnessing the transformation. “But tell me...that other dinosaur... That wasn't a mutated Troodon. It was perfectly formed. Was that your comrade?” Ms. Moynihan asked, sounding all calm.

'...y-y-yes...' Michelle was a bit surprised that Moynihan knew this. 'How did you know?'

“Actually I didn't. Thank you for telling me.” Ms. Moynihan smiled a bit at her own little trick.

Michelle's head snapped back, growling softly. 'Why you....' Her claws fingers flexed impatiently, ready to tear into the old woman just for payback for her little trick. She was not supposed to reveal any information to the Dino Squad.

“I'm not as foolish as Victor believes.” Joanne explained as she took out a small cloth. There was a dot of red blood on it. “This is your blood. I knew right away it was contaminated with dinosaur blood. The only reason I didn't say anything earlier is that I didn't want to draw attention to you, or worry Caruso. He was the most suspicious of you.” She put the cloth away. “I wasn't sure if you learned how to transform or not, but I see that you have...”

'Wait wait..how did you know my blood was contaminated?' Michelle asked, her glowing eyes widening a little.

“I can smell it. You see, human blood has a certain smell to it, and when contaminated with dinosaur DNA, it gets a unique scent, like a cross between dinosaur and human. I can detect it, being a dinosaur myself.” Ms. Moynihan explained. “If this was a plan to get into the lighthouse without arousing any suspicions, you could have at least tried a plan that didn't involve your blood being spilled on the ground.”

'Well you seem rather calm.' Michelle noted, bobbing her head up and down. 'I'm about to sabotage your equipment, and you aren't doing.... oops..' She realized she said too much. Ms. Moynihan's eyes started to glow as well.

Ms. Moynihan lifted up her cane and pointed it at Michelle. “You've been sent by Victor, haven't you?!” She snapped, sounding angry. Once again Michelle realized she had been tricked. The old woman was indeed clever. “I'll give you one warning. Leave now, and I'll pretend this encounter didn't happen. Refuse, and I'll give you something to remember me by.”

Michelle was shocked to see Moynihan act so aggressively. Maybe she did still have some dinosaur psychology in her after all. She would have to tell Victor about this. He may find it rather interesting. She ignored Moynihan's finger pointing towards the stairs, and simply laughed in a dinosaur manner. 'I'm sorry..but I ain't leaving. I have some business to take care off...'

“Then you leave me with no other choice...” Moynihan started to glow, but before she could transform, Michelle slammed into her, knocking her down. She grunted, and struggled to get back up, but something hard slammed into the back of her head. She hit the ground again with a thud, and blackness overcame her. Her eyes closed.

Michelle stood over Ms. Moynihan's still form. She was back in human form, holding a large object in her hand. It was Moynihan's laptop computer. She had quickly picked it up and whacked Moynihan in the head with it to knock her out. She dropped the computer and let it smash into the floor. She ignored the sparks shooting out from it. She made her way towards the monitoring equipment, grinning. She transformed back into her dinosaur self, and went to work. She started to rip at the wires, tearing them out of the sockets before ripping them apart. She used her head to knock the computers off the tables, letting them smash into the floor, and explode as the monitors broke open. Glass shattered all over the floor.

She jumped up on the table, using her feet to kick at the other equipment, smashing it under her weight. The heavy stuff she simply knocked over, and it would break due to the impact on the hard floor. She swung her tail sharply to the side, causing the largest computer to fall down. It didn't break right away, but she would get to it later. There was still other equipment she had to destroy, other computers in the room. She rushed to another part of the room, and clamped her jaws on a smaller computer, and ripped it away from the wall. The wires snapped in her jaws, causing the computer to fall down, and the monitor smashed open.

She repeated this behavior until she had completely destroyed all the other computers, all except for two. The laptop computer might still work, if its lucky, and the large computer where the monitor hadn't smashed open. She strode towards the laptop, and gazed at Ms. Moynihan. She was still knocked out, and Michelle grinned a dino grin. She clamped her jaws on the laptop and, to ensure no one would be able to use it, clenched her jaws tightly, causing the part of the computer where the hard drive was stored to be shattered. She dropped the computer, now completely worthless.

She then turned around. There was just one last computer to take care of. She slowly walked towards it. The monitor was pitch black. It wasn't turned on. She stood over it, and lifted up her leg. She tightened her muscles up as she built up energy in her leg for the kick. She struck down, a loud crack ringing out. Sparks crackled and shot out. Quickly she pulled her leg out before the computer exploded, sending sparks all over the room. Luckily it didn't spark a fire. The sparks probably too weak to do much damage.

Just then she felt something press against her throat. She reared her head back as something heavy jumped on her. She backed up, and began to struggle. Just what was going on? She shook her head back and forth, snapping her jaws at nothingness. She felt the pressure on her throat tighten more, and she heard the voice of her attacker.

“I told you you were going to have something to remember me by...” Ms. Moynihan had woken up faster than Michelle had anticipated. And since she was really a dinosaur, she was able to recover faster from the blow than a human would. Michelle should have realized this. It was foolish of her, on her end, to underestimate Joanne Moynihan like she had earlier.

'Why don't you let go of me, you frail old woman?' Michelle hissed, turning her glowing eyes until she could see Ms. Moynihan through her side vision. 'You're in no condition to fight...especially with an injury such as the one you received thirty years ago!' She managed to grip the old woman's left ankle. Ms. Moynihan's eyes closed tightly and her teeth were clenched. While that area had healed, it still hurt her to this day. It was her weak spot.

Michelle managed to pull the old woman off of her, and she tossed her to the floor. Ms. Moynihan clenched her leg close to her, just like she had when Victor first gave her the injury. She looked up at Michelle with anger in her eyes. “That..was a coward's move...” She said to Michelle accusingly.

'So was sneaking up behind me, and trying to choke me with your cane..' Michelle said, walking up to Moynihan. 'I admit I wasn't expecting someone like you to pull a stunt like that...' She quickly grabbed Ms. Moynihan by the throat with her foot. Guanlong Wucaiis had feet nimble enough to get a grip on certain things and sometimes lift them up. Michelle pulled Moynihan towards the staircase, and gazed down. The black dinosaur then shifted her gaze back to Moynihan, who was struggling to get the talons off her neck. 'Don't worry. I'm sure someone will come by in time...' With that, she roughly tossed Ms Moynihan down the steps. The old woman's body rolled roughly, smashing several times into the ground before she slammed on the bottom floor. Her eyes closed once more and her head lopped to the side.

Now back in her human form, she pulled out her communicator, and contacted Oscura. “Oscura, mission complete. It is successful. Caruso has the device planted on him, and the monitoring equipment has been destroyed. ....Was I spotted? Yes... by Ms. Moynihan.” She peered down the steps, where she could see Moynihan's form, with some blood seeping slowly from a wound she apparently received. “But I took care of it. I don't think she's going to do much for quite some time...”

Oscura instructed her to return back to her home before morning came. Michelle rolled her eyes. She still had several hours before dawn, but Oscura did have a point. She would have to flee the scene as soon as possible. She closed up her communicator and ran out of the lighthouse, making sure she locked the door from the inside before shutting it, and disappeared into the forest....

The following morning, as the sun was still low in the sky, the light dim, but still bright enough so that the lighthouse need not shine its light anymore, yet still it glowed, the silence that once befell the area was disrupted by the roaring sound of oncoming motorcycles. Dust kicked up in the air as they zipped by, heading towards the lighthouse.

“I wonder what Ms. Moynihan had in mind today.” Caruso said.

“Don't you remember? She wants to train us.” Max told him.

“Yeah I know. I mean what kind of training?” Caruso said.

“Uhh....” Max couldn't think of how to respond to that. Was Caruso purposely acting stupid today? He didn't recall Moynihan ever training them any differently. It had always been the same, well except for that time she took them out on the ice. But it was a one-time thing. Moynihan never did anything like that again, so he didn't know how this could be any different. But then again, maybe Caruso is right. Perhaps there is something new in store for them today.

“I just wish I didn't have to wake up so early.” Buzz complained. “Why eight in the morning? Why not something more appropriate like... ten? Or noon?”

“You wake up around eight to go to school, so don't complain.” Fiona told him, rolling her eyes.

The teens headed up the hill that lead up to the lighthouse. As the lighthouse came into view, they had to shield their eyes. The light shined right into their eyes, and they quickly stopped their motorcycles. The light wasn't too visible because it was light all around them. But it was apparent the light was still on. They could see the faint hit of light shining from the lighthouse, and it was still intense enough that it hurt their eyes.

This wasn't right. Ms. Moynihan is supposed to turn the lighthouse's searchlight off after dawn, when the sun light the surrounding area enough that boats and ships didn't need the lighthouse to guide them. And Moynihan is not the type of person to forget such responsibility.

“Dude..why is the light still on? I thought Ms. Moynihan turns it off in the morning.” Rodger asked, pointing at the lighthouse.

“Maybe she overslept?” Caruso suggested.

“She isn't the type of person to do that, Caruso.” Max said, staring up at the lighthouse. “And besides, she has an alarm. She could just set it up if she was worried about oversleeping.”

Caruso revved his bike, preparing to speed towards the lighthouse. “Does she know how to work an alarm?”

Buzz chuckled. “If she can operate equipment that monitors Raptor Boy, I'm sure she can work a simple alarm.”

“Guys I'm worried.” Fiona spoke up, removing her helmet and holding it to her side. “Rodger is right. Ms. Moynihan always turns off the searchlight in the morning. Something must be wrong...” She said.

“I'm sure she's fine...” Max started up his motorcycle again. “But we should check to be sure...”

With that, he revved up his Tyranno-Cycle and began to go faster, up the hill, trying to avoid the light that still spun around the cliff. The others followed close behind. The white and red-striped lighthouse seemed to grow in size as they were fast approaching. As they went to the side of the lighthouse, they suddenly stopped short, kicking up dust and dirt. They just noticed something else was wrong.

The door to the garage, where they would test their dinosaur motorcycles, was closed. Moynihan kept this closed only at night to prevent theft. But when she was expecting the Dino Squad, she would open it up shortly before they would arrive. Moynihan clearly didn't forget about them. She would never forget something this important. So why was the garage closed?

The children got off their bikes, and removed their helmets, all looking pretty worried now. Something had to be wrong now. Something must have happened while they were gone. But just what could have happened? No one was in the lighthouse when they left, well no one except Rump and Ms. Moynihan herself. Maybe she was just sick and was taking it easy. No..that couldn't be it. Ms. Moynihan's dinosaur body made her immune to most human-related diseases, and thus couldn't get sick so easily. And she was always a pretty healthy woman, though a tad bit overweight.

And they knew Rump couldn't have done anything. He was such a sweet loving dog, and would never attack anyone on the team. And the poor thing was a bit down in the weather. He wouldn't have had to strength to attack anyone, let alone Ms. Moynihan.

Fiona walked towards the door that led to the lighthouse. “Come on...we have to check up on her.” She reached the door and knocked on it gently. “Ms. Moynihan? It's us!” There was no answer, and she peered inside. She couldn't see anyone coming towards the door to answer her, not even Rump.

“Try opening the door.” Buzz suggested. “She always unlocks the door for us.”

“Good idea.” Fiona said. Despite the lighthouse lights being still on and the garage door still locked, maybe Moynihan had at least remembered to unlock the front door for them. She grabbed the knob and gave a few twists and turns. She furrowed her brow, tightening her grip on the knob and trying to push harder. It was still stuck in its position. “That's strange..it's locked..”

“Let me try.” Max walked up, grabbing the knob and twisting harder. Fiona was right. It was still locked. “Oh man...why would she still keep this locked..?” He said softly to himself. He began slamming against the door, hoping to break it open so they could get inside. He slammed himself against the door again, but it wouldn't budge. “A little help please?”

The other Dino Squad members came up to the door. There wasn't enough room for all of them to slam together, so they came up with another idea. They each took a position, and placed their hands on the door. “Okay, when I say so, we all push!” Max said, gathering as much strength as he could in his arms and legs. “PUSH!” He shouted and quickly pushed against the door.

Fiona, Caruso, Buzz, and Rodger also began to push, using their legs to hold their ground as their hands pushed against the door. They suddenly heard a clicking sound as the door broke free of the hinges. This was unusual, but upon closer examination, it was revealed this was only due to the door's age. Moynihan really needed to fix it. But for a brief moment, the team was relieved to see she had forgotten to fix it, because if she hadn't they probably never would have gotten in unless they went dino, and if they did, they wouldn't be able to fit through the door, or windows.

The team stepped inside, and took a look around. Almost immediately they saw something was very wrong. The room was a bit of a mess, looking as if some sort of small fight had occurred. They ventured deeper inside, looking around warily. They still hadn't seen any sign of their teacher, but they did spot something else...

“Rump!” Fiona suddenly shouted, rushing past her team mates and knelt down next to a white ball of fur. “What happened to you?” She asked gingerly, inspecting the three cuts in his side. Rump slowly opened up his eyes, and looked up at her. He gave out a whine and licked her hand, as if he was begging for help.

“Oh man...what happened to the poor guy?” Buzz asked, his eyes slightly wide.

“I doubt he gave those cuts to himself..” Max observed, kneeling down to get a closer look. He placed his hand on them gently, careful not to hurt the pitbull any further. “The cuts aren't bleeding anymore, but they may have gotten infected... and...” He had realized something else. The pattern in the cuts told him that this wasn't some intruder that cut Rump with a knife. It was not even a person. “The intruder last night must have been a mutant.. Look at these marks. No human could have done this. These were done by something with talons.”

“Talents?” Caruso asked, trying to lighten up the situation. “I have plenty of talents.”

“I said talons!” Max said sternly, not liking Caruso making jokes during a serious situation. “Talons!”

“I'm sorry...” Caruso said softly. “I was just trying to lighten up the situation you know...”

“Yeah well...” Max said before he stopped himself when Fiona began talking to Rump.

“Rump..what happened?” Fiona asked. “What did this to you? And where's Ms. Moynihan?” When she asked this, Rump's ears perked up at first, and then flattened against his head. While he didn't understand most of what Fiona had asked him, he did recognize the name Moynihan. He gave a small whimper, trying to get up to his feet.

“Sorry little guy.” Buzz knelt down and scooped up Rump in his arms. “But you shouldn't walk with an injury like that.”

“His legs aren't broken.” Caruso muttered softly, and luckily for him no one heard his comment.

“I still wonder where Ms. Moynihan is.” Max asked, turning to Fiona. “I haven't seen her at all since we came in.. In fact I didn't even hear her call out to us. Maybe something really is wrong.”

“Thanks for the news flash.” Fiona grumbled sarcastically, eyeing poor Rump whom Buzz was carrying.

Buzz started to carry Rump towards the couch so he could set him down on it. “Don't worry little guy. We'll fix you right up..” Just then Rump began to struggle in the embrace. “Oh..what? What are you doing?” Rump began to push himself out of Buzz's arms, barking a few times as he did so. Buzz responded by holding him tighter. “I'm sorry Rump, but you need to rest.”

Fiona noticed this and started to walk over. “Maybe he's trying to tell us something?” She suggested.

“Maybe he's just telling you he doesn't want to be held.” Rodger noted. “Not all dogs like to be held for very long.”

“But Rump always likes to be held.” Fiona told him. “At least I've never seen him protest before...”

Finally, when Buzz refused to let the dog go, Rump did the only thing he could do. He shifted into his dinosaur mutant form, and snapped his large jaws wildly in the air. Buzz yelped, and released Rump. The dog landed on his feet and began to run, making his recognizable grunt bark as he did so. He made a turn and started to head towards the staircase. “Hey, come back!” Buzz shouted, rushing after the dog. When they finally reached the stair case, he skidded to a stop. He led out an audible gasp, and his body started to shake a little.

“Buzz...?” Fiona asked, coming up from behind. “What's wrong?” Buzz didn't respond, his eyes glued on something in front of him. Fiona came closer, and now stood next to him, waving her hand in front of his face. “Hello?” Slowly, Buzz lifted up a finger, and pointed. Fiona narrowed her eyes, and slowly turned her head. When she saw the sight, her eyes flew open, and she placed her hand on her mouth, and took a step back. “Oh my...!” She managed to say.

From behind, the others came forward, concerned of their friends' reactions. When they saw the sight themselves, they were stunned, and speechless. Right there, in front of them, was Ms. Moynihan. She lay limp at the base of the stairs, her head turned to the side, and her left ankle red and swollen. She had apparently cut herself, because there was a bit of blood around her in a small pool. They traced their eyes to its source. There was a cut on her side, likely received when she hit the railing if she had fallen at it at the right angle and right speed.

Rump stood over her still form, appearing to be licking her face, whimpering. The teens slowly approached the still form, not sure what to say. Judging from the looks of things, this wasn't an accident. Moynihan had been attacked when she was at her most vulnerable: night, when she was all alone, except for Rump.

“M-Ms. Moynihan..?” Fiona asked as she approached the body at the spiral staircase. She knelt down beside her, and placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Fiona... is that you?” Fiona heard a soft feminine voice say.

Fiona smiled softly. Finally some good news, Ms. Moynihan was still alive. She answered, “Yes..it's me... Can you stand up?” She asked the old woman. Ms. Moynihan groaned slightly, and slowly put her hands underneath her body. She pushed upwards, struggling to put her right foot underneath herself to support her weight. Slowly, she rose up off the ground. But when she placed her left foot on the ground, she immediately grimaced, and fell back to the ground.

“Aaaahh!” She screamed as she clutched her leg to herself, gingerly rubbling the swollen ankle.

Immediately, Max and Rodger rushed over to her. They knelt down at either side of her, and draped an arm over their shoulders. They then slowly lifted her up, allowing her to put her weight on them for support. They gently carried her over to the nearest couch. Carefully, they lowered her into the furniture, careful not to hurt her ankle. “Thank you...” Moynihan managed to say over the pain in her leg. It felt like it had been broken again.

“Ms. Moynihan...what happened here?” Rodger asked as he examined her leg carefully.

Ms. Moynihan slowly turned her pained eyes to Caruso. She took in a few deep breaths before she answered Rodger's question. “You...you were right, Caruso.” She took in a deep breath as she tried to relax herself from the shock of what happened last night. “You were right the whole time.”

“I was right..?” Caruso asked, tilting his head. “I was right about what?”

“Michelle...she was a spy for Victor.” Ms. Moynihan explained as Rodger began to treat her swollen ankle the best he could. “The Troodon attack..it was a plan devised by Michelle and her Troodon-transforming friend...to trick us into letting her into the lighthouse. She broke in last night after you all had left for your homes.”

“What...?” Fiona's voice trailed off.

“I was right...” Caruso said, feeling slightly angry. “I was right, and you guys didn't believe me! If you had listened to me...”

“Calm down Caruso! We have more important things to worry about.” Max scolded him before sitting down next to Ms. Moynihan carefully. “What exactly did she want here? Did she say?”

“She came to destroy the monitoring equipment.” Joanne told him.

“Did you stop her?” Max asked her with an urgent voice.

Joanne slowly shook her eyes, and answered in a solemn tone. “I'm afraid not.. She succeeded. All the computers have been destroyed.”

“I don't understand...” Rodger said as he pressed some ice against Moynihan's leg to help reduce the swelling. He had come to the conclusion that the leg wasn't broken; her ankle was just swollen. But still, this was a pretty serious swelling. He didn't think Moynihan will be able to walk for a while. “Why didn't you just go dino? Michelle can't be tough enough to take on a Velociraptor. I mean she's a gir...”

Fiona glared at him angrily. “I'm a girl too, and I'm tough!”

“Sorry..I didn't mean...” Rodger said quickly, looking sorry.

“Michelle can transform too.” Joanne said seriously, her eyes slightly narrowed. “Caruso was right. She was a transformer, just like the rest of you, and myself. She had gained the dinosaur form of a Guanlong Wucaii.” She explained, finding it a little difficult to talk with the scratches on her neck that she was concealing with her hand.

“And she did this to you...?” Fiona whispered, putting her hand on Moynihan's. She took notice of Moynihan covering up her neck. “What's wrong?” Moynihan slowly removed her hand, and revealed the small but obvious wounds. Fiona gasped softly when she saw small scratches on her neck. “Your throat...”

Moynihan flinched. “That's where she grabbed me...” The female Velociraptor-turned human explained. She pressed her hand against it once again and gently rubbed the area. “She gripped me while in dino mode, and she just threw me down the steps after she had destroyed all the computers...” She winced a little from the pain. 

“We should go after her.” Caruso said, forming a fist with one of his hands. “We should get her before she reveals any information to Veloci.” He began to regret not catching Michelle when he had the chance. She was right there, detransformed. He could have caught her, but he let her go. And after seeing what Michelle had done to Moynihan...

Buzz shook his head solemnly. “Dude..it's too late for that. She must be at Raptor Dyne by now.” The attack had taken place at night, which would have given Michelle plenty of time to high tail it out of there before they came. Buzz believed it must have been at least ten hours since the attack, long enough for Michelle to get back to Raptor Dyne and report.

“And with the monitoring equipment destroyed, we can't track her down.” Max said, feeling frustrated by this whole situation. He had thought seeing Michelle walking along the side of the road in the direction she was going was a bit weird. She was heading towards the school, but then again this wouldn't have been enough to prove anything. After all he and his team mates go along that same road to go home.

“It's worse than that...” Ms. Moynihan said, eyes narrowed almost dangerously. She adjusted her glasses. “Those computers did more than just offer monitoring capabilities to enable use to find Veloci and his men. It was also our only defense against being spotted...”

“In other words...” Rodger continued for her, looking at his team mates with a worried look on his face. “There's no protective zone anymore. Nothing is powering it, which means, while we can't see Veloci..Veloci can see us...” He glanced at Moynihan, hoping she would say he was wrong, but just like in school, he had calculated it correctly. Moynihan could only give a solemn nod.


	3. Caught

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

A couple hours passed by, slowly, almost painfully. Rump lay on the couch with bandages around the cuts in his side. A wet cloth was placed on his head to keep a newly formed fever from going up too high. Buzz sat by his side, slowly stroking his fur to comfort the poor dog. Moynihan was still on the couch, her ankle tightly wrapped up. Due to the bad swelling, Rodger recommended she not put pressure on that foot for a while. It wasn't like she could anyway. While she was glad she didn't have a broken leg again, the sprain was pretty bad.

The swelling had gotten a little worse because she had attempted to walk shortly after giving the bad news to the Dino Squad team about Victor being able to find them now. She could only take one step before she knelt down in pain. Her foot couldn't stand much pressure be put on it. With an ankle like this, she won't be able to walk for a while. She hoped that her leg would be better very soon. Rodger had offered to stay with her for the night if her foot wasn't better by nightfall. He had already called his parents about it and they gave him permission. Of course he had to come up with a convincing reason to let him stay, and he couldn't tell them about the dinosaur attack. So he made up a lie about how Moynihan tripped down the stairs because she was a bit clumsy.

Moynihan's other injuries, although mild, were treated. There was a small thin cloth wrapped around her neck. While the cuts weren't that deep, they could still get infected. The cut in her side was also bandaged up. There was some redness on it, but the bleeding had stopped at least. She reached down and gingerly touched her foot. She winced; even the slightest pressure caused her pain. She felt embarrassed that she couldn't stop Michelle, even though she was the stronger of the two dinosaurs.

Nearby, Caruso was pacing across the floor. Despite his friends telling him to calm down, he couldn't get the thoughts of getting back at Michelle out of his mind. And he was also upset that his friends did not listen to him. Perhaps if they had, maybe this would not have happened. Thoughts raced across Caruso's mind, and eventually gave him a headache. He groaned a little and finally sat down on the opposite couch from Joanne. He rubbed his forehead gently, his eyes closed.

Fiona was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Moynihan was originally going to make it, but since she can't walk, Fiona decided to step in. She fumbled through the cabinets, trying to see what Moynihan kept. Ms. Moynihan hadn't gone shopping yet; the selection was rather limited. She didn't know exactly what the others' tastes were, so she could only take a guess as to what she should make. She wished she had asked everyone what they wanted.

She knelt down and opened up one of the bottom cabinets. She pulled out a rather large box and read the name and description. Chicken Pie, it said. It was rather large, and looked as if it could feed six people. She turned the box around to read the instructions. She smiled a bit. The food wouldn't take that long to make. Just about twenty minutes. She hoped the others can wait that much longer before they eat. She tore open the box and prepared to make the food.

Back in the living room, Max, sitting in the chair where Moynihan would usually do her knitting, raised up the remote to try to turn on the television set. But the TV screen remained black. Frustrated, he opened up the back of the remote to see if it needed new batteries. But the batteries inside were in perfect condition, and there was nothing wrong with the remote. He placed the remote control down and walked over the TV itself. They had been sitting in silence for the past couple hours, and he wanted to try to lighten the mood with some TV.

He knelt in front of the TV and pressed the power button, but all he heard was a click. There was no slight whirring sound of the TV turning out, no static sound coming from the screen, no light shining, nothing. He became confused. He looked behind the TV to make sure it was plugged in. To his shock, the TV was still plugged into the outlet, and just like with the controller, there was nothing physically wrong with the cord, or the television set itself.

Max turned to Moynihan. “Did you forget to pay the electric bill?” He asked her, pointing at the TV. “There's nothing wrong with that TV, but it won't turn on.”

“Dude, how can you think of TV at a time like this?” Buzz scolded him, frowning with disapproval. He was surprised Max could think of TV after their base was attacked.

“Hey I'm just trying to...” Max trailed off and became silent. He suddenly felt a little guilty. Perhaps Buzz was right. Perhaps television just isn't something they should concern themselves with right now. He lowered his head slightly, and gave a low sigh. “I'm sorry, Ms. M.”

“Don't be.” Joanne said gently, giving him a soft smile. She couldn't blame Max for wanting to clear these bad thoughts from his head. It wasn't good to feel so stressed out for too long. She attempted to get up again, but Max quickly rushed over and stopped her by putting his hands firmly on her shoulders and gently pushing her back down.

“You shouldn't be getting up, remember?” Max asked her, his eyes narrowed slightly with concern.

“Oh don't worry about me.” Moynihan chuckled through the pain she was feeling in her leg. “I heal faster than humans. I'll be fine by nightfall.”

Buzz asked, “But what about what Rodger said? He isn't so sure your leg will be better by nightfall. It is swollen up pretty badly.”

But Joanne still felt somewhat optimistic, despite what Rodger Blair had told her. Sprained ankles didn't take long to heal, so she was confident that she would be on her feet long before night came. Although there was one worrying thought in her mind. Rodger had pointed out that if the sprain had been a mild, non-threatening one, it would have healed by now, as she had been with the injury for about ten hours.

But instead of healing, the leg just swelled up more. She wondered if it was because she fell down the steps, or because of her age, at least in human years. In dinosaur years she was still rather young. Dinosaurs could live for at least two hundred years, although humans obviously don't know this. This was another reason Victor saw dinosaurs to be superior. He was rather unimpressed by mankind's short longevity, and sometimes used that as a reason for why dinosaurs should be the masters of the Earth once more.

“I'll be fine.” Moynihan assured him. “Don't worry.”

“Moynihan.” She heard Max ask. She turned her head to face him. “I hope you don't mind me asking, but... is there any reason why the TV won't work?” Max did feel a bit guilty about asking her after Buzz's short scolding. He wasn't sure why he felt that way though. Buzz never got to him like this before. Perhaps it was more or less due to the fact they never faced a situation like this before. Max couldn't shake off the feeling that Victor was now watching them, waiting to plot his next move, and they wouldn't be able to plan a counterattack until it was too late.

“Oh I don't mind at all.” Joanne smiled, chuckling lightly. She struggled to sit herself up a little, as she was slouching a little in the couch. “I honestly do not know why the television is not working. I suspect that Michelle must have cut the cable cord while on her little rampage upstairs.”

“I don't know why we don't just go find Michelle ourselves.” Caruso muttered, even though he already knew finding Michelle was going to be a very difficult task without any monitoring equipment. He crossed his legs as he sat up and put his chin on his hands.

“Caruso, without the equipment, how are we going to find her?” Max asked him somewhat firmly. “And what if this is a trap? What if she wants us to find her and she'll lead us to Veloci?” Boy did this sound familiar to everyone.

“Didn't I say something similar not too long ago?” Caruso asked accusingly. “If you guys had listened to me then, this wouldn't have...”

“Don't blame this all on us!” Max snapped.

“And who am I supposed to blame?!” Caruso barked, lifting his head up to glare at Maxwell. “I can't blame myself! I'm the one who realized she was a threat! You people were the ones who wouldn't listen to me! And now look what happened!”

Max bared his teeth, his hand forming a fist. Buzz grimaced, knowing this was not going to end well. Moynihan remained silent, unsure of what she should do. Normally she would know, but right now, her mind was almost empty, and she couldn't think of one thing to say to prevent the boys from fighting.

“We aren't the ones to blame, Caruso!” Max insisted, feeling as though he wanted to strangle Caruso for his attitude. He desperately tried to control his anger.

Caruso gritted his teeth in frustration. “Yeah well you guys were the ones who ignored my warnings, so in a way you helped cause this happen...” He had muttered this, hoping Max didn't hear him. But unfortunately, Max HAD heard him.

Max, now visibly shaking with anger, was trying to calm himself down, but failed to do so, and what he said next he would soon learn to regret. “Well maybe if you weren't such an immature brat who cared only about his stupid hair and getting famous, maybe I would take you more seriously!” He snapped at the blue-haired boy sitting down in front of him. Max allowed himself to release all this pent up anger he's held against Caruso for quite sometime.

The room fell silent. Moynihan could hardly believe what she just heard. Max had always been the more responsible one in the group, and had never lost his temper before. He would usually be the one to try to settle down a situation. Sure he may have gotten upset in the past, but he had never really yelled like this before, nor had he intentionally insulted anyone like that.

Buzz was in shock as well. He blinked a few times, unsure on how to process what he just saw and heard. He had never known Max to get to this upset. He slowly shook his head, sighing softly as he petted Rump on the head. “Dude...that was harsh...” He spoke up, loud and clear enough for Max to hear him.

But Maxwell was still angry, still having a bit more anger to release. He quickly turned around, his hands still tightly clenched into fists. Buzz nearly gasped at the sight of the angry jock. He couldn't understand how Caruso's attitude could get him this angry. He didn't believe it was even possible for Max to snap at Caruso. He always seemed so tolerate of the boy's behavior, although he did disapprove whenever Caruso tried to do something just so he could get famous.

“Yeah well he deserved it! Caruso needs a wake up call!” Max snapped, continuing his short but fueled rant. “I'm sick of his selfish ways! I'm sick of his attitude! I'm sick of him seeking fame! I'm sick of him talking about his so-called perfect hair! I...” He stopped when he felt a large strong hand on his shoulder.

“That's enough.” Rodger said, frowning a bit at Max. “I think you've said more than you should have...” He gestured towards where Caruso was sitting.

Caruso's eyes had widened up all the way, and his jaws had dropped open from the sheer shock of Max's words. He had been scolded many times in the past for his behavior, but this time, this time was different. Max had gone much farther than just simply reprimanding him. He had outright INSULTED him. Caruso felt a pain in his stomach as he swallowed, trying to mentally digest what had just occurred. He took a slightly shaky breath, and spoke softly, “Stupid hair..? Immature brat...?” He finally looked away from Max, and stared at the blank TV.

Max's frown slowly faded away as he eventually realized what he had just said. As the realization hit, a strong pang of guilt hit him in the gut. How could he have said that to Caruso? How could he talk about his friend in such a harsh manner? Max growled softly to himself, and put his face in his hand for a few seconds, and he took a step towards Caruso. “Caruso I...”

“What? You haven't said enough?” Caruso said with a slight bitterness in his voice and turned his head to look at Maxwell in the eyes.

Max hesitated a few seconds, feeling a bit unnerved by Caruso's almost cold stare. He had never seen this look before. It felt almost foreign, as Caruso never stared at him, or anyone, like this before. “I-I... I'm sorry.” Max told him gently. “I shouldn't have said those things. I'm so sorry.”

Caruso's gaze softened up as well, but he was still upset with Max. He simply looked away, sighing a bit before getting up off the couch. He started to walk towards the door. “I'm..going out for some fresh air.” He said before disappearing outside. As soon as he was outside, Buzz gave a slight glare at Max. He never would have thought he would see the day when Max would snap like this, let alone say such terrible things to one of his own friends.

“Smooth move, Maxwell.” Buzz said, folding his arms angrily. “I can't believe you said those things to him...”

“Neither can I.” Moynihan chimed in, stating her disapproval as well. “Just what came over you, Max?”

“I..I don't know...” Max answered, his shoulders slumped a little. He closed his eyes as he rubbed his forehead with one of his hands. “I really don't know..I just..saw red and snapped.” Ms. Moynihan slowly shook her head.

Joanne looked at Buzz. “Buzz, can you go out and check on Caruso? Perhaps get him to come back inside?” As Buzz left to get Caruso, she turned her gaze to the jock standing in front of her. “And as for you, come here.”

“What is it?” Max asked her tentatively. He already could tell he was in trouble.

Joanne gave him a small frown. “We need to talk.”

Not too far from the lighthouse, a red truck was approaching. At a glance from afar, nothing particularly special could be noted, but upon closer examination, this truck had the signature dinosaur jaws that Victor's vehicle had. The truck was traveling along the road that would eventually lead up to the lighthouse. They would get there relatively soon, in possibly five to ten minutes. The truck was carrying a rather large cage, and housed the dinosaur helicopter.

Inside one part of the truck, Victor sat down on his chair, a computer in front of him. The screen was glowing, and their destination was flashing rapidly. Victor could tell they were getting close. The flashing would speed up when they got close to their destination. And he had seen the lighthouse before, so he knew where it was. He punched in a few more keys before turning around to greet Oscura and Michelle, who were standing in the room with him.

Victor smiled at Michelle and Oscura. He had received the good news from Michelle. The plan had been a success. All the monitoring equipment had been destroyed. The Dino Squad had no way of detecting his arrival. There was still the slight worry that they would have a hand-held tracker. But he couldn't worry about that now. This may be his only chance at catching one of these so called perfect dinosaurs.

He was also pleased with Oscura. After all, if it weren't for her and her poisonous Troodon saliva, Michelle may not have gotten in at all. She put on quite the convincing act, and did a great job in fooling the Dino Squad into thinking Michelle was actually in any danger at all. There is one thing that Victor forgot to ask about, something that the two girls failed to report to him. “Did you get the tracking devise on Caruso specifically?” Victor asked Michelle.

“Yes, sir.” Michelle said dutifully, clasping her hands together almost like a villain would when they are plotting or scheming about something. “The device is on his hand. The device is fully functional and should turn on when you activate it.”

Victor grinned and then turned back to his computer. “At long last, I am finally one step closer into bringing back the dinosaurs! Finally mankind's time is drawing to a close! And little Caruso is going to help me not only bring the dinosaurs back to their rightful place as rulers of this planet, but he will also help me bring Joanne back to me!”

As Victor continued with his speech, Oscura and Michelle looked at each other, both clearly annoyed by Victor, but they dare not say anything to him. They knew what he was capable of. It is not wise to anger a six foot tall Velociraptor who had sickle shaped talons that could rip out their stomachs in a single blow.

“I still wonder why he must do this all the...” Oscura muttered a bit loudly, but her mouth was quickly covered by Michelle's hand.

“Shhh! You want him to hear?” Michelle scolded the younger girl.

“Don't want me to hear what...?” They froze as they heard Victor speak to them. They turned their heads to see Victor was out of his seat and standing about a foot away from them. His eyes were slightly narrowed, and his eyes had a slight glow to them. But he hadn't taken an aggressive posture, and he wasn't baring his teeth.

“Oh nothing..nothing..” Michelle quickly said, hoping to calm Victor down in case he was angry with them.

“I don't think it was nothing.” Victor Veloci said, eyes narrowing further as he brought out a hand, now transformed into a Velociraptor's hand, the sharp claws gleaming in the light. “I heard you two speaking, and I know what you said. We Velociraptors have excellent hearing you know..” He enclosed his hand around Oscura's neck, and, effortlessly, lifted her off the ground before shoving her a bit roughly against the wall of the truck. “Don't you two ever backtalk me like that again, you hear me?!”

“But we didn't backtalk you..” Oscura protested, struggling a little in Victor's grasp. “Back talking is when someone responds in a rude and disrespectful manner, and I wasn't responding to anything you were saying...”

Victor narrowed his eyes a bit more before releasing Oscura. “All right then...” He hadn't known why he nearly lost his temper. He was probably just a bit worried, since these two were the only perfect dinosaurs on his side. Since he found out about the Dino Squad, he'd been fearful they would try to convert Oscura and Michelle, turn them against him. Yeah that must be the reason. He was just overly worried that's all.

Oscura slowly rose to her feet, rubbing her throat. Michelle slowly approached her. While the two didn't particularly get along, Michelle did sometimes sympathize with Oscura whatever she got hurt physically. “Are you all right?”

The black-haired seventeen year old scoffed a bit, though she was still rubbing the skin on her neck where Victor had grabbed her. “Well of course I'm all right.” Oscura chuckled, slowly eyeing Victor from her position. “Is it just me, or does Dr. Veloci look kinda..cute when he's mad?” Michelle's eyes widened, and she smacked herself in the face at this comment. Victor overheard the comment himself, and was trying his best not to turn around and say something.

Victor focused his attention on getting at the lighthouse without getting spotted. The element of surprise would be the key factor in their success. While their radar systems were disabled, they could still spot them along the road. Knowing that they were getting close, Victor grabbed a switch and pulled it down, which activated the stealth mode of his truck. It became encased in an invisible forcefield which made it completely transparent, as well as everything on the inside. As he released the handle, they were only a couple minutes away from their destination...

Caruso sat down just outside of the lighthouse, in indian style on the grass, his back against the wall of the large building. His head rested on his hands, and he gave a long heavy sigh. His mind kept replaying the incident that had just occurred inside the house over and over again. Max's word did cut into him, not just because of the words he said, but because he was his friend, and he still said those things. Caruso looked over at the horizon. He hadn't really planned on just taking off. He didn't want to worry the guys, and with no way to track, they wouldn't know where he was. 

Caruso began to ponder if Max was right. Maybe if he did act more like how they did, they would take him more seriously. He quickly shook the thought out of his mind. There was really nothing wrong with wanting to become famous, was there? A lot of people seek fame and fortune, not just him. He recalled another individual like himself, O'Ryan, who he had at one time called in so he could see his friends as dinosaurs. He quickly regretted ever being a fan of O'Ryan after how the man treated him, and how he had thrown him, a young teen, at a T-Rex just so he could get a great shot of the large animal.

He did not consider him as bad as O'Ryan. Sure, he is sometimes desperate for fame, but he would never go forth with his plans if it meant risking injury to his friends. In the end, he ended up destroying O'Ryan's footage as revenge. He smiled a little at the memory. It was kind of ironic how that obsessive man seemed to quickly forget the incident when Max prank called him about a dinosaur sighting.

Max... Caruso's smile quickly faded as he thought of that particular boy. Oh why was he letting this eat away at him? Max just lost his temper. He didn't really mean anything he had said...or had he? The boy did apologize for what he said, so why was the pain still there? Perhaps the words had stung more than he had thought initially. He thought about going back inside. He had the strangest sensation that he wasn't alone, that something was coming. He quickly stood up.

The door opened up, catching his attention. Buzz peeked out the door, and quickly found him. He gave a small nervous smile. “Hey... are you feeling all right?” The spiky-haired kid asked as he stepped out, and closed the door behind him.

“Oh...hi Buzz...I'm..fine..” Caruso said almost absentmindedly, turning his head away. “What brings you out here?”

“Ms. Moynihan sent me to check on you.” Buzz explained as he approached Caruso. He could tell Caruso was not himself, with the way he just seemed so...distant. Caruso was a social person who craved attention and loved to talk. Max's words must have hurt him more than originally believed. Caruso would not even make eye contact. “Why..don't you come back inside?” Buzz asked after a couple seconds of silence. “We can talk this over.”

“Are you sure Max would want me back in there?” Caruso asked somewhat darkly.

“Forget what he said.” Buzz said, reaching out to place a hand on Caruso's shoulder. “He didn't know what he was saying. Now come back inside, okay? Moynihan would like to speak with you.”

Caruso stared at his green-haired friend for a couple seconds, as if he wasn't sure what to do. He glanced back at the door, sighing once again. There was something that was preventing him from going back inside. Maybe he was fearful that Max would yell at him again. It was understandable. But maybe he was just getting worked up over nothing. Max seemed pretty sincere in his apology, and his expression did say that he had never meant to say those things to him.

“I...I'm not sure.” Caruso finally said, turning his head away once more. “I mean...sure Max has gotten upset with me in the past. I know that..but this time..it was different. He insulted me, Buzz...”

Buzz frowned slightly. He had to admit himself that he wasn't too thrilled with how Max treated Caruso just now. Max had never lost his temper like that before, and it pained Buzz to see him just snap under pressure like that. He did understand that Max being upset with the situation and Caruso's attitude causing him to become more sensitive. But he thought Max was strong enough to control himself if he felt his feelings of anger were spiraling out of control. But after this, he realized he had been wrong.

Buzz nodded. “Yeah, I know it hurts, Caruso.” The punk teen said sympathetically. “But you have to understand, you can't just run from situations like this.”

Caruso frowned. “I am not running.” The blue-haired teen responded, a bitter tone in his voice. Buzz opened up his mouth to speak, but Caruso wasn't done talking yet. “And he's...” He gave a sigh. “He's not the only one who said something he didn't mean...” Caruso remembered what he had said in the lighthouse, a statement he knows Max heard but he wasn't sure if the others had heard him. Now thinking about it, he wasn't sure if he could really blame Max for becoming upset with him.

“I didn't hear you say anything.” Buzz said, his left eyebrow cocked up a bit. “All I've seen is Max suddenly snapping at you as though you provoked him.” Buzz ran his hand through his green mohawk. “Just what did you say to him, anyway?”

Caruso gulped. He was hesitant in telling Buzz. After all he could easily have a similar reaction as Max had back in the lighthouse. But if he didn't tell Buzz, he would probably just feel worse. He knew that talking to someone about it is a good way of feeling better, and that holding it it for so long can cause problems.“I...I said that you guys had helped Michelle cause this when you refused to listen to my warning.” He rubbed his head as he was saying this. “I-I didn't really mean to say it. It just..slipped out.”

“Dude...” Buzz said sternly but gently. “It wasn't any of our faults. We could not have predicted this would happen. If we had listened to your warning, Caruso, I'm sure Michelle would have thought of another way to get into the lighthouse. From what I've witnessed on that online dinosaur game, she is really good at sneak attacks and improvising. I was just lucky to have beaten her in that game.” He tried to offer a comforting smile. “You did your best. At least you tried. That counts for something, doesn't it?”

“Yeah...I guess so.” Caruso said silently, his gaze fixated on the ground.

“Come on...let's get back inside.” Buzz said calmly, gripping Caruso's arm and started to pull him towards the door to the lighthouse. Caruso pulled his arm back, which confused Buzz. He persisted, gripping Caruso's arm again, tighter this time. “We shouldn't worry the others.”

Just then, Caruso started to hear something. It was faint at first, but gradually, the sound was becoming louder. It sounded like it was coming from a large vehicle. He could almost hear tires rolling across the surface of the ground. The boy turned his head towards the horizon once more, in the opposite direction of the water that crashed just below the cliff the lighthouse was resting. He stood his ground, and attempted to free his arm from Buzz. But the grip was tight.

So instead, Caruso began to pull Buzz backwards towards him. He was about the same build as Neil Buzmati, so he might have a chance in getting him away from the door. If whatever he was hearing was important, Buzz and the others should know about it. And if whatever was coming happened to be danger, he knew he couldn't fight it alone. He would need some help, and Buzz was the only person outside with him at the time.

Buzz felt himself being pulled back and away from the door. “Whoa!” He cried as he nearly lost his balance while being pulled backwards. He quickly released Irwin and turned around. “Dude, what's the big deal? Why did you pull me back like that?”

Caruso put a finger to his lips and blew, making a “Shhhh!” sound. He pointed slowly in the direction he was hearing the sound. “I think I hear something, coming from that direction.” He spoke softly, gazing a bit cautiously in that direction, but not acting genuinely scared. It was more of being concerned. It was probably nothing, though.

“Caruso..there's nothing there.” Buzz explained. He was becoming a little confused. “I don't hear anything either...”

Caruso gritted his teeth. “That's because you aren't listening close enough!” The blue-haired teen said in an urgent tone. “Listen very closely! I hear something approaching the lighthouse!”

“I don't get what you...” The sound was becoming louder now. And Buzz's ears were finally picking it up. Spending so much time listening to loud punk music in his room and, sometimes, playing video games with the volume turned so high had started to affect his hearing. This would explain why Caruso had heard the sounds before he had, why it taken Buzz longer to pick up the sounds. His hearing wasn't that much different, but it still took him a few seconds longer than Caruso to realize something was approaching the lighthouse. He snapped his head in the same direction the other boy had first heard the sounds. “Who could possibly want to come out this far?”

“I think I have an idea of whom.” Caruso said in a serious tone. His mind replayed what Moynihan had told him a few hours earlier. There could only be one person, in his mind, that would show any interest at all in the lighthouse, only one person who would want to travel this far for anything. Well only one person he could think of that wasn't the Dino Squad, Rump, or Moynihan. “Michelle must be leading Veloci here. Veloci's coming to the lighthouse!”

“What?!” Buzz gasped. Before he could say anything, he caught a glimpse of something approaching the lighthouse. While his hearing was not as sharp as Caruso's, video gaming has done something else for him. It made him more aware of his surroundings. And he could see something, faint, but growing larger, heading towards the lighthouse. He squinted to get a good look, and he could see something glowing. “Is that...?” He pointed. It was hard for him to explain what it looked like. It was almost like a cloud with a bluish white tinge to it.

Caruso now noticed it too. He grimaced a bit. He had seen this before. Victor's invisible forcefield had a flaw in it. While most of the time it did remain invisible, once in a while, for a certain length of time, it would give off some kind of bluish glow, and that's exactly what he and Buzz were seeing now. Now there could be no more doubts in their mind. “Victor Veloci! We've got to warn the guys!” He said urgently, then turning swiftly to the door, Buzz not far behind.

Back inside the lighthouse, Fiona hadn't come from the kitchen yet. The food was still cooking, and she was unaware of what had happened downstairs. Rodger had went upstairs to try and find some more medicine to help with the swelling in Moynihan's leg. In the living room, Rump had fallen asleep on the couch, once in a while kicking a leg as he dreamed. Max sat on the same couch as Moynihan. The old woman was speaking to him about the incident that had just took place. His head was slightly bowed, but he kept eye contact with his mentor. Ms. Moynihan's eyes were narrowed, and it was clear she was angry. But she spoke in a gentle calm voice, and she didn't attempt to raise it.

“So do you understand what I am telling you, Maxwell?” Joanne asked, her hand gently gripping Max's shoulder.

“Yes, ma'am. I..understand.” Max responded softly. He turned his head away. He was starting to feel even more guilty. Moynihan had just given him a lecture on anger management and how he shouldn't take it out on his friends. He was feeling even worse about what he had said to Caruso. “I apologize...”

Professor Moynihan shook her head. “I'm not the one you should be apologizing to.” She turned her gaze towards the door.

“I already apologized to him.” Max said.

“You still need to talk to him.” Moynihan told him. “You two won't feel better until you settle things together. I'm sure Caruso knew you hadn't meant those things, but it would make him feel better to hear you tell him that yourself.”

“You're right..I...” Max started to say before something loud caught his and Moynihan's attention. They heard the door knob wobble and turn, and as they turned, they saw the door slamming open. The sound was so loud that Rump woke up from his sleep and looked around as if someone was attacking. In a matter of seconds, Caruso and Buzz rushed inside. Their eyes were wide, and they rushed inside. Something was definitely wrong. “Caruso! Buzz! What's the matter?” Max asked, quickly rising from the couch.

“Victor!” Caruso said urgently, pointing a finger towards the outside of the building. “Victor is coming here!”

“We heard his truck!” Buzz added on.

Moynihan was so shocked she almost tried to stand up, but quickly remembered the injury on her ankle. If it truly was Victor coming, she would have no way to defend herself. Even transforming wouldn't change the condition in her leg. “Vic is heading here?” She asked, but sensing she already knew the answer. “After all these years, he's finally found my hideout...” It was hard for her to completely accept this. She had gone through much to make sure Victor would never find her again.

“Thanks to Michelle yes.” Caruso said, nodding his head slowly. There was a sense of anger to the edge of his voice as he said that.

Max took in a sharp gasp as he heard this news and then turned to Moynihan. “What are we going to do?” He asked her, sounding alarmed by the situation. They had never really faced off with Victor before. They had always used stealth to escape, and there had been few battles, if they could even be called that. The only time Max himself faced off with Victor was when he used his head to throw Vic into the snow during the winter.

But to actually fight him... Despite their encounters, the group still didn't have much of a clue on just what Victor was truly capable of, and they didn't know just how well he could fight. But considering that he and Moynihan had been facing off for a long time and she STILL hasn't been able to stop him for good, he's probably a more powerful being than they were led to believe. And to make matters worse, Victor had numbers on his side. He had so many humans working for him, that for every one they defeated, two or three more could show up to take their place. It was like trying to battle with an ant colony that grew to the size of humans.

Joanne sighed. “We have no choice... We have to fight Victor. We cannot allow him to destroy the lighthouse.” The old woman said, putting pressure on her foot to see if she can stand up. A sharp pain went up her leg and she quickly lifted the pressure off her foot, and the pain quickly ceased. “Ooo...” She moaned. Her leg hadn't gotten any better. She needed more anti-inflammatory medicine.

“But what if he's not after the lighthouse?” Buzz asked her. Sure, destroying the lighthouse would be a major setback, but if Victor wanted to stop the Dino Squad once and for all, he would do something else. “What if he's coming here..for us? I mean what's to stop him now? He's tried to capture us before.”

“And we always broke out.” Caruso explained. He and Buzz were both captured by Veloci in the past. “And when we took off, he gave up the chase.”

“Yeah but, Caruso,” Maxwell said to the blue-haired teen, “That was because Veloci did not know where our lair was. We could turn back into human and head to the lighthouse, and Victor would be left in the dark. But now, he knows where our lair is. Even if we manage to escape, he knows where our lair is, and can still come after us. This time, there's no where we can run.”

They heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Fiona soon arrived down, a smile on her face. She rubbed her hands together using a cloth, cleaning up some food that got on her hands. “Hey guys, breakfast is rea-” She quickly stopped, her smile evaporating as she saw the concerned looks on their faces. “Hey..what's wrong?” She asked as she placed the cloth down.

No sooner had she asked that did Rodger show up as well with a bottle of medicine and a surgical cloth in his hands. He made his way towards Moynihan and knelt down by her. Then realizing the looks on everyone's faces, he asked, “Yo..what's the matter?” He asked as he put some of the medicine on the cloth and began to remove the cloth that had been on Moynihan's leg for the past couple hours.

Max frowned. “Victor's coming here.” The jock said quickly, adjusting his green jacket. “He knows we are here.”

“What?! Are you sure?!” Rodger asked, so surprised he nearly dropped the bottle out of his hands and spilling it all over the floor. As it started to slip from his hands, he had quickly caught it with a firm grip.

“So soon?! But I thought...” Fiona started to say. But she trailed off and wasn't sure how to complete her sentence.

“Thought what?” Joanne spoke up once more. She pushed her glasses against her face as she continued to speak. “Did you think he would hesitate on an opportunity like this? I've known Vic for a very long time, and he is not the type of person who would waste any time when something like this arises, oh no.” Moynihan explained to her students. “He surely knows of Michelle's success in her mission, and he must know the lighthouse is where we've been hiding. He knows we have been weakened. What's to keep him from coming here and attacking when he knows he has the upper hand?”

Joanne winced a little as she felt Rodger put some pressure on her injured ankle. He was applying some medicine directly to the skin. He then took the new, clean cloth and began wrapping it around the leg tightly. The medicine was very cold and, though surprised the elderly woman at first, felt very soothing to the hot, swollen ankle. When Rodger finished tying the cloth, she offered him a small smile. “Thank you, Rodg.”

“What are you going to do?” Rodger asked as he stood back up. The african-american eyed the window cautiously, expecting to see Victor showing up any second. “With that ankle, you can't possibly go out there and face Victor. He would surely detect that you were hurt and go after you first. You're an easy target, Ms. M.”

“Don't worry about me.” Joanne Moynihan replied. She forced a laugh. “I'll be all right.”

“So what exactly should we do?” Fiona motioned towards the door. “Victor will be here any second.”

Moynihan carefully grabbed her necklace, and looked at the small object that was attached to it. She thought about telling them about a secret storage in the lighthouse where she kept her heavy-duty weaponry. This could give them the upperhand. But these weapons were too dangerous for them, she believed. They required training. If used incorrectly, the results could be disastrous. No, she couldn't risk it. She let go of the claw-shaped object and sighed. She looked up at her students. She knew this day would come, the day that they would actually have to fight Victor Veloci, not just foul his plans.

“As I stated before, we...you might fight Veloci. There's no getting out of it this time.” Moynihan explained. “You must be cautious. Victor can be very clever. If he is coming here for a specific reason, he knows how to turn the battle in his favor and get what he wants.”

“So...how do we defeat him?” Max asked her.

Moynihan looked up at him, and her eyes narrowed slightly. “Remember what you've learned from you previous encounters with mutants, and from what I've taught you in training. They will help you in this battle.” She thought she had finished, but then something else came to mind. “And remember....” The teens waited for her to finish her sentence. “Apart, you may not stand a chance against Victor. But stand as one, and you may be able to drive him away.”

Victor's truck approached the lighthouse, and slowed down as it got within a few feet of the lighthouse. The truck was driven carefully around to the back of the lighthouse where Victor felt would help them avoid being detected right away, in case they looked out the windows. The door opened up, and the drivers stepped out. In a few seconds, Victor also stepped out of the vehicle, and he glared at the lighthouse. “So this is where you have been hiding, Joanne.” He walked up to the lighthouse and placed his hand on its surface. He saw a glint in the corner of his eye and he turned to see the water below him. He glared out at the water in front of him. “I should have known you would pick a location such as this.. where you can help these dirty apes all the time...”

In anger, Victor slammed his foot against the lighthouse. He winced and pulled his foot back. “Stupid weak creatures...” He cursed under his breath. “I cannot wait until my plan comes full circle, so that I may not need to use this wretched body again..” He glanced at the drivers. “Get back in the truck.” He glared at the white and red building. “I'll handle this myself.”

“Hey..what about us?” Victor heard voices from behind him, and he groaned softly. He turned around to face the two teenaged perfect dinosaurs. The one that had spoken was Oscura. The raven-haired girl folded her arms in an almost impatient manner. “Michelle and I helped arrange this. Aren't we going to get to help you capture this Caruso kid? After all, you could easily be outnumbered. At least with us you'd have a better chance.”

“I don't need any help.” Victor insisted. “I know what I am doing.” He held up a small device in his hand. “All I need to do is flush them out, and when I get close enough to Caruso, I'll turn this on, which will activate the tracker on his hand, and it will stun him, and allow my men to take him away.”

“And what if they try to free him?” Michelle noted. “They could easily chew through the ropes in dino mode.”

“Hmm...” Victor thought to himself. They did have a point there. Even if he could get Caruso within his grasp like he had before during that darn football game, they could still free him just like they did before. He could fend them off himself, but going at it alone seemed too risky. And he may not get a chance like this again. If this attack fails, they'll be on alert, and it'll be harder to get access to the lighthouse without somehow alerting them, and harder still to catch them off guard.

Perhaps his odds could improve if he let Michelle and Oscura join in. They were young, yes, but they had potential. Michelle has already managed to wound Ms. Moynihan and Oscura had inflicted an infectious bite to one of the team members. While they did not have the forms of large dinosaurs like the Dino Squad did, they were more agile. Their smaller forms allowed them to maneuver quickly, so they could easily dodge any attack, and perhaps even manipulating them in some way with their swift movements.

“All right then, you can help me.” Victor told them finally after he analyzed that his chances of getting Caruso away from the Dino Squad were much higher with Michelle and Oscura's help than it was without them.

“YES!” Oscura shouted, jumping straight up like an excited little kid in a new candy store.

Michelle quickly moved away from Oscura, feeling a bit embarrassed by the younger teen's behavior. “Geeze...calm down will ya? You don't want them to hear you, do you?” She said angrily, cautiously eyeing the lighthouse. She was afraid that Oscura's outburst may have alerted the Dino Squad to their presence.

“Well sorry.” Oscura snapped back bitterly. She turned to Victor, her expression now softened and calm. “So what should we do? What's the plan?”

“Confusion.” Veloci said, his eyes starting to glow. “Use your agility to confuse the group, and keep them occupied long enough for me to single out Caruso and get him away from the others.”

“..that's all?” Oscura's arms fell to her side and she let out a groan of disappointment. “I was hoping for something more!”

Michelle nudged her hard in the arm with her elbow. “Shut it! So..sir, is there anything else you want us to do while we're out there doing the distracting?” She asked.

“Yes there is.” Victor said as he headed back to his dino-truck for something. “Don't bite Caruso with that infectious mouth of yours, Oscura. I want him to be in perfect condition when we get him back to my lab...”

They then became frozen in their place when they heard the lighthouse door squeak as it slowly opened up. Victor disappeared behind his truck to wait to make his move. He gave a nod of approval to Michelle and Oscura, letting them know they can move in to perform their part of the mission. Oscura ran along the right side of the building while Michelle took the left side. They crept slowly along the edge of the building, flat against its cold surface.

They each took their place at either side of the lighthouse, and waited for the Dino Squad to walk out of the door. They didn't have to wait too long. Only a few seconds after the door had opened up, a jock, presumably the leader of the team, stepped outside and took a good look around, even checking the left and right sides of the building. However, he did not see Michelle and Oscura hiding. And as the jock left the building, four more teens appeared behind him. Three other males and only one of them was a female.

“I don't see anything out here.” Buzz commented as they walked out onto the huge front yard of the lighthouse.

“You can't always rely on just your eyes, man.” Rodger said, smiling a bit.

Max turned to Fiona, who was their resident bloodhoundasaurus. Making a gesture towards her, he asked, “Fiona, do you mind..?”

Fiona gave a nod, understanding what he was going to ask her. She didn't know why he didn't do it himself though. A Tyrannosaurus had a more sensitive snout than she did, or at least that's what she had believed herself. Her symbol glowed, and her body began to shift as a result. Her legs became longer, thinner and yet muscular. Her mouth elongated and sharp teeth began to replace her human teeth. A huge brown sail emerged from her back, and her hands grew sharp hooked claws. Then a tail stretched out, nearly as long as her body.

She turned her head up in the air, and began sucking it in through her nostrils. She repeated this a few times, collecting the scents that hung in the air around her. She lowered her head, and her eyes narrowed further, the glow slightly intensifying in her eyes. She gave a soft growl as she constantly shifted her gaze left and right.

“Fiona, what is it?” Max asked, tensing up to prepare for a fight with whoever was there.

'I smell Veloci's truck. It smells like its right behind the lighthouse.' Fiona said using her thoughts. 'And I also smell Michelle and...someone else, maybe her Troodon partner, standing at the sides of the lighthouse. It's an ambush!' She said, sounding alarmed. She quickly moved away from the building and turned to face it, letting out a roar. She wasn't about to be attacked from the sides or from behind.

Immediately, the Dino Squad turned to face the newfound danger. Max and Rodger turned to face the right side of the building. Caruso and Buzz turned to face the left side of the building. They quickly transformed into their dinosaur selves before the enemy could come out and attack them while they were still human. No sooner that they transformed did Michelle and Oscura jump out from their hiding places, each wearing a mischievous smile on their faces. They did not look genuinely evil; but rather they looked more like they just wanted to have some fun, and decided to mess with them. But looks can be deceiving. The Dino Squad prepared themselves. Veloci must not be far behind.

“Well well well, what do we have here?” Oscura asked mockingly as she began to walk in a continued small circle in front of Max and Rodger. She looked up at the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Styracosaurus without fear. She instead only scoffed, and made a small chuckle. “Such big bad boys aren't ya? You've been naughty... You need to be taught a lesson!” 

Her symbol glowed and she quickly shifted into a red and pink Troodon. As Max tried to sink his teeth into her, the Troodon quickly ducked down, and he missed. Screeching, she attempted a bite, but was knocked away by Rodger's charge. She rolled across the ground a little, but quickly got back up.

Michelle however just remained still. She glanced at the Pteranodon and Stegosaurus that stood in front of her. She took note that the Stegosaurus was Caruso. She would have to make a move that wouldn't cause any serious harm to Caruso. “So are either of you going to make a move?” She asked tauntingly. She smirked at the green Pteranodon. “What about you, you flying rat?” Buzz snapped his head back as he opened his tooth-filled beak in anger. Without thinking he lunged forward, his beak wide open to attack Michelle.

But this is exactly what Michelle had wanted him to do. She grinned as she quickly side stepped Buzz. The green Pteranodon squealed as his beak struck into the ground, causing him to become stuck. Taking advantage of this situation, she shifted into her Guanlong Wucaii form and lunged onto his back. She bit into his back and began to tear at his flesh. Buzz yanked his beak free and lifted up his head and let out a loud screech of pain. Despite his pain, Michelle didn't let go of Buzz's back, instead biting with more ferocity.

'Buzz!' Caruso cried and he charged forward. His massive tail raised up and swung down. The spikes and tail slammed against Michelle's body, causing the black raptor-like dinosaur to scramble onto the ground, landing on her back. Caruso charged forward again, raising up on the ground to slam his body weight onto the Guanlong. Michelle quickly dodged, and all Caruso ended up hitting was dirt and grass. But instead of attacking him, Michelle went back to Buzz, and slashed at him with one of her paws.

Buzz quickly opened up his wings and jumped into the air. Michelle's claws only slashed through air. She missed him by a couple inches. She looked up, snarling in frustration. She jumped up, and tried to snap her jaws into Buzz's tail. But it always seemed to be out of reach for her. She once again felt herself being knocked away by Caruso's tail. She scrambled back to her feet and shrieked at him, but did not try to attack. She had to follow Victor's wishes and leave him unharmed.

'This is going to be fun eh?' Oscura joked as she squared off against Max and Rodger.

'You have no idea what you are getting yourself into.' Rodger said, lowering his head. The sunlight glinted off of the sharp edges of the horns.

'Either leave now, or suffer the consequences.' Max said as he opened up his massive jaws, revealing his six inch teeth, powered by the huge muscles in his jaws. He and Rodger were hoping to avoid waisting energy on the Troodon by trying to scare it away.

'Oooo... I'm shaking, I'm shaking.' Oscura said mockingly, holding up her paws like a human would when they were scared. 'You two are too big and slow to catch me. I could go inside the lighthouse and kill off your precious mentor faster than you can detransform and get inside to stop me!'

'That's it..you're going down!' Rodger shouted as he dashed forward, his head lowered. Oscura chuckled, and waited for the right moment to dodge. Just then, just as Oscura was about to dodge, a set of golden jaws clamped down around her. Rodger stopped his charge just in time. Oscura let out a loud screech as she tried to squirm out of the crocodile jaws. But the grip was like a vice.

'Don't you ever talk that way about my friends, you little witch!' Fiona seethed as she tightened her grip on the squirming Troodon in her jaws. Oscura could not get a good bite on her, and with the way Fiona was holding her, she had a tough time getting a good angle to slash her. 'You mess with one of us, you mess with us all!'

Michelle managed to dodge Caruso's next attack, and when she glanced up she noticed her partner was in trouble. 'Oscura!' She ran over to Fiona, which Caruso charging right behind her. She calculated that Caruso would not have enough time to stop himself if he got too close to Fiona. And she couldn't risk attacking Fiona while she had her partner in her jaws. While her plan was still just as risky, she thought it was less risky than biting Fiona herself.

She slowed down a little so Caruso could catch up to her. As she felt Caruso's Stegosaurus jaws snap at her, she sped up a little. She could feel the dinosaur's hot breath on her back as she made her way to Fiona. She quickly dashed underneath Fiona. Just as anticipated, Caruso couldn't stop in time, and slammed into Fiona. The two dinosaurs roared as they slammed into the ground, Caruso on top of Fiona. The Spinosaurus's jaws opened up wide, and Oscura managed to get herself free.

'Why you... I'll make you pay for that!' Oscura snarled as she slammed her jaws shut around Fiona's long snout. Her teeth worked into the golden scales, saliva, filled with bacteria, seeped into the small cuts. Fiona pulled her head free and roared, but she knew it was too late. It wouldn't take long for the effects of the bacteria to settle in. To defend herself, she used her head as a weapon, slamming it into Oscura and knocking the red Troodon onto her side.

As the battle was going on, none of the dinosaurs had noticed Victor was slowly creeping forward, careful to remain hidden in the shadows. He could easily go inside the lighthouse to get Moynihan, but today he was only after one prize, and that was Caruso. He gripped the device tightly in his hand as he came closer. Behind him, his truck had moved a bit closer to the side of the building, closer to where the battle was now taking place. His men were on stand-by, ready to launch the net to grab Caruso when Victor gave the command.

He quickly spotted Caruso getting off of the yellow Spinosaurus. He didn't look injured at all, just a bit dirty and shaky from the collision. Victor's mouth curled up into a smile. He lifted up the device and pointed it straight at Caruso. He had to make sure he had a clear shot. The transmitter was designed the work only a couple times before burning out completely. The electricity would not cause any serious damage to him, but would cause some pain and loss of muscle control. As he got a little closer, and as the battle continued, he eventually got a clear shot of Caruso. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, he quickly pressed the button, transmitting a signal to the item on Caruso's hand.

Caruso felt something tingly on his foot. He immediately stopped, and lifted up his leg. He tried to see the underneath of his foot, but Stegosaurus wrists cannot turn the way human hands could. He could not see the underneath to see what was making that feeling. 'What's going on?' Then the tingling got worse, and more painful. Sparks shot out from underneath his foot. Then large electrical currents began to run through his body, electrical energy dancing over his Stegosaurus form, visible to even human eyes. Caruso roared in pain as his body started to spasm and he fell to the ground, immobilized.

Victor quickly pulled out something from his pocket and shouted into it. “Now! Net him!”

It didn't take long for the others to notice what had just happened. Max's dinosaur eyes widened with fear as he saw the massive red truck heading towards his friend. 'CARUSO! GET UP!' He shouted the warning to Caruso, but the Stegosaurus did not move. 'CARUSO!' Max rushed forward, as well as the others, except Fiona who was now on the ground, feeling sick from the Troodon bite. Max used his tail to wrap around Caruso's body and tried to pull him to safety. But he had to quickly retract his tail when he felt Michelle biting into him.

'Not so fast big boy.' Michelle said, almost smirking, her teeth drawing some blood from Max's green tail. Max lifted up his tail and began slamming it into the ground. Eventually he managed to dislodge Michelle from his tail, and she fell to the ground. 'Oh have it your way.' She said in a disappointed yet mocking tone.

The red truck was getting closer. The top opened up, and a large claw, almost like the kind used for construction purposes, emerged.

CREEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!

The large claw loomed above the dinosaurs, and began to lower, preparing to encase Caruso in it. Max roared and bit down on the large claw and attempted to rip it off. Buzz flew over head, diving in front of the claw several times to make it miss its mark. Rodger rammed against the side of the trick where the claw was attached, trying to turn it over. The claw tried to wrench itself free of Max's powerful jaws, but the Tyrannosaurus was relentless. He tightened his grip, and could have sworn he heard the metal of the claw begin to break.

Rodger managed to drive his horns into the truck, and tried to lift the vehicle up, but a sharp pain on his back forced him to let go. He began to buck a little, like an old wild horse. He charged a couple of times, trying to force whatever was on him off of him. 'Yo, who's on my back?!' He asked angrily as he raised up his frilled head to try and see who was on him.

'Heheheheh. You're not to tough now are you?' He heard a masculine voice say. Rodger's eyes widened a little. He had never heard this voice before. It just sounded so unfamiliar to him. But as he listened to the voice more closely, it didn't take long for him to realize that it was Victor who was on his back. Immediately Rodger reared up on his hind legs for as long as he could, hoping to make Victor slide off of him.

'Get off of my back!' Rodger demanded as he slammed back into the ground with a heavy thud. He was answered by the feeling of his skin being torn and ripped. Veloci dug his sharp teeth deep into Rodger's skin, his sickle claws stuck deep inside his sides. Blood oozed out, running down the gray dinosaur's side. Rodger bellowed in agony.

'Oh no..Rodger!' Buzz dove down and brought his talons forward. He aimed straight for Victor Veloci, who was clinging to his friend's back. He shrieked loudly as his claws hit their mark. Long sharp talons slashed across Veloci's back, creating small but bleeding wounds along his back. Victor was knocked off of Rodger and landed on the ground. Buzz flew a certain distance away before sharply turning back and swooping back down at Victor. This time his beak was going to be used as a weapon. He aimed his sharp mouth at the Velociraptor below him. He moved his wings closer to him to make the dive go faster.

'What a naughty bird!' Oscura jumped in front of Veloci to protect him from Buzz's assault. 'You need your wings clipped!' She announced as Buzz got close enough for her to jump up and latch onto. She gripped onto him by what would appear to be a dinosaur hug. But there was nothing friendly about this hug. Her sharp claws scraped into his back, her foot talons tearing into his wing, attempting to render him flightless. She quickly snapped her jaws around his right shoulder. She bit hard into his shoulder, hard enough that she could taste his salty blood seep into her mouth.

Buzz howled painfully, and as Oscura let him go, he had no time to react and he ended up crashing against the lighthouse. He fell down, and his head lolled to one side. 'Man... what a rush....' He muttered softly in his head before struggling to get back onto his feet.

Oscura turned to the big T-Rex that was attacking the claw. She narrowed her eyes. If they did not get Caruso out soon they might as well forget the entire mission. She didn't need to worry about Rodger. He was still on the ground in pain from the wounds inflicted by Veloci. While he did not have a poisonous bite, it would take some time to recover from the wounds Rodger just received. He won't die from them though. She had already given her infectious bite to Fiona, who was already on the ground, and Buzz. And there was only one dinosaur still standing that could stop them, and that was the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Max was too preoccupied with the claw to realize that Oscura was coming up from behind, or that he was the only one left still standing. He grunted and growled as he tugged the claw harder and harder, threatening to rip it straight off. He took a step backwards, and managed to pull the claw and the truck about a foot from their original position. He was about to make a powerful twist to rip off the claw when he suddenly felt a pain on his calf. He immediately released the claw, lifting his massive head in the air and roaring. The claw re-stabilized itself and went back to grabbing Caruso.

Oscura clung tightly onto Max's muscular leg and slashed as deep as she could with her talons, and delivered a bite on an open wound she had made. Max's eyes widened as she recalled Moynihan's warning of the Troodon bite. He quickly stomped his foot down, creating an aftershock strong enough to knock Oscura off of him. But instead of going after her, his attention quickly shifted when he heard a cry for help from Caruso. 'Help me...' Caruso was in trouble. He could feel it. He knew he must help him and fast.

Max turned around to see the claw had already enclosed around Caruso's immobile body. The Stegosaur's eyes stared at him, wide-eyed, almost helpless. He had struggled to move but could only manage weak movements from the limbs. His long tail hand limply on the side of the claw, dangling almost uselessly. 'Caruso!' The green Tyrannosaurus Rex thundered toward Caruso and lunged his jaws forward to try and grab onto the claw again. This time, Veloci's men became wise, and lifted the claw higher than Max could jump. 'No! Caruso!'

Upon hearing Max's pleas, Rodger, Fiona, and Buzz slowly climbed to their feet. They were weakened, two were infected, and they were feeling exhausted. But when they heard that Caruso was still in danger, they summoned up whatever energy they had left and staggered over to Max to lend a helping hand. Buzz, although disoriented from the bite, managed to grab Caruso's tail and began to fly backwards, beating his large wings to create a gust of wind against the claw. Fiona raised her muzzle up as high as she could, allowing Buzz to wrap his tail around her snout. Fiona then started to pull backwards, assisting Buzz in pulling Caruso away from the claw.

Fiona then wrapped her own tail around Rodger's own snout. The powerful Styracosaurus summoned up what energy he had to spare and started to pull Fiona back. Finally Max stepped up, raising his tail and wrapping it as tightly as he could around Rodger's tail. Rodger responded by tightening the grip, allowing Max to pull forward, as he was facing the opposite direction as the others. It was quite a sight. Four dinosaurs working together to free a fifth dinosaur, hanging onto eachother and pulling with all their might.

Victor's men tried to pull backwards to wrench Caruso away from the others. But their truck kept getting pulled forward. The tires screeched as they tried to drive in reverse. Smoke and dirt and dust got kicked up in the air, creating a thin cloud that slightly obscured the view. Further and further the truck was pulled. A cracking sound indicated that the claw was being strained behind its maximum strength. All it would take is one final massive pull from the four dinosaurs and the claw could be ripped off completely and Veloci's truck sent flying in the air.

Victor was not about to let this one get away. He jumped onto his truck and began to walk effortlessly along the thin path that connected to the metallic claw. He hunched himself low and raised his tail in the air to keep himself balanced. He crept closer to where Caruso was now hooked up. He stepped onto the claw, his talons separated from Caruso's skin by just the claw itself. He could see that the Pteranodon's talons were gripped tightly on Caruso's tail. Hissing softly, Victor went over the edge of the claw, and transformed his Velociraptor hands into a fusion, human hands to help him grip, and still had the sharp talons to dig into the metal. This reduced his chances of falling.

Buzz's feet were within close range. He stretched his leg as far as it could go, the sickle claw extending just a bit beyond the legs. Victor suspected that, even though he knows he's there, Buzz will probably not let go, being more concerned over Caruso than his own safety. This made humans weak, Victor believed. They ignore their own safety for the sake of another. This is the mistake Buzz was making and he was about to pay the price for it. 'I will not let go!' He heard Buzz say, confirming his suspicions.

'You are not about to ruin my plans, Pteranodon!' Victor snarled as he flexed his foot. 'Your friend belongs to me now!' And with that final statement, before Buzz could make a remark, Victor kicked his foot toward Buzz's green-skinned legs. The sickle claw cut deep into both of the Pteranodon's legs, blood spewing out, the claw scraping against something solid, the bone. Buzz reared his head back and screamed as he accidentally released Caruso. With the pulling force gone, the four dinosaurs tumbled across the ground, landing on one another. Victor's truck spun a ways backwards, almost going over the edge of the lighthouse. But the tires activated just in time and it screeched to a halt.

Max quickly stood back up, and he could see Caruso being lowered into Veloci's truck. His glowing eyes widened in horror. 'NO!' The others had just exhausted the last bit of their strength, and lay on the ground. They were still conscious, but now too weak to stand up. The bite is now starting to effect Max as he felt himself becoming even weaker. He tried to shake it off and ran towards the truck, prepared to rip it open if he had to. 'I won't let you take him!' He announced as he opened up his jaws, his tongue hanging out as he exposed his massive teeth. 'Never!'

He managed to grip onto the claw again and tried to pull backwards, but he didn't hang in for too long. Michelle had leapt onto the claw. Her smaller size allowed her to make more massive leaps, comparative to size anyway, than the larger dinosaurs. She did not make any hesitations in her movements. She leapt from the claw onto Max's large head. The T-Rex had very short arms, so she had the upperhand now. She slashed at the Dino Squad teen's eyes, and caused Max to let go of the claw and stumble backwards. A few small bleeding claws were now across his eyes. They weren't serious, though, and he could still see regardless of the blood seeping through. He tried to throw Michelle in the air and snap at her, but the black Guanlong quickly jumped off and landed on the ground.

Michelle slipped and fell down, but swiftly recovered and made a dash towards the red truck. 'Oscura! Let's go!' She shouted to her Troodon partner as they made their way to the truck. The red Troodon followed closely behind her. The door to the vehicle opened up, and the two teens jumped inside. Following close behind was Victor. The Velociraptor jumped inside, then peered out of the door. He shifted back into his human self, and just smirked as the T-Rex tried to run for them.

“Don't worry! You'll soon be joining your friend here!” Victor called out as the door closed, and he quickly activated the camouflage. The truck quickly swerved around the back of the lighthouse to the front, and started to head back to the road to transport Caruso to the laboratory.

'NO! NO!' Max, terrified, his heart racing, began to give chase, trying to follow the sound of the truck. He didn't care who saw him. He didn't care if he was breaking the rules by going out in public like that. All he cared about was freeing Caruso. He believed he was starting to catch up to the truck, the smell of metal strong in his nasal cavity, but then the bacteria from the Troodon bite started to kick in. He realized that he had sped up the process by running and exerting so much energy. His heart had pumped faster and spread the poison through his body much more quickly now. 'No..no not now...' He muttered as he started to slow down, a fever starting to kick in.

His vision began to blur, and he started to lose focus on what he was doing. He opened his jaws in a heavy pant, and he slowed to a stop. He felt himself fall down as the fever got rapidly worse. His chin slammed into the Earth, and a dust cloud was kicked up. 'Caruso...' The last thing his weary eyes saw was a bluish glow from Veloci's truck speeding off along the road, and disappearing into the distance...

Caruso struggled to his feet. He was still in his Stegosaurus form, and he'd been placed inside a huge cage, held together by strong, durable bars. He staggered a little as he put his full weight on his thick sturdy limbs. He managed to raise his head up to look around. He was in the back of the truck, though it wasn't dark, to his surprise. He looked around, and he could see a door, obviously leading to where Veloci generally resides during the trips. Caruso looked up and saw why the room wasn't dark; there was a light in the middle of the ceiling. It blinked a few times once in a while, but otherwise kept on shining.

'I wonder if I can break this open...' Caruso thought, trying to raise his tail in the air. But his tail quickly fell back down, and he suddenly lost the strength in his legs. His body fell back to the ground, and he shook a little. The electric shock must have drained him of his power more than he thought. He managed to raise his head up a little when he heard the door open up.

“Enjoying your new accommodations, Stegosaurus?” Victor asked slyly as he entered the room. He made his way towards the cage, his eyes locked onto Caruso's. The raptor in disguise was smiling triumphantly. He had gotten what he came to the lighthouse for. He got his prize: Caruso. As he came closer, he noticed the glare in the Stegosaur's eyes. “What? You don't like it?” He asked, pretending to sound concerned. He chuckled. “Well too bad, because you're going to be here for a long time...”

Caruso bared his teeth. But that didn't frighten Victor too much, since Stegosauruses were vegetarian and did not use their teeth for tearing flesh. As Victor laughed at his failed attempt to intimidate, Caruso just scoffed and turned his head away. His thoughts went back to his friends, the Dino Squad. Without equipment, would they be able to find him in time? On top of that, would they even find him at all? He knew Victor was going to take him back to his laboratory, but he nor the others knew where that was. They knew where his public building was, but not his secret hideout where he conducts his experiments. Maybe Moynihan does, that idea just came to Caruso's mind. If she could monitor Victor, she would know where Victor was. Caruso smiled at this. Perhaps there was some hope yet.

“I highly doubt your friends will find you.” Caruso swung his head towards Victor, his glowing yellow eyes narrowed. Victor stood in front of the cage now, only inches away from the steel bars. All he would need was wait for the right moment, and he could grab Victor with his jaws. “Their monitoring equipment is gone, and they don't know where I'm taking you.” Victor took a step closer, and Caruso took this opportunity to lung forward and snap his jaws at Victor's arm. But it seems Victor was expecting this. He quickly jumped backwards, and all Caruso managed to snatch was air.

Victor, the pseudo-man, couldn't help but laugh. “Such a bold attempt, Stegosaurus. But you should really relax.. You're going to need all the strength you have for what I have in store for you....” He trailed off, almost as though he was pondering what he was going to say next. When he did finally finish his sentence, Caruso could have sworn he felt his heart stop. “...Irwin Caruso.”

'How...how did you....' Caruso said with his thoughts, backing up a bit in the cage. It wasn't out of genuine fear. It was out of the shock of Victor knowing his name, his first AND last night at that. Then it hit him. Of course, he should know how Victor found out. He recalled how Victor slashed him just a couple days ago, and had called him by his full name back then.

“Why don't you change back?” Veloci asked him, completely ignoring Caruso's unfinished question. “Are you claustrophobic? If you are I suggest you change back. There would be more room for you to move around.” He said in a taunting voice. 

Caruso responded with a deep growl. 'Shut up...'

Victor's eyes mutated, eyelids moving sideways instead of up and down. A strange glow surrounded them, and he reached into his pocket. He held up the device he used to operate the tracker still stuck to Caruso's foot. “You best behave, human. Or I'll make you behave.”

'Yeah right...' Caruso proclaimed, rolling his eyes. 'Why would I take orders from you?'

Victor chuckled. “Trust me..” The Velociraptor-human responded, a sly smile on his face. “I know how to break humans...”

Although Caruso pretended not to be fazed by Victor's words, deep down he did feel some concern. He had no idea what Victor was going to do with him exactly, but Moynihan gave him a pretty good idea. She had warned the Dino Squad that if Victor found out just what they were, and caught them, they would be subjected to several of Vic's experiments. Caruso lowered his head and looked away, and tried to avoid looking at Victor as he thought back on his friends. He felt a quick and brief sharp pain as he thought of how they were not able to free him.

He secretly wished his friends would find him soon, though. He believed in them, and he trusted them. They've overcome Veloci before. He felt confident that they would find him in time. But one thought tugged at the back of his mind, a thought he didn't like thinking about. What if they don't? What if they never find him? No, no, he had to wipe those thoughts out of his head. Of course they'll find him. The good guys always win! Didn't they?

Caruso's attention turned back to the door when he heard it open up again. Victor turned to see who was coming inside. Instead of a human, a small red and orange dinosaur stepped inside. Caruso roared at the newcomer, recognizing her on the spot. It was Oscura, still in dino mode. She slinked through the door and she trotted slowly but unhesitatingly towards Victor Veloci. The large round eyes glowed as they glanced at the prisoner in the cage, then back at Veloci.

'What shall Michelle and I do now?' Oscura asked him, her head bowed a little to show respect.

“Nothing, for now.” Victor responded. “We've got what we came here for.” He turned his head to stare back at the purplish blue Stegosaurus standing inside the cage. He shook his head as he noted mentally that the child refused to change back, despite the small cage size. But he did not go through this mission unprepared. He had predicted that Caruso would resist his commands, so he formulated a plan that would make Caruso obey him. And it wasn't going to be much fun for the boy. “However...in a little while I would like you or Michelle to come in here and remove the boy's tracker.”

'Tracker..?' Caruso thought in his mind, almost forgetting that Oscura and Victor could hear his thoughts now too. He gazed down at his paw, the one where the pain originated from before he was immobilized by the electrical shock.

“Oh you don't know?” Victor asked with a sneer. “You've had a tracker on your foot, or hand, whatever. The point is, that tracker lead me right up to you, boy, and that tracker is what enabled your capture.” He seemed to sense Caruso's confusion. “Confused? Don't know how it got on you? Oh I'm sorry.” He said in an unapologetic tone. “Michelle put it on you when she shook your hand.”

The dinosaur's eyes widened and he roared again, this time angry at himself for being so gullible. He had let himself fall right into their trap. He fell for Michelle's dirty little trick. He should never have stopped to speak to Michelle. He should have just kept on riding along home. Then, a feeling of guilt suddenly enveloped him somewhat, as he realized maybe he was the reason Veloci found the lighthouse. If he followed the signal, he could have found the lighthouse easily, and with no monitoring equipment to register his approach, Veloci could get to the lighthouse undetected and nab him.

'I can't believe it.. How could I have been stupid?!' Caruso cursed to himself, and only felt angrier when Victor and Oscura laughed at him.

“Oh don't blame yourself for being stupid, Caruso. Blame your species.” Victor remarked.

'How dare you...' Caruso muttered softly. He backed up against the cage, and charged forward, and slammed his full body weight against the cage. Victor and Oscura were shocked to see that in just one blow, Caruso managed to create a bad dent in the cage. They feared that if he were to slam into it again, he could break the cage open and escape. They would need to find someway to control him to prevent him from ramming the cages. He may not have seemed like much of a threat trapped inside the cage, but Stegosaurs were powerful creatures. They would be in real danger if he managed to break free.

As Caruso backed up for his next charge, Veloci quickly pressed the button on his remote, sending another painful shock wave of electrical energy coursing through Caruso's body. The dinosaur reared his head back and roared in pain and then collapsed onto his side, moaning softly. He twitched a little, and finally went limp. He hadn't been knocked out; he just couldn't move again. It was like being hit by a tazer gun.

Seeing Caruso laying there, looking so helpless, gave Victor an idea. He would go forward with his original plan of controlling Caruso but make some modifications. Electricity seemed to be the ideal component he could use to help break Caruso's spirit and force him into submission. He had told himself to only use that as a last resort, though. He didn't want to damage the Stegosaurus body Caruso possessed. If he could convince Caruso to obey him early on, he could avoid using the device he had planned.

But if the boy continued to resist, then he would have no choice but to use it on him. He would need to be careful however because the last thing he wanted to do was inflict major, irreversible damage to the Stegosaurus. But what to do with the boy when Victor was done with him? Victor had thought about this. He really didn't want to simply kill Caruso off. He had perfect dino DNA after all. He would still make a valuable addition to the new dawn of the dinosaurs. But surely, the boy would never embrace his dinosaur heritage, even after experiencing the glory of being a dinosaur. He was still a human. The pathetic human mind could never embrace the dinosaur's superior mind.

Of course there were exceptions. Both Oscura and Michelle, so he believed, thought more like dinosaurs than humans. Victor was working out a way to prevent anyone from turning back into humans once his plan becomes complete. He did not want to risk allowing any humans to exist in his new dinosaur reign. He did not want to pollute the new paradise with lowly creatures such as humans. Once he perfect his DNA he must ensure that not only plants and animals are infected, but all the humans as well. He was hoping to do this with his cloud plan from before, but a more revised version.

He turned his attention back to Oscura, and nodded his head, gesturing towards Caruso. “Remove the tracker. I don't need it anymore.”

'But sir, what if he tries to...' Oscura said urgently, gazing over at Caruso with a watchful eye. 'He could..'

“He won't get out. I can assure you that.” Victor said as he made his way towards the door. “Even if he manages to get out of the cage, he won't be able to leave the room.”

'But...' Oscura objected, but quickly shut her yap when Victor's eyes shifted to black with a glowing yellow iris. She cringed back and bowed her head again. 'Y-Yes sir. I'll get right on it.' As Victor smiled and left the room, Oscura made her way towards the cage. She reached inside the cage cautiously, in case Caruso got his movement back. She lifted up one of his paws and inspected it. 'Now where did she put that tracker..?' She placed the foot back down when she found nothing. She lifted up the second front paw, rubbing her claws gently along the underneath of it, until she managed to locate it. Gripping it as tightly as she could with her talons, she pulled it out and tossed it aside.

While it did not hurt putting it on originally, for some reason, Caruso felt pain as Oscura pulled the tracker out of his paw. If he weren't still immobilized by the shock, he would be screaming right now. He did manage to lift up his head, though, to get a better look at Oscura. His eyes narrowed, filled with hatred for the Troodon. 'J-Just wait...until I... get out...out of..this cage...' He managed to say through the pain he was already in. He knew he could take her on single-handedly. He didn't need help to defeat a weak Troodon like her. All he needed to do was strike her with his tail with full force. It shouldn't be that difficult. Then again, despite her small size, he had noticed that none of his team could seriously injure Oscura. She was just too fast.

'Oh you aren't getting out of the cage, little boy.' Oscura sneered. Even though Caruso was still weak, she still kept her distance from the cage. 'And if you know what's good for you, you'll listen to Dr. Vic's orders. Otherwise..you don't wanna know what's gonna happen to ya.'

Just then the door opened up again, this time Michelle, in her human form, stepped inside. Upon seeing her, Caruso's eyes glowed more intensely and he tried to struggle to his feet, only to fail. Michelle shook her head at Caruso's meek attempt. “Looks like you remember me.” She told the Stegosaurus. Unlike Victor and Oscura, she held no sneering smile, but a face of stone. She was not in the mood for laughter right now. They still have to reach their destination before they can safely say the mission was a success. Something could easily go wrong while transporting Irwin to the doctor's lab.

'What is it that you want?' Oscura asked, turning her head slightly to the side and baring her teeth.

“I'm just here to check up on our little...guest.” Michelle said, the faintest of a smirk on her face.

'Uhhh...okay...' Oscura said, tilting her head. 'But I don't think it really matters how he's doing.'

“I never asked you for your opinion, now did I?” Michelle barked at the Troodon. She ignored the Troodon's angry hiss and walked towards Caruso's cage. Without fear, she placed her hands around two of the bars Caruso had dented, and peered inside. She could see Caruso glaring at her like any caged animal would. “Why are you still in dino mode? You'd probably feel more comfortable if you change back.”

'Oh shut up will you?' Caruso snapped. 'You tricked me!'

“And is that a surprise?” Michelle said, her hands on her hips, speaking in a 'I told you so' kind of voice. “I sensed that you knew of my...our little trap. Why does it shock you so to discover I planted the tracker on you?” This was merely a guess. She did not know if Victor told him or not. But either way, Caruso ought to know now. “So I ask you again, why don't you just change back?”

Caruso snarled as a response, but did not answer her question. He merely turned his head away like a pouting child would. Michelle groaned and shook her head. Caruso was a bit more stubborn than she thought, then again she had helped capture him. He probably just didn't want to listen to his captors. That was logical, she believed.

Oscura chuckled, and picked at her teeth with her talons. 'Maybe he doesn't want to talk because, maybe he's too stupid to answer.'

She was quickly startled by a roar coming from the cage. Caruso was back on his feet now, although shaky. He looked as though he was going to charge again, as he was backing up once more. Oscura's eyes widened in shock, realizing what he was about to do. Michelle looked just as surprised. 'I am not stupid!' He declared as he kicked at the floor of the cage, trying to build up momentum.

“Oh now you've done it.” Michelle said bitterly to Oscura. “He's gonna get out of the cage!” She looked at Caruso with her eyes widened up more. She did not think the dent could withstand a blow like the one a Stegosaurus could deliver, especially one driven by anger.

Oscura shifted back into her human self, running her fingers through her dark-colored hair. She let her expression of shock slowly disappear. “Oh you need not worry. He cannot break out of the cage. Not in his condition anyway.”

As if on cue, before Caruso could muster up the energy he needed for the charge, he felt weak again, and he collapsed onto his side once more. The electrical shock had taken away more of his strength this time. He knew it would take some time to fully recover from it. Maybe that's why Victor was so confident he would not get out with the tracker removed. Victor was an intelligent being, Caruso hated to admit it, but it was true. Victor must have calculated that two massive electrical shocks would weaken him up enough that he wouldn't fully recover until sometime after they reached their destination.

'I hate you...' Caruso managed to say at Oscura before shutting his eyes.

Oscura shook her head in disappointment. “What a waist of energy. And here I thought he would be tougher than this. But I guess I was getting my hopes up.”

“Why would you want him to be tougher?” Michelle asked as the two walked to the door.

“For the challenge.” Oscura smirked. “It's more fun to break someone if they fight back.”

“Well I am sure Caruso here is not going down without a fight. But even so, you aren't going to have your way with him.” She winced as she realized the innuendo she had accidentally attached to that last sentence. “Err.. you know what I mean. Anyway, Victor just told me he doesn't want you or me breaking Caruso. He's already had a plan worked out, and he claims to have made many humans submit to him before. That's how he was able to create this organization.”

“Oh poo..what a disappointment.” Oscura muttered. “But wait, how is he going to break someone who can defend himself?”

Michelle smirked as she walked out the door, Oscura in tow. “Oh don't you worry. He has..ways...” She then shut the door, leaving Caruso all alone in the cage.

When he sensed that no one was around, Caruso's eyes opened up a crack, looked around briefly, then opened up all the way. He hadn't been knocked out earlier. He was just pretending to. He was hoping that if he pretended to be knocked out, they would leave him alone quicker. The plan had worked. But he knew it wouldn't be too long before someone came in the back to check on him, probably to make sure he was recovering and was still inside the cage.

He finally decided to take Victor and Michelle's advice, as much as he hated to, and shifted back into a human. He felt a wave of relief rush through him as he finally had more elbow room. He was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic while in Stegosaurus form. He took another look around the room. For the first time he could see a window, but it was closed by bars from the outside. He wouldn't be able to slip through.

“Well this is just great.. I'm stuck on Veloci's truck, heading to who-knows-where, and I have no way of telling the guys where I am!” He snapped to no one. As the feelings of despair, worry that he might never see his friends again, started to seep through slightly, he slowly sank to down onto the floor, and stared at the ground. He gave a soft sigh, and he looked up at the window, where he could see the sky. “Please, guys..hurry.” He said before leaning against the cage bars, and closing his eyes.

Back at the lighthouse, Max had the unfortunate and grim task of informing Moynihan that Caruso had been captured. Moynihan was very horrified, and scared, and so was everyone else. The situation seemed to grow more desperate now. Caruso did not have his cellphone with him, so there was no way for him to call them up and tell them where he was. And with no way to track him, they could not find him. Rodger had suggested tracking by smell, but Moynihan claimed it would not work, stating that Veloci's truck's emissions disappeared quickly, along with the scent.

Buzz suggested calling the police and telling them about what happened, but this idea was turned down as well. Victor was a powerful man and could easily discourage police from tagging along with the use of money. It was really difficult to get any authorities to after a man as rich and powerful as Dr. Victor Veloci. And it would be difficult to convince some people that he had committed such a crime. There were people who trusted Victor so much it nearly crossed the border line of naivety.

Fiona had made another suggestion. Perhaps Buzz could fly over and try to find Victor's truck. That sounded like a wonderful idea, but Ms. Moynihan had to reject it as well, stating that Victor would detect Buzz before he found the truck. Victor could either slip away, or capture Buzz as well. Buzz suggested that he could just fly up really high so Victor wouldn't see him, but his idea was shot down when Joanne revealed that Victor's tracking range was immense, being able to detect dinosaurs from almost anywhere in the world. If he turned dino now, anywhere, Victor would know about it.

The kids were inside the lighthouse, sitting on the furniture. Moynihan had managed to open up the door and had seen the children outside, all knocked out in dino mode. Rump had ignored his illness when he saw the children in what appeared to be danger, and ran outside, barking like mad. He had managed to wake up the Dino Squad, who quickly shifted back into humans. While weak and injured, Rump managed to keep them going by constantly barking at them, and nudging them with his nose. A few times he'd even nip them. The little dog was smarter than they had thought. They owed him for helping them get inside the lighthouse.

Moynihan ignored her pain again as she had made her way back to the couch, knowing that the children were safe inside the lighthouse. Rodger and Max were able to get medicine for themselves and Buzz and Fiona. Working as a team, they managed to treat each other's wounds and bandage each other up. The ones bitten by the Troodon were given the medicine to counterattack its effects. Now the children were sitting in the living room, wondering, desperately, what they should do now.

“Arrgh! I can't believe it!” Max said bitterly, clenching his hand tightly with his fingers. “How could I have let him get away with Caruso?! How?!” He dug his fingernail so deep in the skin he could have sworn it broke through.

“Now now, Maxwell...” Moynihan said gently. “It was not your fault.”

“Yeah dude..” Buzz said a little quietly. He was feeling guilty as well. “We all failed... and just when Caruso needed us the most.”

Max felt a little better, knowing that the others felt they were responsible as well. It made him feel relieved that he did not have to share the guilt all alone. He released the pressure he was applying with his fingers to his head, bringing his hands back down to his sides. He sighed sadly, thinking about what Moynihan had told them earlier. “So you're saying there's..no way to track down Caruso?”

“I..I am sorry. No..” Joanne bowed her head, feeling really bad about this whole situation. She wished she could be of more help.

“So..what? That's it? You're just going to give up?” Rodger asked, feeling a little angry. “This is not like you, Ms. M.”

“I agree with Rodger.” Fiona chimed in. “You aren't a person I would imagine giving up.”

“I never said anything about giving up.” Joanne told the children. She felt a little surprised that they would think she gave up that easily. There was still a way to find Caruso, but it would take sometime and patience. She could only hope they would get it ready in time, before it was too late for Caruso.

Fiona looked at the team's old-aged mentor. What was she talking about? She had rejected all their ideas, and pretty much stated how hopeless it was to find Caruso. How was that not giving up? “What do you mean? I thought you...”

“Oh dear child, you should know me better than that.” Joanne chuckled lightly. “You are right; I'm not the kind of person who'd give up. There's still a chance at finding Caruso.”

Max jumped out of his seat at this statement. Eager to make up for his mistake of letting Caruso getting captured, which he still blames himself for, he quickly said, “What? What is it? Tell me, and I'll do it!” His enthusiasm to get Caruso back was shared by the others, who awaited eagerly for Moynihan to lay out her plan on finding him.

Ms. Moynihan sighed and shook her head. “I regret to inform you that this plan will take a while. I do not know how long, and I do not know if we'll find Caruso in time. But it's the only plan that I am sure has any chance at success.” She felt guilty as the children's hopes felt like they were dying down. Here they thought they had a way to get Caruso back quickly, only to be disappointed by the fact that this new plan will take time, perhaps days. She turned to the mechanics of the team, Rodger and Fiona. “Rodger. Fiona. I need you two to work on creating a new tracking computer. I don't have much money, but I am willing to give you some money to help pay for some computer parts.”

“You want us..to build a computer?” Fiona asked, sounding rather surprised. But at the same time, she was kind of expecting this. Moynihan did need new tracking equipment after all. But still, could a couple of high school students like her and Rodger be able to pull off a task such as this?

“Gee.. I'm not sure if we can do that, Ms. Moynihan.” Rodger said, rubbing the back of his head with his large hand. “We've never done it before.”

Moynihan chuckled. “Don't be so modest you two.” The old woman told them, smiling calmly, with a sense of confidence. “I have great faith in the two of you. You have both shown remarkable intelligence and abilities during your time as the Dino Squad. Fiona, you upgraded the motorcycles many times, adding new abilities to them that even I would not have thought of before. And Rodger, you've built so many inventions in the past that I lost count. I am confident that the two of you can work together and create a computer to help us find Caruso.” She said. She did not hesitate in anything she said, and she spoke with such a strong, unwavering voice, that Fiona and Rodger could feel a little pressured. She truly believed in them.

“I...we...” Rodger said, not sure the words to say.

“We won't let you down.” Fiona said, smiling as best as she could in this situation.

Ms. Moynihan nodded, smiling with confidence. “I am sure that you won't.”

Buzz stared at the black TV screen, giving a soft yet audible sigh. He stared at the remote, knowing it doesn't matter where it sits now. The cable to the TV was still out, but the phones still worked. Moynihan decided not to fix the cable for now. They had a more urgent situation at hand now. The cable could wait. While Buzz understood why, he felt a little aggravated that he could not watch his favorite show, which was on right now.

Television would help him relax. He secretly wished that the hand held tracker, which had been lost somewhere in the lighthouse a couple days ago and never found, had a portable TV on it. That would make him feel better. He was starting to feel a bit uneasy with it being so quiet in the lighthouse. He groaned again, muttering, “Man, I wish the television was working. My favorite show is on.” His wish was not shared by the others though as they gave him a soft glare.

“How can you think of television at a time like this?” Max said, restraining his anger as much as he could.

“We should be thinking of Caruso right now, not petty little interests!” Fiona scolded him as she folded her arms.

“I'm sorry.” Buzz said, not looking at any of them. “It just...helps relax me, helps calm me down in bad situations. And with what happened....” His voice trailed off.

“We're all worried, Buzz.” Max said, feeling his friend's pain. “But watching television won't help. We should be focused on getting our friend back.” As Buzz gave a single nod, a more uncomfortable thought came over Max. There was something they had forgotten to consider. What were they going to tell Caruso's parents? Unless they found Caruso before the end of the day, they would surely be suspicious. Rodger had permission to stay at the lighthouse because he called. They could say that Caruso decided to stay as well, but then his parents may want confirmation from their son, either verbally or face to face.

Poor Mr. And Mrs. Caruso, they would be devastated to find out their only son was kidnapped by a deranged raptor. They were among the few 'outsiders' who knew of their secret. They were fully aware of the Dino Squad's existence, and their son's ability to change into a Stegosaurus. They were reluctant to allow their son continue fighting the mutants, but seeing how he was not a kid anymore, and that he had friends by his side, they allowed him to stay with the Dino Squad.

But what were they going to think now, knowing that Caruso had been captured and the Dino Squad was there, and failed to save him? It was going to be painful to tell them, but they had to. They were Caruso's parents; they had the right to know where their son was. Maybe they could have any ideas on how to track him down quicker. Max gazed at Moynihan, and she could tell, by the look in his eyes, that he had a troubling thought in mind, a question he wanted to ask but felt almost reluctant to do so.

“Max, what is it?” Moynihan asked, sitting up quickly.

Max gave a sigh, and looked at the floor. He felt all the more guilty thinking about what happened and the fact that someone would have to tell the truth to the missing boy's parents. “It's..It's just that...” He never felt this lost since he first acquired his T-Rex form. “Who is going to tell Caruso's parents?”

This question eerily silenced everyone in the room. They slowly looked at each other, expecting the other to say something, but would only keep quiet. The others had a hard time answering Max's question. They knew that they had to tell them sooner or later, but who would be stuck with the unfortunate task of breaking the news to them? Surely, none of them were willing to have such a grim task. It would make them feel even worse about not being able to save Caruso from Veloci. But they would feel even worse if they kept his kidnapping a secret until one of Caruso's parents called them up and asked them where their son was.

Ms. Moynihan finally broke the silence. She reached out towards Fiona, who was the nearest to her. “I will tell them. Can I borrow your cellphone, Fiona Flagstaff?” She asked, calling Fiona by her first and last name. Fiona reached into her pocket and handed the phone to her teacher, feeling a bit unsure about this, but knowing it was necessary, no matter how painful it was going to be. Ms. Moynihan dialed up Caruso's house, and as she heard the phone ringing, she felt her heart racing.

Jack Caruso, Irwin's father, was sitting in the kitchen, at the table, reading the newspaper. He had just finished eating lunch, and decided to read the sports page. He would normally read the page with his son, Irwin, who had shown some interest in sports since he was young. But today, with Irwin being at Moynihan's lighthouse, he had to read the paper alone. But he didn't mind. Irwin was due back any minute now anyway. His wife, Amanda, had prepared Irwin's lunch for when he came home. It was sitting in the refrigerator in a paper bag.

Amanda Caruso, Irwin's mother, was at the sink, washing the dishes. There wasn't that many, so her chore would be done relatively soon. She was feeling concerned about Irwin. She felt he would have been home by now. Her husband assured her that Caruso would be back very soon. She hoped that he was right, and that she was just getting a bit worked up over nothing. But it was not a comforting thought knowing that Victor was a Velociraptor and that Irwin was battling against his mutantsaurs.

“Jack...” She spoke up.

“Hmm...what is it, dear?” Jack lowered the paper down and peered over it.

“Do you suppose Irwin's on his way home now?” Amanda asked, holding a plate close to her chest as she dried it with a towel.

Jack chuckled, and got out of his seat. He went to his wife, and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Oh stop worrying so much, honey. I'm sure he'll come through that door any minute now.” She gave him an uncertain look. “Oh come on, he's a capable young man, and he's proven that with the Dino Squad. He can take care of himself.”

“I..hope you're right.” Amanda said, setting the plate on the rack and turning to face her husband. “I just can't shake this feeling that maybe something has happened.”


	4. Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Just then they heard their phone ring. “I wonder who that could be...” Jack said as he reached for the phone sitting on the table. He picked it up and pressed the Talk button and spoke into it. “Hello, Jack Caruso speaking.” He heard Moynihan's voice on the other line, and he smiled. “Oh, Professor Moynihan, hello!” He said, greeting the voice on the other end. Ms. Moynihan asked Jack if he had recalled her wanting his kid as well as the four other students at the lighthouse for training. He gave a nod. “Oh sure, I remember. How did it go? ....what? You didn't? Why?”

As Jack's voice started to sound a bit urgent, Amanda tried to calm herself down. But she grew more and more curious, wanting to know what they were talking about. It was surely about Irwin. “Jack..what is it?” She asked, leaning in close.

“You were?” Jack asked. Moynihan had explained to him about how Michelle had gotten inside the lighthouse and thrown her down the stairs. Jack winced as he imagined what that must have felt like. “So that's why you couldn't train. I'm sorry to hear that.” He said, sympathizing with the professor's pain. Then Moynihan said she brought more news. “Hmm? Oh? What?” As the voice on the other line kept talking, Jack's eyes narrowed at first, then they suddenly flew open as did his mouth. He let in a sharp gasp, placing his hand on his mouth. “What...?” He managed to say.

Amanda was feeling even more concerned now. She grasped her husband's hand, and looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear. “What's going on?”

“Would we like to come over... Sure...” Jack said. Ms. Moynihan wanted them to come over so they can continue to discuss this matter face-to-face in a private location. Jack rubbed his forehead. “We'll be there shortly...” He slowly placed the phone back on its hook, and gave a sigh.

“Dear..what's going on?” Amanda asked, feeling the fear inside her grow.

Jack looked at her. He placed his hands on her shoulders once more, and it was easy to tell he was struggling to find the words to say. He sighed again, bowing his head in despair. “That was Professor Moynihan on the phone. There's been a...terrible incident that occurred at the lighthouse.” He told her.

“W-What happened?” Amanda asked.

Jack swallowed hard. “Irwin's been.... kidnapped by Victor Veloci.” Amanda's eyes flew open wide like saucers and her hands pressed against her mouth as she stifled a scream. “And their equipment was destroyed by some girl named Michelle, so they can't track him..and they have no idea where he is...”

“Oh Jack...” Amanda said as she felt tears welling up in her eyes. She flew her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. She sobbed into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to comfort her as best as he could. But he could not hold back his own tears as they were building up in his eyes. Their only son was being forced to travel with a deranged dinosaur to an unknown location, and they would have no idea where he was without tracking equipment. Jack was a bit handy with tools so he decided, as he hugged his wife, that he would help Fiona and Rodger build a new tracking device.

“Don't worry...” Jack assured his frightened wife. “We'll find him...we'll find him.”

* * *

Ms. Moynihan exhaled slowly as she closed Fiona's cellphone and handed it back to her. She knew it was going to be difficult to tell Caruso's parents what happened, but she didn't think it would be that difficult. She could barely hear the concerned voice of Amanda Caruso on the other side. She could only imagine how she must have felt when her husband would break the news to her. She looked out the window, knowing that in a short period of time, they'd be here. Oh what to do when they get here.. It was going to be difficult to talk about the situation with them. A worrying thought gnawed at the back of her mind. What if they blamed her, or the other kids, for their son's disappearance?

Her thoughts were quickly discontinued when she heard Buzz's concerned voice asking her a question. “Ms. M...are you sure it was a good idea to bring Caruso's parents here?”

“And what is wrong with that?” Joanne asked.

“Nothing..it's just that..” Buzz sighed. “I'm sure they're going to want to know more. What are we going to tell them?”

“The truth, Buzz. The truth.” Moynihan responded as she waited nervously and patiently for Irwin's parents to arrive.

* * *

Caruso bolted up when he heard the door slamming, and quickly looked to see who it was. Michelle was walking towards his cell, carrying what appeared to be a tray with a small cup of fluid and a sandwich. Caruso glared at her as she got closer. She knelt by his cage, and placed the tray down on the floor, backed up against the bars. She stood up and backed away a couple steps. She and Caruso locked eyes on one another, as though cautious of the other. Michelle quickly broke from the stare and turned back to the door.

Caruso slowly eyed the food and drink suspiciously. They were probably trying to poison him. Or maybe they were trying to get him to trust them, so he could be better manipulated. Well, he was not going to fall for that trick. He roughly pushed the tray a ways from the cage, startling Michelle a bit by this action. He turned his head away and folded up his arms. He acted as though he were a child that was just given time out.

“What on Earth did you do that for?” Michelle asked as she went over to pick up the tray.

“I'm not falling for your tricks again, Michelle.” Caruso said bitterly without looking at her.

“What are you talking about?” Michelle asked. “I was sent here to give you food and water because Victor thought you might be hungry or thirsty...”

The mention of Victor's name caused Caruso to seethe through his teeth, “Oh yeah right! Since when would he care about the state of a human?!” The tone of his voice made Michelle cringe a little, but she tried not to show it. “Victor could care less what happens to the human race, let alone a teenager!” Michelle gritted her teeth as Caruso continued to speak about Victor in such a manner. “The insane madman, the same guy who pretends to be a humanitarian, the same guy who has been hunting me and my friends, the same guy who wants to rid the world of humans, and let dinosaurs rule again, that's the same guy who sent food and water to me because he thought I was hungry...or thirsty?! That's a laugh! But then again it should not surprise me Victor would send someone else to do his work for him! Victor always seems to send out someone else to do his dirty work for him!” He scoffed. “How predictable...”

Gritting her teeth tighter, Michelle clenched one of the bars of Caruso's cage and said, “Just be glad you get any food at all...” She said in a low voice. “We can easily cut off your food and water supply and let you slowly starve to death and dehydrate...” She said in a threatening voice. The tone of her voice made Caruso's face soften up, and slowly give way to a little fear, but he continued to stand his ground. “Victor is not above allowing you to die if you refuse to eat anything. And he is also not above killing you himself if he sees a good reason to.”

“Oh yeah right.... Like Victor would have the guts to...” Caruso started.

“Don't test him...” Michelle interrupted. “For your own good..don't test him..” Caruso didn't respond, instead simply turning his head away once more. Her expression softened slowly as a few seconds passed by of complete silence. “I've been working for Victor for..a good time now and.. I know what he's capable of.” She spoke in a soft voice, with a tinge of concern. “You'll live to regret testing his patience.”

Irwin rolled his eyes and shook his head. It was clear he did not believe her words. “And why should I trust you? Remember when we shook hands? You planted that tracker on me that let me get caught!” He pointed an accusing finger at her. “And you also attacked Ms. Moynihan! You nearly broke her leg! How could you do something so cruel..? Sending an old woman toppling down the stairs like that?!”

Michelle sighed, knowing that Caruso was going to bring this up sooner or later. She recalled the moment that she grabbed Moynihan by the throat and tossing her down the stairs. She had taken sometime to regret that decision. She was too wiled up to realize exactly what she had done at the time. Her excuse would have been she was just defending herself, but who would believe that? And besides Moynihan was defending herself as well. It was Michelle who had sparked the fight initially.

In the long run, Michelle really had no excuse for what she had done. All she could do was agree with Caruso on the manner. “Y-Yes... that's true. I did throw her down the stairs. But..but I only did that to...” She said, trying to find someway to defend herself in the least.

“Only did that to what...?” Caruso asked, interrupting her rudely. “To leave us a message telling us that you were there? To break Moynihan's leg so she won't be a threat?”

“No.. I did that to...” Michelle sighed. “..to keep her out of my way.” She admitted sincerely. “She was in the way of my completing my mission, so I had no choice but to toss her down the staircase.”

“What a horrible excuse...” Caruso seethed, baring his teeth. “And attacking Rump...”

“I was just defending myself!” Michelle snapped. “The little monster tried to attack me!”

“So..it's all right for you to defend yourself, but not Moynihan...?” Caruso asked in an incriminating tone.

“I...” But Michelle couldn't think of a remark to defend herself against this statement. The boy was right. He had a valid point. She was only defending herself against Rump's assault just as Moynihan was only defending herself during the raid. And the way she said that she attacked Moynihan just because she was 'in the way' made it seem like she felt the old woman had no right to defend herself. Michelle bowed her head a bit, feeling a little guilty.

There was an awkward silence between the two for the next few minutes. Michelle sat down a few inches from the cage, and crossed her legs in an indian style. Caruso did the same, although he stayed a good distance from Michelle. The two teenagers simply stared at each other quietly, waiting for the other to make a move, or speak up. It had gotten so quiet that all they could hear were the tires grinding against the road. And occasionally they would hear Victor making one of his speeches about dinosaurs ruling again.

Michelle shook her head slowly at this. Victor did have a habit of boasting about how his plan will work and how he was so sure the dinosaurs will come back. But now it seems like he was doing it more often, maybe because he now has Caruso. There seemed to be something special about Caruso that made Victor feel as though he had to have him. Most likely it was just for his perfect Stegosaurus DNA. But if Victor had already gotten a DNA sample, why did he need Caruso again?

But she did not question Victor's orders. There would have to be a logical explanation for wanting Caruso so badly. She would just have to accept Victor's earlier reasoning of getting Caruso; that he was going to be part of the plan of bringing the Earth back to the dinosaurs, or bringing the dinosaurs back to Earth, whichever way it was. She finally broke away from Caruso's stare as it was making her feel a little uncomfortable. But even when looked away, she could still feel Caruso's glare going right through her.

She had realized she stayed in the room too long, and Victor would wonder where she was and what took her so long. She knew she had to get up and leave, but something was keeping her in, something about the boy, Caruso, that made her want to stay. Was it sympathy? Was it guilt? She shook those thoughts out of her mind. She quickly realized that Caruso's words had started to make her doubt her own mission. She glanced back at Caruso and returned his glare with a frown. She decided that the silence must be broken. She spoke up, “Clever boy aren't you? Playing with my emotions like that. Very clever..”

“What are you talking about?” Caruso asked, sounding more confused than angry.

“You were trying to... oh never mind it.” Michelle said in a slight tone of bitterness. She needed to clear her head of these confusing thoughts. They were affecting her decision-making as well as making it difficult for her to think clearly. “I'd better get going.”

“Yeah...you should.” Caruso told her, turning his head away.

Michelle got up off the ground and made her way towards the door. She didn't bother picking up the tray that she had originally brought in. She figured that Caruso would sooner or later give into his hunger. No one can resist the temptation of hunger and thirst for very long. It would only be a matter of time. She would probably come back in a few hours to pick up the tray and perhaps bring more food to him. They wouldn't be at their destination in several hours, anyway. Caruso would indeed submit to the offer, she was positive of that. She did not mention this and for good reason, but the reason Victor wanted her to bring food was not simply because he felt he was hungry. It was part of Victor's plan to make Caruso submit to them.

Victor believed that he could probably use food to help increase his chances of controlling Caruso. Now that he has been captured, he'd control the food and water supply. He could punish Caruso by not feeding him for a few days, which would weaken Caruso's state of mind as well as his human body. The Stegosaurus half of the boy could take this abuse though, so Victor was not worried.

But Michelle did hear Victor say something about thinking about abandoning the idea and use another way to control Caruso. Well he already did have another way, although he did not really give her the full details on it yet. But the information that she did know had mentioned something involving pain, and lots of it. This did not seem entirely like Victor, who had used fear and motivation, not pain, to control his followers. And using food seemed a bit unlike himself, but oh well, who was she to judge?

Michelle slowly grasped the door handle, and turned it. She looked back at Caruso, wearing a smile on her face. “Why don't you eat now? You look hungry...”

Caruso gritted his teeth. “I am not going to eat that garbage!”

Michelle just shrugged her shoulders. She didn't believe him. He would give in sooner or later. “Oh well. Suit yourself...” She disappeared through the doorway and closed the door behind her.

Caruso was now alone in the room again. He sighed softly and pulled his legs up to his chest. He was feeling a little cold all of a sudden, even though it was not winter time yet. He rubbed his arms roughly to create heat friction to hopefully warm himself up again. But it seemed no matter how fast he rubbed or anything else he did, he just kept on shivering. “Why am I so cold...?” He asked himself as he pushed himself against the cage bars. “It's not even that cold in here...”

Then he realized the truth. He wasn't really shivering due to cold. He was shivering due to emotion. His anger, and his fear, were what was making him tremble. Although he hadn't thought about it much, he was still feeling afraid, and wondered just what Victor was truly capable of. Perhaps he should abide by Michelle's warning and do what the guy asked him to do.. No! No, he shouldn't do that! He must not give in! That's exactly what Victor wanted him to do! If he gave in, then Victor would win! Caruso felt he had to continue to stand his ground, to put up a resistance against his captors.

He then felt his stomach growling, and he winced. “Oh great...” He muttered under his breath. He slowly glanced over at the food, which continued to look more and more inviting as time passed. He placed his hand on his stomach and slowly rubbed it as he finally noticed the smell of the sandwich lingering in the air. The sandwich had been heated, and from the smell of it, it had hamburger meat in it. He slowly licked his lips, and tried to resist.

“No, don't even think about it Caruso...! Don't eat that sandwich!” He scolded himself, gripping his head. “That's exactly what they want you to do!”

But the smell of the hamburger sandwich continued to taunt him, continued to mess with his mind. Caruso groaned softly as he realized he would not be able to resist the sandwich for too long. The growls in his stomach were growing louder and longer, and the sight and smell of the sandwich only made it worse. He could feel the inside of his mouth slowly water, and he finally gave in. He quickly reached out of the cage and snapped the sandwich up and bit into it. As he swallowed his first bite, he couldn't help but glance up at the window, and wondered how long he would have to stay here.

He turned back to his sandwich and took another bite. He felt stupid falling into this so quickly. And yet he continued to eat the sandwich, because he would have sooner or later anyway, and he knew that, and he was sure Victor knew that. He started to wonder about his friends as he continued to eat. His thoughts then went to his family. His mother..his father... had the Dino Squad told them what happened? And how were they taking the news? These two questions gnawed at the back of his mind, and he felt a pang of guilt inside of him. He hadn't even said goodbye to his parents today.

He had left in such a hurry today... And he hadn't said much to his parents other than he had to get at Moynihan's lighthouse. He did not say goodbye to them, but then, he didn't know he was going to get captured by Veloci. If he had known, surely he would have told his parents goodbye. As he was thinking about this, he was starting to feel not so hungry anymore. He stared at the sandwich and sighed, and he set it back on the tray. He picked up the cup of water and sipped from it, his mind still wandering, thinking about his parents as well as his friends and teacher.

“Why was I such an idiot and went outside?” Caruso asked himself as he set the cup back down. “I should have just stayed inside.” He scolded himself mentally, wanting to slap himself in the face, but stopping himself.

“Yes, you should have.” He was startled by the voice coming from the door once again. Now who could it be this time? It couldn't be Michelle. She had just left a few minutes ago, and she had no reason to be coming back. “But even if you were inside that pathetic lighthouse, I would have gotten you out somehow anyway.” Caruso narrowed his eyes when he realized that voice was coming from Victor Veloci. He had come back into the room. Caruso stood straight up and got into a fighting stance even though he had no hope of landing a move while behind the bars. Victor chuckled softly. “My, my. Aren't we a little defensive today?”

“What do you want, Victor?” Caruso demanded. “What did you come back here for?”

“Just to talk.” Victor answered the boy as he walked up to the cage without hesitation. Caruso backed up a little ways. “Are you afraid of me, child?” He sounded almost hopeful. Caruso was not surprised. The stupid Velociraptor would want him to say yes. Well, he was not going to give in like that.

“No!” Caruso shouted. “I'm not afraid of you!”

Victor turned his head to the side, glancing at Caruso in a sideways kind of manner. He chuckled, and sneered, “Well you should be...” His voice was sarcastic, and didn't sound particularly threatening.

The blue-haired teen folded up his arms, and scoffed. “Why should I be afraid of a coward?”

Victor's eyes suddenly glowed, and he turned his head back towards the boy. His teeth were now mutated into the raptor fangs traditional to his species. Caruso backed up, feeling a bit frightened. But he still held his ground. He returned Victor's glare. “You don't know who you are messing with, kid.” He said, restraining himself from slashing the boy. “There is so much I can do to you right now, and I won't regret any of it... So unless you don't value your life, you'd better be a good boy and listen to your 'host'.” His hands were shaking from anger, and was doing his best to not loose his temper with the boy.

“Tch... You don't scare me...” Caruso retorted.

“I can give you a good reason to fear me...” Victor said, his eyes continuing to glow. “I can become your nightmare if you force my hand...” He warned the boy, talons growing from his fingers. Victor quickly calmed himself down. He was letting himself become a little desperate in controlling the child. He retracted his claws and smirked. All humans were the same to him. He could persuade the boy to obey him, just like how he got an army of humans to listen to his commands. He shouldn't let a little thing like the boy's attitude get to him.

“Ooo... I'm shaking!” Caruso said in a taunting manner, his arms tucked tightly to his chest and his hands clasping together. His eyes were wide with fear, but Victor knew better. The boy was just trying to taunt him. “Oh spare me your wrath, oh terrible one!”

Victor chortled softly, occasionally giving off his recognizable raptor growl. “Think what you want, child, but your attitude will change soon enough. I'll be sure of that.”

Caruso growled. “Oh sure you will.” The young teen responded as he rolled his eyes. “Just like how you were so sure your little cloud-infection plan would bring back the dinosaurs, only to be foiled by a bunch of teenagers.” Caruso realized too late that he had said too much. His hands to his mouth, he muttered a single word, and gazed at Victor for a reaction. Victor didn't seem fazed by what he had said. He just continued to smile at him calmly. It wasn't a genuinely evil smile, but still, something about it was creeping him out.

“I was aware that you and your friends were behind that sabotage.” Victor said as he leaned against the wall and folded his arms. “I must admit, that was pretty clever, especially for humans. Up until then, I did not think you monkeys had the brain capacity to be able to plan out an effective counterattack, trace me to the location, and then shoot rockets at the precise moment and freeze the primordial ooze inside. I hate to admit it..but I'm impressed.” Victor said. While he was still smiling, his voice was a dead give away that it seemed to hurt him to say that about the very humans that have gotten in his way time and time again.

Caruso was a little stunned, and surprised at this. How had Victor found out? Maybe he had just taken his newfound knowledge that the perfect dinosaurs were human and put the pieces together. But then, how had he found out about the rockets? Victor was hidden above a thick cloud cover, and Ms. Moynihan had blocked Victor's equipment from seeing them. Was it possible she slipped up and Victor HAD seen them? No, if he had, he would have acted much faster.

Caruso tried to hide the fact that he was surprised. He frowned. “How did you know we did that?”

“After you 'perfect dinosaurs' fled the scene, I had ordered my men to search the area and inform me if they found anything. Well they did find something, human.” Victor said, his smile broadening a little. “They found remains of five missiles.” Caruso's eyes widened. Why hadn't they checked to make sure the missiles would leave no remains behind? “Sure it was just a few scraps here or there, but enough to confirm they were missiles. Ice missiles to be exact. And I knew whoever shot them must have known about the primordial ooze's weakness to cold. I had originally suspected that my old 'friend', Joanne Moynihan, was behind the sabotage, but my theory was...disproved quickly when I found the tracks of five motorcycles...”

“Oh yeah?” Caruso asked slowly as Victor gave him this information.

“Oh yes. And they appeared to be the very same tracks I had found before.” Victor said. He did not know why he was telling the child this. But he saw no harm in it anyway. It wasn't like he was giving out future plans or anything. Well he could end up telling his teammates.. No! No he would not! There's no way for the little boy to escape, and even if he does and tells his teammates, all that would do was prove to them that he is not one to be underestimated. As Victor told Caruso about how he had seen the tracks before, Caruso gasped sharply, catching Victor's attention. “Hmm. Did I frighten you now?”

“More like..surprised.” Caruso said quickly, raising a pointer finger up, but not pointing at anything in particular. “You said you saw these five tracks before?”

“Yes. When my mutant bird migration plan failed, I went to investigate. You kids may have moved fast enough to escape my eyes, but you weren't fast enough to escape my nose. I knew that someone, someone human, had sabotaged my plan. But...” Victor laughed a little, feeling amused by the idea of minors getting in his way. “..I never would have thought, or believed, that it was just a bunch of teenagers, high school students in fact, who were behind that sabotage as well as others.”

“You should not underestimate humans.” Caruso told Victor. “You've already seen what we're capable of doing. Humans stopped your plans, not dinosaurs.”

“And yet you were only able to pull it off because you had the ability to change into a dinosaur.” Victor said. “You would not have been able to stop the mutant birds if you couldn't turn into dinosaurs. And you would not have gotten away after you ruined my primordial ooze rain plan if you hadn't turned into dinosaurs.”

Caruso opened up his mouth to disagree. “I...” But he couldn't find anything to say in defense. Victor had been right. They wouldn't have gotten away from Veloci's men if they hadn't turned into dinosaurs. Had they been spotted as humans, they can only guess what Veloci would have done. And they would have been easier to catch. He hated to admit it, but Victor was very right in what he had said. And Victor knew it.

“I'm right aren't I?” Victor sneered. “You can't deny it.” He only got a glowered look from Caruso. Victor's smile disappeared, and his eyes slowly narrowing, but not in a threatening manner. He looked more puzzled than angry. “There is one thing I do not understand, however. If you humans have tasted the glory of being dinosaurs, why do you continue to vainly fight for your species? If you have felt what it's like to be the superior species, why continue to stand by these weaklings?”

Caruso's eyes started to glow, his pupils dilating like a cat's would in bright light. “Why don't you let me out and I'll show you just how 'weak' we humans really are!” Victor didn't answer the boy with anything but a laugh...

* * *

Near the front of the truck, just behind the driver's section of the Raptor Dyne Semi, sat Michelle and Oscura. They were glaring at each other with some level of intensity. It was clear that they were not on the best of terms at that moment. Michelle's eyes were wide, and a little red from anger. Oscura was hardly much different, though her eyes were narrowed so much that if they narrowed any further her eyes would close. They sat on opposite ends of the semi truck and their eyes bore into each other. If it weren't for the fact that they were forbidden to fight inside the truck, they would be each other's throats.

They had gotten into a fight in the truck before, once. They were both so angry at the time that now they completely forgot just what they were arguing about. But one thing apparently led to another, and the next thing they knew, they were in dino mode, wrestling each other. They caused a bit of damage, and nearly destroyed some of Victor's precious equipment that he had stored in there at the time. The girls' dispute had also temporarily distracted the driver and they nearly crashed. Victor was furious, but instead of firing the girls, he gave them a warning, telling them if they fought inside his semi again, they may face the consequences. They weren't sure if he had truly meant it, but they could not take the chances. They agreed and promised Victor they wouldn't do it again.

But now, it seemed like that promise was going to be broken if they didn't settle down soon. Michelle's eyes were already glowing like they would if she was going to transform. Her teeth were bared, her teeth mutated into fangs now. Her hand was clenched in a fist, and she stared haughtily at the younger teen before her. Oscura's eyes weren't glowing, but her hands at mutated, now scaly three-fingered hands, a long talon extending from each of them. She was using one of her reptilian hands to point a shaky claw at Michelle.

“Why would you show sympathy to that brat?!” Oscura spat. “He doesn't deserve sympathy! No human does!”

“Why are you acting like such a..a.. monster?!” Michelle snapped. “What's wrong with showing some kindness to the boy? It's not like I was bonding with him or anything..!”

“That's exactly what you were doing!” Oscura growled, her teeth bared and lips curled up in an animalistic style, a habit she picked up from being a Troodon. A bit of drool dribbled from the side. “You were associating with him! Talking to him! You were growing soft as you spoke to him! Continue to talk to him like that, Michelle, and who knows what Victor might...”

“I wasn't...” Michelle said to try to defend herself, but Oscura cut her off.

“Oh, don't even think about lying!” Oscura said with venom in her voice. “Victor overheard you talking to Caruso, and he was not that happy with what you were telling him! And he had told me about it too.”

“W-Well if that's true, then why didn't he say anything to me?” Michelle asked, her voice just a tad shaky. Perhaps she was growing sympathetic for the boy. She didn't have so much doubt anymore. Victor believed she was growing a bit attached to the boy in some form or other.

Oscura's expression softened up, but only by the slightest. She said, “He's decided to let it slide this time. But he does not want you getting attached to that boy. As a precaution, he's requested that when we get to the lab that only he may have contact with the child. You, me, and everyone else are ordered to stay away from him.” Oscura cautiously eyed the door that Victor had disappeared into before continuing her explanation. “The boy will be kept in isolation, his only visitor being Victor.”

“Isolate him?!” Michelle snapped her head back.

“Yes...isolate him. Why? Is that a problem with you?” Oscura asked as she narrowed her eyes back to the way they were just a few moments ago.

“Well, it's just that humans don't always cope well in isolation for too long.” Michelle explained. “And almost any human can break if they are kept in isolation long enough...”

Before she could continue, she heard Oscura chuckle. “That's exactly what Victor wants.” She said. “Don't you remember? I thought he told you he wanted to break Caruso's will to make him submit to him, to obey him.”

“Yes he did tell me that.” Michelle said, the anger in her voice starting to die down as she started to submit to Oscura's words. She was running out of options to defend herself, and slowly realizing that Oscura was indeed correct after all. And she should not have acted so surprised when Oscura had told her Victor was going to isolate Caruso from all contact except his. Victor was the type of person who usually wanted other people to do his job for him, but when the matter is urgent enough, he wants to tackle it himself. As the saying goes, if you want something done right, you do it yourself. “Still...” She managed to say. “What if the isolation does little to affect his mind?”

Oscura chuckled. “Oh don't worry about that.” Oscura said as she shifted her claws back to normal. Michelle did likewise, turning her eyes and teeth back to normal as well. “Victor has a plan. I believe he mentioned it to you.”

“Yes...” Michelle said slowly, sinking down onto the floor. Like Oscura had moments ago, she looked over at the door, expecting Victor to come out. “But he didn't tell me what it was.”

Oscura chuckled lightly, smiling in an almost creepy way. “Oh didn't he know..?” She asked in taunting voice.

“Would you mind telling me what he plans on doing?” Michelle inquired. It felt almost amazing to her that the hostility between her and Oscura had died down so quickly. Their relationship was like that. The fire would be ignited, and burn fiercely, but just as quickly as it would start, it would put itself out.

Oscura sat down as well, her arms crossed. “I am sorry, but I've been advised not to tell you for the time being. Victor believes it might..complicate things.” She said coolly before turning her head to the door as she heard it open up, and Victor stepped out, a pissed off look on his face...

The drive up to the lighthouse had only taken about ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity for the parents of Irwin. Their minds were clouded with worrying and desperate questions on their son's location. Will they ever see him again? Where was he? Was he all right? The world seemed to slow down for them, the ride up the lighthouse taking longer than ever before, from their perspective anyway. Jack had tried his best to calm his wife down, but he could not get her to settle down. She would continue to break down, and he could not blame her. He was trying to be strong for the both of them, but he did not know how long he could hold out. He gripped the steering wheel tightly and sighed.

He began to wonder if it was a good idea to allow Irwin to continue running around with the Dino Squad everyday. Perhaps he should have used his better judgment and forbidden it. If he had, maybe Irwin would be safe at home right now, eating the breakfast his mother made him, which was still in the fridge. But then again, Irwin had made a convincing argument. Although he and the others did not become a team by choice, they had still worked together for the greater good. They and their mentor were the only ones that stood between Victor and his plans. And Irwin had helped thwart Victor before, as well as fought against his men and mutantsaurs and made it out all right.

His Stegosaurus form had given him an advantage. A fully grown adult Stegosaurus at that, with a spiked tail and plates. That made him a formidable and imposing opponent. Jack felt thankful that his son was blessed with this dinosaur form, although it was a bit hard to accept at first. The thought of his son turning into some prehistoric monster sounded scary, and his wife, Amanda, had an even harder time accepting it. She had almost fainted when she first laid eyes on Irwin's plates. And when he had transformed into the real thing...

“We're almost at the lighthouse, dear.” He said, breaking the silence that had settled in the car. He glanced over at his wife, who was staring vacantly out the front window. She was staring out at the watery horizon that stretched out far beyond the lighthouse, which was now within sight. She did not immediately respond to him. “Dear..?” He said, nudging her with one elbow while he used the other to keep steering straight.

“Oh..hmm...?” Amanda said softly, her attention not yet completely on him.

“We're almost at the lighthouse.” Jack said, repeating the same thing he said just a few seconds prior.

She broke her gaze from the horizon and turned to her husband. Her eyes were still red from her crying, but she had settled down now. Crying was not going to help, she knew. Her mind should be focused on getting her son back, not mourn over him like he was dead. The word dead stuck in her mind, and stung like a bee sting. Her worst fear was someone finding Irwin and using the word dead in any sentence.

“Do you...” Amanda said, finally speaking in the last ten minutes. “Do you think that...we'll be able to find Irwin before...” She could not bring herself to finish her question. She was getting choked up again.

Jack wanted to hug her, to comfort her in his embrace, but he couldn't now, not while he was driving. He gave her a comforting smile, trying his best to hide his own fears. “Don't worry. We'll find him and bring him back.” He said as they neared the lighthouse. They would be there in a couple minutes.

* * *

A couple minutes later, Buzz heard the sound of a car pulling up to the lighthouse. He went to the window and peered through it. He saw Caruso's parents' car parking in front, the lights on the front shutting off as the engine died. The door opened up, and the man and woman stepped out slowly. Buzz turned to Ms. Moynihan. “They're here, Ms. M.”

Ms. Moynihan nodded once, and attempted to stand up again. She lifted herself up using her stronger right leg and pushing on the couch. She gingerly placed her left leg on the ground, slowly applying pressure on the foot. She had managed to overcome the pain before only because the commotion outside had raised the adrenaline inside of her. But there was no danger present at the moment. She managed to take one step before succumbing to the pain, and she fell back in her couch.

“That's one nasty strained ankle...” Buzz commented, noting how red the ankle still looked despite treatment from Rodger and Moynihan's dino DNA. “I thought you said it would have healed quicker.”

“That's what I was thinking too.” Ms. Moynihan said as she gently rubbed the swollen ankle. “I guess I hit it harder than I thought.” She let out a small grunt of pain before nodding in Max's direction. “Can you bring me my cane? It's upstairs, in the room where the equipment is..or was.” She gazed up in an almost nervous manner, recalling how she had been knocked down from that floor to this floor. She was a bit amazed she survived the fall with no mortal wounds.

Max turned to the spiral staircase, giving a nod to his teacher. “I'll be back down soon.” With that, the jock disappeared up the staircase. And as he walked up the staircase, a knock came from the door to the lighthouse.

“It must be them.” Ms. Moynihan said. She looked at the door and could make out the silhouettes of Caruso's parents just outside of the door.

“I'll get it.” Rodger said as he got up and made his way to the door. He stopped a couple inches in front of it and raised his hand. He hesitated for a few seconds, and drew in a deep breath. The african-american squeezed his hand around the doorknob, turned it, and opened it up. He was greeted with the sight of two worried parents. The wife, he could tell, had done some crying. Her eyes had a reddish coloration to them. The husband seemed to be better composed, but he had a downcast look in his eyes which told him he was very upset too. “Hello, Mr. and Ms. Caruso.” He greeted them solemnly. “Please, come on.” He stepped aside and held his free hand out straight, a signal for them to come inside.

* * *

Max made his way up the stairs at a slow but steady pace. He noticed that the top of the staircase, usually illuminated by the computers that were arranged up in the top floor, was mostly dark, with the occasional brief lighting. He gave a sigh as he recalled what Moynihan had told him took place up here. It was a bit eerie to think that, just a few days ago, everything in this place was pretty much normal. Well normal by Dino Squad standards anyway. It was just a few days ago when Caruso and Buzz had that fight over a picture.

He winced a little. Thinking about Caruso right now seemed to hurt him. He had never gotten a chance to talk to Caruso about earlier. While he had apologized, he never truly settled things with the boy. Now it seems like that chance was snatched away from him. Irwin was now with Victor, and now they don't know where his location is. Max clenched his teeth at the thought of losing his best friend.

He was so preoccupied with his own guilt he failed to notice he had reached the top of the staircase. He lifted up his foot too high, expecting another step to be there. The miscalculation caused him to trip, and he fell to the ground. “Ow!” He moaned as his chin slammed into the hard surface. He put his hands flat on the ground, like he would if he was doing sit-ups, and pushed himself off the ground, shaking his head a few times, and slowly rose onto his feet. He placed his hand on his chin and rubbed it gingerly. “That's gonna leave a mark.” He murmured.

He opened up his eyes, and gasped at the sight that lay before him.

The computers were all smashed, broken and torn open. They lay on the floor, the monitors smashed open. He could see smoke still rising from the wreckage. The scent got into Max's nose, and he wrinkled his nostrils in disgust. Sparks were still shooting out, though harmless, from many openings in the computers. The place was just a mess. There was no terminal left undamaged. Even Moynihan's laptop computer lay broken up on the ground.

Max could hear the sizzling sound of the sparks as they kept shooting outward. He looked the room over once more. The biggest damage was from the computers, but much of the other parts of the room seemed in tact, such as the couch that was up against a large window. Max could visualize himself and his friends on that couch, chatting about something to pass the time, or telling jokes, just having a good time. He smiled softly at the memory. It felt good to have his mind on something else for a while. It caused a feeling of happiness rise up inside of him. He started to talk towards the couch, but he didn't take more than three steps before his foot caught on something and he nearly fell again.

But this time he caught himself, flailing his arms quickly to catch his balance. “Whoa!” He shouted before his body finally found its balance again, and he was able to relax. “Now what did I trip on...?” He gazed down to find just what his foot got caught on, and noticed something long and wooden. “Ms. Moynihan's cane!” He knelt down and gripped it.

Looking it over, he couldn't see anything wrong with it. No bite marks, no scratch marks, no blood stains. He held it in his hands and started to walk back to the staircase when something else caught his eye. He knelt down at a spot parallel to where he found the cane. There was something on the ground, but he couldn't tell what it was at first. It looked rather dark in color, some sort of splotch on the ground. And it wasn't the only one. Around it were a couple more. There wasn't a large pile, so it didn't alarm Maxwell, but it still was unexpected.

As he examined closer, he could see that there was a tinge of red in the blackness of the small spots on the ground. He then realized the blood most likely came from Moynihan during her struggle with Michelle. Moynihan did say Michelle had bitten her on the ankle and pulled her off. It was obvious that Michelle did not need to bite too hard nor needed too much strength. There was little to no wound left behind and the bleeding stopped pretty quickly it seems.

“I better not keep her waiting.” He told himself. He forgot about the blood on the ground, and forgot about the computers. He made his way back to the staircase, and began to descend down the steps, where he knew Ms. Moynihan would be waiting for him.

* * *

In the several minutes that had passed since Victor had left the room and returned to the front seat, things were eerily silent in the Raptor Dyne SUV. Victor hadn't said anything about what was bothering him, but Michelle and Oscura were sure it had to do with Caruso. Michelle wasn't surprised. She had witnessed some of Caruso's behavior first-hand, and he does seem like the kind of person who would say things just to get on one's nerves. The brat must've made a wise-crack comment at Victor and that's why the multi-billionaire was steamed.

“I wonder what got him so steamed.” Oscura asked again, not being the first time she stated this question.

“I already told you.” Michelle groaned. “It's because of Caruso.”

“And how do you know?” Oscura inquired. While she did agree that it had to do with Caruso, she decided to act like she didn't understand, just to get on Michelle's nerves a bit. She liked annoying her partner.

“Because he seems like someone who likes to get on other people's nerves. He probably made some stupid comment back in there, and Victor overreacted to it.” Michelle explained as she eyed Victor nervously. She didn't want him to hear her.

Oscura chuckled, shrugging off Michelle's idea like it were a leaf on her shoulder. “Well even if Caruso did say something stupid, Victor would ensure he never do that again. Sooner or later, Caruso will regret his words.” It was true. Victor didn't tolerate much, if any, mocking comments about himself or about dinosaurs in general. Especially Velociraptors, he's more protective of that race than any other dinosaurs. That makes sense. He is, after all, a Velociraptor himself.

“So very true. For his own sake, that Caruso kid had better watch his yap.” Michelle noted, slowly turning her gaze to the door that held Caruso inside. “Who knows what Victor will do to him if he keeps up that attitude.”

“Oh who cares?” Oscura rolled her eyes. Oscura wasn't the type to be really concerned about anyone but herself. She didn't really care what Victor did to the boy. It's his own business anyway. “Caruso should consider himself lucky I'm following Victor's orders anyway. I'm not allowed to harm the boy.” She gave Michelle a strange look. “But trust me, if I had total freedom, I'd do a number on that boy, just for the heck of it.”

“Heh.” That was typical Oscura, Michelle thought. “Well I honestly hope he keeps himself out of trouble.”

“And why would you care?” Oscura narrowed her eyes. “Are you actually concerned about him? You barely even know him!” Her voice sounded like a combination of accusation, a bit of confusion, but mostly anger.

“No! No, of course not!” Michelle said defensively, on her feet and hands formed into fists. “I don't care about him! I'm just worried that he might cause Victor to waste too much time and energy on him, that's all.” Michelle started to make her way towards the door, not wanting to hear another wise crack from Oscura. There were days she could tolerate Oscura's attitude, and some days when she just couldn't. And today was one of those days. Oscura always knew what to say to get on another's nerves. That reminded her of what she's seen so far of Caruso. 

For a brief moment, she wondered if the two were, in fact, related. She laughed at the idea. If she found out this to be true, she'd never let either of them live it down. Oh if only she had a camcorder if it were true! It would be a Kodak moment! Maybe she could even upload the footage on the internet to further their humiliation. She grinned evilly at the thought. This would be her payback to those two idiots. They would be begging for her mercy.

Oscura didn't say anything. She was finally growing a bit weary from pestering Michelle this time around. She was more interested in pestering Caruso. Only Victor's orders kept her at bay. She wondered how long Caruso was going to last in the laboratory. She wondered how long he could endure the experiments that were going to be conducted on him. Their results would prove vital for Victor's quest. She admired Victor ever since she was younger. Even before she had known he was a dinosaur, she thought he was cute looking.

Her crush on Victor was just a bit of puppy love, minor. She had no real desire to marry him; she thought that would be weird. But she still liked being around him. Back at home, she didn't really talk to anyone. She didn't have a real hatred towards them. She just didn't feel all that close to them. They did know of where Oscura goes during the day, and did not really object to it. Oscura didn't know if it was because they trusted Victor or because they didn't care if she was around or not. She closed her eyes. Being around Victor and causing havoc were the only things that made her feel happy.

She opened up her eyes and saw that Michelle had reached the door that lead into Caruso's little prison. Her eyes narrowing, she pondered what Michelle was going to do in there. She was probably just going to have a quick chat with the boy, or perhaps bring him more food. She didn't see the reason to that though. The teen must have eaten not too long ago. Unless he had a big appetite, he shouldn't be hungry already. She decided to ask anyway. She saw no harm in it. “Michelle, what are you doing?”

Michelle groaned. She was hoping to enter the room without being disturbed. She glanced in Oscura's direction with an annoyed look on her face. “Well if you really have to know, Oscura, I'm just going to check up on Caruso.”

“Heheheh. Worried about your little boyfriend?” Oscura sneered, not able to resist a taunting retort.

“He is not my boyfriend!” Michelle snapped, her eyes showing the slightest hint of a glow.

Oscura only shrugged at this statement. “With the way you're acting, it almost seems like you consider him your boyfriend.”

“Oooh!” Michelle moaned, but said nothing more. She turned around swiftly and held up her hand to grab the door knob. She would have grabbed it had it not been for Victor's voice that suddenly shouted from the front of the vehicle.

“DON'T EVEN THINK OF GOING BACK HERE! LET THE LITTLE BRAT BE ALONE!” Victor said in a cold tone. The shout caused a tingle to go up Michelle's spine. Just what had Caruso said to piss Victor off so much? The tone of Victor's voice scared her. She almost never sees Victor this upset. And whenever she does, she wishes she hadn't. She was grateful that Victor didn't show up in person this time. She was grateful that his head was turned and she was facing the door. She gulped, and slowly lowered her arm and backed away.

She turned to her sitting position near Oscura. Exhaling deeply, she leaned against the wall and lowered herself slowly to the ground. She placed her head on her hands and looked to the ground, unsure of what to do now other than wait for them to reach their destination.

“Awww... is poor wittle Michelle thinking about her poor wittle boyfriend?” Oscura teased.

“Shut up!” Michelle yelled. “He's not my boyfriend!”

“Ooo so scary...” Oscura mockingly said. Michelle groaned, but didn't say anything.

* * *

Caruso was leaning against the wall of his cage, his legs crossed and his arms resting on his thighs. His head was bowed, looking at the ground. He was deep in thought. Just moments ago, before he had pissed off Victor, the Velociraptor had, for whatever reason, brought up Ms. Moynihan, and had asked a few questions about her. He didn't know if Victor was actually being serious or not. He wasn't sure if Victor really wanted him to answer those questions.

Victor was asking things like how Moynihan was doing, what has she been doing at the school, how does she train them, how she managed to interfere with him for so long without getting caught, and other questions as well. Caruso hadn't answered them, and he wondered if that could have contributed to Victor becoming upset. No, that wasn't it, he knew. It was something he had said to Victor after all the questions were asked. It was a question rather than a statement, though. He had asked Victor why he had broken Ms. Moynihan's ankle. In spite of being told from Moynihan herself, he had asked Victor himself why he did that.

Victor looked pretty angry at the question. Caruso wasn't sure if it was because he had asked, or if it was because Victor was upset that Moynihan had told someone about it. Victor hadn't actually responded to him. Instead he had just groaned, looking a bit steamed, and stormed out of the room. The response wasn't what he was expecting and took him by surprise. Victor wasn't the type to just become angry like that. In this encounters with the crazy raptor, he had rarely shown true anger. Then again the encounters with Victor in the past were brief and seldom. Perhaps there was a side of Victor he hadn't seen yet, or so little of.

Then his thoughts drifted away from Victor and to Moynihan herself. To this day, he didn't really understand how Ms. Moynihan could ever have been involved with Victor. He didn't really know what she did when she used to be Victor's partner. Moynihan didn't really discuss this topic that much, and he was sure he would not get any answers from Victor. He seems a bit hostile towards Moynihan, and has long considered her a traitor, from what the Dino Squad's mentor had told Caruso. And yet there seemed to be a somewhat longing look in his eyes, like he wants Moynihan back. But Caruso knew the old woman would never rejoin Victor.

And that got him thinking. Just what had Moynihan done to betray Victor? Join the humans yes, but he didn't think that was the cataclysm. If Moynihan had once agreed with Victor, what made her disagree with him? What turned her against him? Caruso wondered if he should ask Victor, but shook that thought out of his mind as he recalled Victor's reaction to his earlier question. He didn't really know why he felt compelled to ask these questions, though. Was he feeling doubt about his mentor?

No, that couldn't be it. Caruso trusted Moynihan, as well as the Dino Squad. He didn't see much reason to be suspicious of them. And yet he can't shake off the feelings he endured when he first acquired his dinosaur genes, before he learned to control them, and before there was any Dino Squad. He and the others had gone to Moynihan's classroom after school after they had failed their tide pool assignment. Ms. Moynihan wasn't too thrilled with them when she learned they weren't acting like a team at all, and wanted to talk to them about it.

And that's when the old woman found out they had dinosaur DNA in their blood. She had witnessed their bodies spontaneously transforming, showing a bit of the dinosaur that was now inside of them all. And when she confronted them about it, they quickly tried to hide it. But they couldn't fool Ms. Moynihan. Caruso was worried about what she was going to say, but instead of freaking out or reporting them, Ms. Moynihan seemed very understanding, and knew what was going on. She was willing to open up to them and reveal to them the truth about herself.

That must have taken a lot of guts, Caruso thought. The female raptor had probably kept her secret safe from all humans for so long. He didn't know what exactly compelled her to tell them the truth. Was it because she wanted to protect them from Victor? If they hadn't gone to Ms. Moynihan that night and never gotten control of their powers, Victor would have spotted them quickly and taken them to his lab.

But one thing had bothered Caruso back then. He had felt quite uneasy when Moynihan had revealed that she was a Velociraptor. He remembered the feeling of terror he had when he found out. He had packed away from her, and accused her of being a vicious carnivore. He felt a little calmer when she assured him she evolved beyond that a long time ago, but it took a little time before he felt calm around her again. It was hard to imagine Moynihan once being this vicious predator of the Cretaceous period. She certainly didn't act like he would think a Velociraptor would.

He gazed up at the barred window again. He didn't know what was compelling him to keep looking there. Maybe it was because it was his only view of the outside world now. Maybe it was because he felt a tinge of hope every time he looked there. He began to wonder what was going on at the lighthouse right now. He couldn't stop thinking about his friends, family, and mentor for very long. They kept returning to his thoughts. He sighed softly. “I wonder if they have a plan yet.” He whispered to himself.

He was confident his friends would find them. They would figure out a plan soon and come rescue him. That he was sure of. But he also wondered if Victor had been right. Maybe his friends would never find him until Victor wants him to be found. They didn't know where his secret lair was anyway. Ms. Moynihan might know, but what if he had relocated since their broken partnership? Or what if there was no secret lair when they were partners? If so, then Moynihan would have no knowledge of any secret locations anywhere, at least when it comes to Victor.

Caruso suddenly felt a little sleepy. His eyelids began to droop, and it was becoming difficult to keep them open. His vision was a bit blurry now, and his mind was becoming foggy. He glanced down at the tray, where the sandwich once was and were the drink still sits. He began to wonder if he had been drugged, or if the stress of all this was causing him to become sleepy. But he didn't have long to think. He slumped onto the floor and closed his eyes, succumbing to the darkness.

Above Caruso's cage, where it was hidden from his view, there was a small vent. It was usually closed with three thick bars straight across, but now they had opened up. A very light gray, almost invisible, smoke seeped through and spread around the room. The gas had traveled along a small network of thin pipes running in the structure of the truck, although its true source is unknown. The cloudy gas continued to fill the room. Finally the vents had closed up tightly, and any new gas couldn't get through. But whatever had gotten into the room, it still lingered in the air.

* * *

Up in the front of the Raptor Dyne SUV, Victor had his finger pressed tightly against one of the buttons, a small green one. He slowly lifted up his finger, and leaned back in his chair. “That should keep him quiet for the rest of the trip.” He said to no one in particular, though his driver had heard him loud and clear. The man at the wheel didn't bother to look over at Victor, instead just keeping his eye on the road, hands gripping the wheel gently but firmly.

“Mr. Veloci,” he said in a polite tone, “I don't want to question your methods, but why did you see it necessary to tranquilize the kid? He can't see where he is back there.”

“Why do you question me, Peter?” Veloci asked.

Sitting next to him in the driver's seat was Peter. He had joined the team the same day that the perfect dinosaurs had first appeared. He showed a lot of great potential and had been working for Victor for a few years in his pseudo-company before Victor trusted him enough to let him in on his true goals. Peter wasn't a man of violence, and was at first unwilling to accept the truth of his employer. But Victor had quickly gotten the man to change his mind when he promised him power, and had also promised that he wouldn't hurt his family.

But the true motivation of Peter to change sides was the hope of revenge. At his previous job, Peter had been a scientist, working with another company similar to Raptor Dyne, although this company was more focused on speeding up the process of evolution itself rather than reversing it. He was the head scientist there, and had impressed his old employers time and again, until one little slip up got him fired. He had accidentally caused a fire in the laboratory, and as a result a few employees were killed. Despite his best efforts to keep his job, the company no longer wanted him, and he was thrown out into the streets.

It was Victor who had quickly found him. Having heard of him and his work, he took him into his company, Raptor Dyne. After being told the truth, and growing used to the idea, Peter decided he could use this to his advantage and take revenge on the employers who had him fired. While he admitted it seemed a little silly for him to still be upset about that, since it happened almost five years ago, he still held a vendetta against that company.

Victor had given Peter some experimental DNA. It was swimming with Peter's nanobots, which were designed to alter the DNA pattern of any living creature it was inserted into. It did not harm the host, but did change its appearance as amino acids were altered and transformed. The small amount that was in the syringe, as Victor had told him sometime afterward, contained the only amount of perfect DNA he had. When Peter asked him why he didn't just use that amount to mass produce the perfected DNA, Victor said that he did not know the DNA was perfected until after it was injected, and efforts to repeat the process were unsuccessful.

Peter had learned that he was the only adult employee of Vic's who could transform into a dinosaur, at least at the time. But he had been forbidden to use that technique because Victor was not sure of the effects the nanobots may have. His fear was that they would take control of Peter's mind and cause him to run amuck and destroy precious equipment or cause unnecessary destruction that could be tied to his company. And the last thing Victor really needed was getting sued by a multitude of people, which would drain his company's money reserve and slow him down.

“I'm sorry, sir.” Peter said. “I just don't really understand the purpose of silencing him. He can't call anyone, and it's not like he can climb out of the cage and out the window...”

“You just concentrate on driving, and leave the scheming to me.” Victor said, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Yes sir.” Peter had said nervously, gripping the wheel a little tighter.

Peter's dinosaur form would come in handy though, Victor thought to himself as he sensed they were getting close to his company's secret hideout. After he obtained a sample, he discovered that Peter had the perfect DNA pattern of a large sauropod, an Apatosaurus to be exact. Sauropod DNA, for unknown reasons, were among some of the most difficult to duplicate. Victor had not yet been able to reproduce this DNA, must to his frustration.

An Apatosaurus would be more than a match for the perfect dinosaurs that keep getting in his way. Sauropods were among the largest of all dinosaurs, and even the mighty T-Rex would succumb to their power. He had considered allowing Peter to transform to face off with the Dino Squad, but thought better of it. While the rewards were satisfactory, the risks were still enormous and he just couldn't risk it yet. He hadn't helped Peter gain control of the beast within him because he wasn't sure if he actually needed any help. Peter had never transformed, and Victor didn't want to take the chance of him transforming and going wild.

But still... perhaps he could take that risk, if Peter were to be located far away from Raptor Dyne and any of his other employers. The pesky Dino Squad would probably be on his trail soon anyway. They were probably making a plot right now to take back their friend. And the lighthouse still posed a threat to his mission. The destruction of the equipment was temporary of course. They could get new equipment at anytime. The only way to ensure that would never happen was to destroy the lighthouse completely.

And that's where Peter could come in.

“Peter...” Veloci spoke up, his eyes transforming to that of a raptor's.

“Y-Yes sir?” Peter asked nervously, unsure of what to expect.

“Why don't you stop the truck for a minute?” Victor ordered softly, eyeing the side of the road.

Peter did as he was asked, pulling the car up to the side of the road. He pulled the stick down to Park and lifted his foot off the pedal. He turned to face Victor, and pulled off his Raptor Dyne mask. Underneath was the face of a young man, about as handsome as Victor. He had a beard stereotypical of that of an Italian artist. His hear was short and smooth, a rich dark black with a single reddish stripe down the middle. At first glance it would almost seem like he and Victor were brothers, or related in some other way.

“So..why did you want me to stop?” Peter asked, an eyebrow cocked up a little.

“Why don't you pay the lighthouse a visit..as a dinosaur?” Victor asked, but Peter knew it was an order, and he did not have a choice in the matter.

“What...?” Peter asked, a bit stunned. “But..I thought I wasn't allowed to transform. You said there could be dire consequences if...”

“I know what I said. But the lighthouse remains a threat, and it must be destroyed. And you just might be the man..or dinosaur in this case, to pull off that job.” Victor responded, cutting off Peter before he could finish. “Yes there is a risk involved, but the chance of destroying Joanne's little hideout and ensuring my victory is worth it.”

Peter blinked a few times, wondering if he was hearing Victor correctly. He wondered, briefly, what was compelling Victor to go against his own advice. And the way he was saying that there was a risk involved, and the possible result of victory being worth it, he quickly wondered if Victor was sacrificing him. But that thought was shook out of his mind. Victor wasn't the type to needlessly sacrifice his own men if they served a special purpose to Raptor Dyne.

“Understood, Veloci.” Peter finally responded. “But who's gonna...” He eyed the wheel of the vehicle. He needn't continue for Victor to know what the rest of the question was going to say.

“I'll drive.” Victor said to him. “Only return back to Raptor Dyne when you are successful.”

Peter stepped out of the vehicle and Victor quickly climbed into the drive's seat. Peter quickly realized he had no mode of transportation. He held up a finger at Veloci, a gesture, characteristic of humans, that meant 'Hold on!'. Victor's hand was gripping the handle on the door, but he held it in place, waiting patiently for Victor to say something.

“I have no mode of transportation...” Peter explained. “How am I supposed to get to the lighthouse?”

Dr. Veloci just smiled. “Why not give your dinosaur form a test drive?” He slammed the door shut and pressed his foot on the accelerator, having pushed the stick back up to Drive. The vehicle picked up speed quickly, screeching as it went back into the lane it was in previously and continued down the road to where Raptor Dyne was.

Peter slumped his shoulders and sighed. Looks like he was going to have to walk all the way back there. He turned in the direction where they had just come from. They had been driving for a considerable amount of time, and the lighthouse was far behind them. He couldn't even see the shoreline from here. But he did know the area well, and knew what roads to take. Walking as a human would take days. He would ultimately fail in his task this way. By then the Dino Squad would have recovered enough to find Victor.

Peter had not encountered the Dino Squad that much. But he had heard stories about them, and what they were capable of. Some of his comrades described to them how these perfect dinosaurs seemed to have a human level of intelligence. At first, Peter only laughed it off. But his mind was slowly changed after the incident in the park, after the primordial ooze rain had failed. A close friend of Peter's had been on that team that hunted the dinosaurs, and he was amazed at his friend's description of what happened. The way the dinosaurs had avoided the traps, and tricked the ground team like that, it could only have been possible if they were very intelligent. After all, normal dinosaurs would have been pretty easy to catch, considering their puny brain size.

Peter hesitated in transforming. He felt a bit concerned of what would happen when his body, and brain, transformed. Would he still be himself? Would he still have his own memories, his own thoughts? Or would they, too, be altered as he changed form? Perhaps he would become dinosaur one hundred percent, in both mind and body. And if that happened, there was little hope of him changing back. He doubt Victor would create an antidote for his experimental DNA.

He gulped once, knowing that time was of the essence. “Okay..here goes nothing.” He said, and he concentrated on his dinosaur form. He closed his eyes tightly for a few seconds, then snapped them open, revealing a yellow iris with lizard-like pupils. The eyes started to glow as Peter's body was overtaken by a bluish glow. His body rapidly grew in height as his clothes dematerialized. His hands and feet soon resembled that of an elephant's, but lacking any evidence of hair. A long tail appeared from behind, stretching out several feet. His neck stretched so much he almost looked like a giraffe. His back teeth disappeared and his incisors stretched to resemble pegs.

When he had finished, he had become an Apatosaurus, solid gray in color. He could easily tower over the largest of T-Rexes. His massive body stretched over seventy feet in length, and he easily tipped the scale at over twenty-two metric tons. He raised his elongated neck to look over the horizon. He still couldn't see the lighthouse, but nevertheless, without fear, he began to walk towards the lighthouse. Despite his huge size, Peter's strides were much longer now, covering a distance of a few yards in just one step. He would reach the lighthouse soon, he sensed. And when he got there, the fun would begin.

'I just hope I do not fail.' Peter thought to himself, a dread filling his mind. He knew he must succeed, or never return.

* * *

A few hours passed by. In the lighthouse, Jack was still helping Rodger and Fiona with building a tracking device to help locate Victor, and more importantly, their son. Max was busy talking with Amanda, trying to calm her down. Buzz was tending to Rump and Moynihan's wounds. He wasn't much of an expert on how to treat an injury, but he at least knew how to change the bandages, under Rodger's previous guidance. Max had come down earlier with Moynihan's cane and handed it to her. The woman had used the cane to help her walk around a little, but even with the support of the cane, it was still painful to walk. The swelling gone down slightly, though, so that was a bit of good news.

Moynihan lay seated again, but this time in her recliner. This is where she would usually do her knitting, but today she wasn't in the mood. Her knitting equipment was next to her, but she paid it no mind. Her attention was focused on the table in front of her. On it where some computer equipment, and sitting in the chairs were Rodger, Fiona, and Jack. They were busy putting together a whole new computer from scratch. They had been working on it for an hour now, and they looked like they were almost done.

“There.” Jack said, wiping his brow. “It's finished.” He put his hands on the table and pushed himself back to get out of his seat.

“But the question is, will it work?” Fiona said, eyeing the computer. It was smaller than most she'd grown accustomed to. It was a mixture of black and light gray parts and the monitor was slightly cracked but still functional. There was a small keyboard attached to it and a square mouse, reminiscent of the old computers from the 80's.

“I'm sure it will.” Jack said with confidence in his voice.

“Mr. Caruso is right, Fiona. This computer may not look like much, but it has enough processing power and capabilities to find Caruso. All we need to do is turn it on...” Rodger said as he hovered his finger near the power button.

“But what if it doesn't?” Fiona said, feeling worried. “We weren't able to get new or up-to-date parts from that store. Maybe we should have actually gone to a computer store to get new parts.”

“But we already told you, Ms. Moynihan was not able to spare enough money for us to get any computer in Computer King.” Rodger pointed out. “And the only other store nearby was that pawn shop. We were lucky they were having a special on computer parts.”

“Yeah, from, like, a million years ago.” Fiona said as she held up a rusted piece of metal in disgust. “Most of this belongs in the garbage.”

“Well, here goes nothing.” Rodger said, and he pushed the button. Everyone else watched in anticipation. They were hoping the screen would light up, and from there be able to show them where Victor is currently heading. They heard the computer's gears starting to whir to life. The screen started to glow, faintly, but still a glow, and white text started to appear on the screen.

“It's working!” Max said, grinning happily.

“Yes!” Rodger exclaimed. “I knew it was going to work!” Jack smiled, impressed with Rodger and Fiona's ingenuity. He glanced over at his wife, and smiled as her eyes were filled with newfound hope. Ms. Moynihan hadn't gotten up from her seat to get a better view, but she was excited all the same. She waited patiently for the computer to start doing its job, as was everyone else.

But then, just as things were starting to look up, something was going terribly wrong. A weird beeping sound sounded out from the computer, and smoke started to emerge from the back of the monitor. Sparks started to fly out through the tiny cracks in the monitor as the screen started to wobble and sizzle, displaying an array of colors and numbers.

Rodger's eyes widened in horror. “No..please..no!” He tried to turn the computer off, but when he pushed the button an electrical shock caught him off guard. “Yeow!” He screamed as he pulled his finger back, clutching it to his chest.

The computer's beeping sound grew louder, and the monitor started to crack a bit more. The monitor continued to display numbers and colors, flashing even faster now. Then just when they thought it was going to explode, the computer just died, the screen disappearing in the flash of a bright light, and the crackling slowly stopped. Jack quickly sat back in, pulling the computer towards him and frantically pushing the buttons to try to turn it on again, but no dice. The computer had just overheated and died right in front of them.

“No...no...” Amanda whispered, holding her hands to her mouth in dread.

“Not now! We were so close!” Fiona said, dismayed at the site of the smoke billowing from the ruined computer.

Jack closely examined the computer and quickly discovered the problem. “Darn it!” He cursed, clutching his fist into a hand. “We forgot to put in the fan in the monitor! No wonder it overheated quickly and blew!” He dug his fingers into the skin of his head in frustration, gritting his teeth. They were back to square one again.

Ms. Moynihan bowed her head slightly in despair. Their attempt at locating Caruso had failed. The computer had quickly ceased to function due to a simple error. Moynihan, sadly, didn't have any extra spare money to give them anymore. Getting more parts was out of the question. And the computers upstairs were damaged beyond repair. Max had gotten a better look at them. While he was no computer technician, what he described seemed to tell Moynihan repairing them was hopeless. Every method of tracking was now lost, either destroyed or non-functioning.

Rodger was hunched over the table. The same furious look he got when his friends laughed at him when the project failed was back. His fists were squeezed tightly, and the muscles in his arms tensed up. He let out a disgruntled groan of frustration, and suddenly raised his arms in the air and slammed them hard on the table. The force of the slam made a sound loud enough to startle everyone in the room.

Moynihan let out a sharp startled gasp at Rodger's behavior. “Rodger!” She exclaimed. “What did you do that for?” She couldn't believe that Rodger would do such a thing. Well she shouldn't be surprised, she thought. Rodger must have felt like a failure.

“It's just not fair!” Rodger yelled, ignoring Moynihan's question. “This should have worked!”

Max walked slowly over to his huge friend. Tentatively, he placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to help calm him down. “Hey, Rodg, calm down will you? It's not your fault...” But Rodger shoved his hand away, but didn't bother turning around to look at Max in the eyes. “Rodger...”

Amanda made her way towards her husband. She was fighting to hold back her tears. She knew she had to try to be stronger, like her husband. She slowly grabbed his hand, and squeezed it gently. He squeezed it in return, and draped an arm around her as they watched the unsettling scene of Rodger blaming himself and Max trying to snap him out of it. Her eyes lingered on the computer, their one hope of locating Caruso, still billowing out gray smoke. She coughed a few times as the smoke began to fill the room.

“Open up the windows!” Moynihan ordered, the smoke having reached her. She covered her mouth and coughed a few times.

Fiona, having pulled the collar of her shirt over her nose to protect herself from the smoke, dashed towards one of the windows and quickly pulled it open. Buzz did likewise, and rushed to another window and quickly pulled it up. A wind rushed into the room through the window Buzz had just opened up, and caused the smoke to head towards the window Fiona had opened. As the smoke exited the lighthouse and the air became cleaner, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Phew! That's better...” Buzz said.

Ms. Moynihan took in a deep breath. “Yes. But I fear that we aren't out of the woods yet.”

“What makes you say that?” Buzz asked, his hand held out in a gesture of confusion. He felt Fiona poking him on the shoulder. As he turned to her, she quickly pointed a finger at the smoking computer. Smoke was still rising from it, and it didn't take a genius to realize there was a real fire danger. The sparks that were shooting out could easily catch the table, or the floor, on fire. “Oh, right.” He said.

“We can't move it out now.” Jack said, slowly shaking his head. “It's too hot. If we were to try to move it, we would burn our hands.”

“But if we don't move it, Mr. Caruso,” Moynihan said sternly, “that computer could catch the table on fire. Now you don't want that to happen, now do you?”

Max nodded, acknowledging Moynihan's words. But he knew Caruso's father had a point. How were they going to get this stuff outside without burning themselves, or accidentally dropping it to the floor and causing a fire? He wasn't sure how Moynihan expected them to pull off the task. Perhaps if they quickly got a fire extinguisher...no. That wouldn't do. The fire extinguishers were located on another floor. Suppose that he got them too late, and a fire started rage in the lighthouse? He could still put out the fire, but so much would be damaged. And with Moynihan still unable to walk on her own, he couldn't afford to let even a spark light up.

Joanne seemed to sense the dilemma, and spoke up. “Might I make a suggestion, Max?” The jock turned to her. “Why not use your T-Rex arms?” When he looked at her in confusion she smiled. “I thought you would get that reaction. Don't worry, it's safe.”

“How do you know?” Jack asked, narrowing his eyes at the sparkling, destroyed computer. “Wouldn't he still burn his hands?”

“Yeah...reptiles are susceptible to fire, just like the rest of us.” Rodger spoke up, though the sound of his voice suggested he was still not in a chipper mood. Then again, no one in the room was.

“Tyrannosaurs lived in extremely hot places.” Moynihan explained to everyone. She attempted to sit up in the chair, and began to explain further. She mentally wished that she had mentioned this advantage earlier. “The regions they lived in were often hot and dry, and fires could start easily. To adapt to this, Tyrannosaurus Rex developed a strong hide, with scales that were far more resistant to fire than modern reptiles are now. It takes a lot more heat to burn a T-Rex.”

She glanced around the room, looking at the expressions on everyone's faces as she was telling them this. They seemed rather surprised, just what she was expecting. The old woman wondered why she never mentioned this before. Maybe it was because it never crossed her mind. She never thought they would be in a situation like this, the possibility of a real fire.

“So...why haven't you told us this before?” Max asked, slowly narrowing his eyes at his mentor. Moynihan flinched very slightly at this. Max had never looked at her that way before. She could feel the guilt in her rising. “Were you just going to keep it a secret until a real fire started or something?” His voice was straining not to sound accusatory, but Max felt he had failed in doing so. He saw Moynihan bow her head, and not responding to his question. The jock let out a small sigh, starting to feel a bit guilty himself.

“Dude, don't be too hard on her.” Buzz said to Max.

“I'm not...” Max said with a slight defiant tone in his voice. He quickly realized this, and let his arms fall to his sides. He turned to Ms. Moynihan. “I'm sorry if I sounded like I was accusing you, Ms. M.” He didn't want to start another fight, like he had with Irwin Caruso. The jock walked up to Ms. Moynihan and stood a few inches in front of her. He gazed down at her, a softened expression on his face. He knew the old woman cared about them. He knew she wouldn't do anything if she thought it would get themselves in trouble. “I'm just..surprised you hadn't mentioned this ability beforehand.”

“Oh it's quite alright, Maxwell.” Joanne said as she slowly turned her head up to look at the young teen standing before her. She offered a small smile, an attempt to hide her true emotion inside. But her eyes gave that away. She was still feeling rather guilty, even though she knew she didn't have to feel that way. No one was really angry at her for not saying something earlier. No one was accusing her of hiding a vital secret. No one was calling her a traitor. Then again, why would anyone consider her a traitor? She had never done anything to warrant such a suspicion. She couldn't help but laugh to herself. “I hadn't said anything before because I did not think that there would ever come a time when that ability would have been needed.”

“But what about what you taught us before?” Max asked her gently, trying his best not to make her feel any worse than she already felt. “To expect the unexpected?”

“So very true...” Moynihan spoke softly, closing her eyes. She had ignored her own advice. “I'm sorry, Max.” How could she have forgotten about that lesson that she had taught them? How could she go against her own advice?

“Oh it's quite all right, ma'am.” Max said. He gave a friendly smile. “It's nothing to worry about. I...”

“Umm..Max?” He turned around to face Fiona. Fiona was giving him a worried look. Her gloved hand was pointing in the direction of the computer. “I know you're busy having a heart-to-heart with Moynihan and all..but..” She glanced at the smoking electronic. “Could you please do something about that?” The smoking had started to increase for some reason, and the sparks were shooting out at a more rapid pace.

Max slapped himself in the face. “Oh! Right!” The jock rushed over, feeling a bit stupid of having forgotten about this situation. He held out his arms as they started to grow and bulge. Green, tough scales spread across his arm from fingertip to shoulder. The muscles flexed and grew in size and his fingers fused to form three muscular fingers with talons growing out of the end of each one. He hesitating, his hands hovering above the wreckage. Then he gripped the computer in his hands, flinching as he expected the searing pain to come with touching something very hot. But to his surprise, he felt almost nothing. Moynihan was right.

He quickly picked up the smoking computer and started to head towards the door to the garage. He couldn't just simply toss it out of a window. The delicate grass outside could easily catch on fire, and they could become trapped inside. The garage would be a safer place. The metal floor couldn't catch on fire, and there was plenty of space inside that was vacant, with nothing close enough for the sparks to reach. He lifted up his foot and tried to kick the door open, but realized the door was still locked. The jock groaned in frustration. How was he going to get through now?

He then got an idea. Very carefully, he lifted up one of his feet and tried to level it in front of the door knob. As he transformed his foot into that of a T-Rex, he felt himself start to lose his balance. Quickly, he brought out his T-Rex tail and held it straight out in an attempt to balance himself. He then pressed a talon against a button on the door, and he heard it unlock. He slowly closed his foot around the doorknob, and turned it. Slowly placing his foot on the ground, he pushed the door open and walked inside. When he reached a satisfactory location in the garage, he set the smoking computer back and headed back into the room where the others were waiting.

As he re-entered the room, he noticed that Rodger was sitting on the couch now, with Fiona sitting next to him. Her hand was on his back. His head was resting on the palm of his hands. He still looked down, and Max sighed softly. He didn't understand why Rodger was suddenly feeling guilty. It wasn't his fault the computer blew. Wasn't it Jack who was putting the monitor together? Wait, was Max putting the blame on Caruso's own father? He shook the thought quickly out of his head. If there's one thing they did not need right now, it was the blame game.

“Rodger, you shouldn't blame yourself.” Fiona said, trying to cheer up the african-american. “You did your best. That's what counts.”

“I know that...but still....” Rodger said, his voice trailing off.

“But nothing, Rodger.” Max said as he headed towards the couch. “Why are you blaming yourself for this?”

“I'm sorry guys. I guess I...I just wish I hadn't lost that handheld tracker a couple days back. If we had that, we could find Caruso...” A few days ago, Rodger had been working on the tracker, upgrading its GPS and installing other things on it as well. But he had dropped it somewhere in the lighthouse and that's how it had gone missing in the first place. But it wasn't a high priority at the time, so no desperate effort was put into finding its location. “If only I knew where I dropped it...”

“Oh that wasn't your fault.” Max said, giving him a friendly smile. “We were all really busy that day, remember? We had little time to pack up and go to another area where primordial ooze was spotted.” It was true. That same day, there was not one, but two areas that Moynihan's tracking system had picked up, containing the glowing ooze that obviously belonged to Raptor Dyne. It had happened to suddenly that Rodger literally had to drop what he was doing and rush to join the others. His mind was so focused on the mission he had forgotten exactly where he was when he was working on the handheld tracker.

“Yeah...I know.” Rodger said, starting to feel a little better now. “But I still wish we knew where that tracker was.”

“We all do, Rodger.” Fiona said with an understanding tone. “We all do...”

* * *

“Where am I?!” Caruso cried. He looked frantically around the room. It was a bit large, with a reddish hue, but was very dark. He could barely see the walls around him before walking smack into one. He reeled back, holding his nose in pain. He could not remember how he came to be in this darkened room. The last thing he could remember was falling asleep in his cell. When he woke up, he could no longer see any bars around him, but instead was enclosed in a good-sized room with no obvious way out.

The room was a bit chilly, but still warm enough that he didn't need a jacket on, not that he even had one to begin with. Some weird smell hung in the air. It wasn't a necessarily bad smell, but it was unfamiliar to him. And that unfamiliarity scared him a bit. What if it's some sort of poison gas that seeped into the room?

“Hello?!” He called out again but getting no response. “Hello?!!” He could have sworn he heard his voice reverberating off the sides of the walls. That was his only answer back to his cries. Realizing that no one was going to answer him, Irwin felt his way to a wall and put his back to it. He slid down to the floor, crossing his legs and holding his arms tightly to his chest. He began reflecting on how it all led up to this. It had all started with Michelle...

He knew she was trouble from the start, but the others didn't listen to his warnings. He was hurt, still hurt now, that they didn't listen to him, and didn't take him seriously. His own friends just bypassed his warnings without a second thought. If they had listened to him, maybe, just maybe, this chain of events would never have happened. Maybe he wouldn't be in this mess right now.

But then, it wasn't Michelle that had caused him to go outside today. No, it was Max. The words he had spoken to him still stung, even after all these hours had gone by. He hadn't been able to speak to Max about it either. And Caruso began to wonder if he ever will get the chance again to speak to Max, or any of his friends for that matter. From the feel of the walls, he judged that he wouldn't be able to break through them even in Stegosaurus mode. The only way he could get out is if someone opened up the door. But who would be stupid enough to do that.

Well his captors of course. If they wanted, or intended to, keep him alive. They would have to come in and give him something to eat and drink. Yes, someone would open up the door soon, and then he could bolt out, and be free from this place.

Then another thought crossed his mind. Would he even know where to go? He had no idea where he was, or how far they traveled, or even how long they've been traveling. And he was sure Victor wasn't going to tell him. Perfect, just perfect, Caruso cursed to himself. Even if he could get out, without a cellphone, there was no way to contact any one, and Victor could always just recapture him and place him in an even more secure room. And perhaps the situation could get worse after that. Victor could do something far worse.

But then again, what could a coward do? Victor was not as actively engaged in his work as his own men were. Caruso did not consider Victor, himself, to be much of a threat. How could he be? Caruso himself had never witnessed Victor transforming even once. He had heard from Buzz that Victor did transform when he was trying to box him into a corner, but that was only one time. In all their missions, Victor normally stayed on the sidelines, rarely getting up out of his seat to investigate anything. He certainly didn't go out of his way to track him and his friends down. He did not attempt to pursue them all the way to the lighthouse and nab one of them.

That is, until today...

“Why hello there.” He heard a voice and turned around. A sliding door, opening up from the middle, slid open, and a tall, slender figure stepped into the room. Caruso squinted, trying to get a good look at the figure. It was hard to tell who it was in the darkness. Then the figure held up a hand, and pushed on something on the wall. Within seconds, a single row of fluorescent lights flickered on, illuminating the room. The light quickly enveloped the figure and revealed their identity. It was Victor! “Sleep well, I presume?”

Caruso quickly stood up and prepared to fight. “I told you I was going to show you how weak we humans are!” He declared before charging towards Victor. But he hardly took a few steps before something slammed into him. It looked like a blue energy with white streaks. It didn't cause much pain, but it did slam him against the wall he had been leaning on before. He felt himself falling to the ground with a loud thud. He looked up and saw Victor held some kind of weapon in his hands.

The weapon had the general appearance of the Chiller and Spiller. But this thing had a reddish coloration to it with black stripes. The gun itself had a more raptor-like appearance to it than the Chiller and Spiller. It appeared to fire a streak of blue and white energy at a low frequency and intensity. It didn't seemed to be designed to be a lethal weapon, and it didn't look effective enough for combat. Caruso wondered why Victor would have such a weak weapon in his possession.

“You like it?” Victor asked, smirking. He held up the weapon closer to himself as though he were going to examine it closer. “It's called the Killer, or at least it's going to be once all the kinks are worked out of it.” He chuckled as he put the weapon away. “Consider yourself lucky I didn't test the completed model on you, hairless monkey.”

“How is that thing going to kill anyone?” Caruso asked, ignoring his initial fear of what Veloci said seconds ago. “It didn't even cause much pain, let alone much damage.”

“Excellent question, mammal.” The Velociraptor-in-disguise proceeded in explaining why the weapon was going to be lethal once it was completed. “The Killer spews out a bluish white energy, as you have seen. It goes straight through the body of any living organism, passing through all cells. Once it is completed, the energy will disrupt cells and cause them to simply self destruct. And if aimed at the heart or brain, an instant kill.”

Caruso winced, glancing nervously back at his chest, where the beam had previously struck him. He shuddered at the thought of seeing himself falling flat on the ground, lifeless, and having his friends finding him like that. “Oh man....” He managed to say involuntarily.

Victor heard this, and chuckled. “I knew you'd like it, boy...”

Caruso managed to put the fear of dying aside and glared at Victor. “Where am I...?”

“What does it matter? It's not like you are going to be leaving anytime soon.” Victor noted as he turned back to the door. He was about to press the button, but stopped, his finger hovering inches in front of the switch. He thought about Caruso's question for a moment, and began to wonder if it really mattered if he told the boy or not. It wasn't like he was going anywhere anytime soon. “Well if you really must know, you're in a secured room in a warehouse close to Raptor Dyne.” He pressed his finger against the button, but not enough to open up the sliding doors. “I have many untested, unfinished, and unsuccessful weapons stored here. Many from years ago. Some more recent.”

Caruso looked around his room. The reddish color had come from the color of the walls themselves. They were coated in a red paint. But given the right light, it looked a lot more like...blood. “And you brought me here because..?”

Victor grinned. “Because, boy, you are going to help me..test out these weapons.”

Caruso's eyes widened slightly as he realized what this had meant. Victor was going to use him as a guinea pig for his experiments! Victor couldn't possibly be expecting him to just sit still during all this, does he? He narrowed his eyes and took a few confident steps towards Victor. His eyes started to glow as if inviting him to a challenge. “And what makes you think I am going to cooperate? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just transform now and run you down like the coward you are?!” He snapped.

“Oh don't you worry, Little Caruso.” Victor smirked evilly. “I know how to break you humans...”

Caruso flinched at the pet name Victor had just given him. But he still stood his ground, his feet planted firmly on the floor. He wasn't going to submit to Victor without a fight. And he was sure Victor knew that as well. “I am not afraid of you!” He declared in a brave tone of voice. “And I have no reason to be. After all, you are just a coward that hides behind a hundred men! Men..the very thing you hate so much. How pathetic...”

Victor's eyes narrowed dangerously. “Who do you think you're talking to?”

“I think I'm talking to a coward.” Caruso jeered mockingly. “Someone who isn't dark enough to do his own dirty deeds! Someone who is so oblivious that he wouldn't be able to recognize a perfect dinosaur if it came and bit him on the nose!”

Victor's lips curled back in a snarl. Had he been a raptor when he did this, it would have appeared deathly threatening. “You have no idea what you are going to get yourself into, do you, Caruso?”

“Oh I know what I'm getting myself into.” Caruso said, rolling his eyes. “And frankly, it doesn't scare me one bit. I know my friends will find me soon. They will bust me out of here. And they will chase your sorry tail to a land far, far away. And with your puny dinosaur brain, you probably wouldn't even be able to figure out a means of escape if it was staring at you right under your nose!”

“Oh my.” Victor said, letting his anger slowly melt into a humored tone of voice. “Well I better not let happen, shall I?” It was a rhetorical question. He did not expect Caruso to answer him. But knowing the small child before him, he'd probably answer anyway. The youngster probably never learned what a rhetorical question was.

“Yes.” Caruso answered him, his hands on his hips in proud defiance. “You should be careful, yellow belly.”

Victor, who had his back turned to the boy, felt his eyes beginning to glow. But a quick shake of the head and they were back to normal. He chortled at the boy's comment, and simply ignored him. He pushed the button that opened up the door, and stepped out. Caruso, taking this opportunity to try to escape, made a mad dash to the door. His captor turned to face him, and lifted his arm, probably to press another button. Caruso tensed the muscles in his legs and lunged into the air, his arms outstretched. It was like he was playing football, and the door was the goalie. If he had timed his jump perfectly, he could just make it through the door, just maybe...

SLAM!!

Caruso smacked right into the door. It had just shut, only a second before he had reached it. He was so close. He slid back onto the ground, held his hands to his face in pain. “Ow...” He would probably get a black eye from this. He gingerly rubbed his face and picked himself off the ground. He glared at the door, searching around it to find the button. Victor had pressed something to open it up, didn't he? He looked around the outer frame of the door, easily seen by the yellowish outline with black bars striping across it.

He finally spotted something that looked promising. It was in the shape of an outlet box, or a fuse box, like the kind he would see in his own house. This one was rather small, only about the size of a book. It had a metallic shine to it, and it was hinged by a few screws to the wall. But when he took a closer look, he could see that the box does open up. He could see a small opening, where he believed he put his finger and pry it open.

“Well well...” Caruso said in his usual cocky voice. “Looks like I'll be getting out of here sooner than I thought.” He placed his hand on the box, curving his fingers over it. He placed his pointer finger in the hole, and then began to pull. The box seemed closed tightly. He pulled harder on it, gritting his teeth against the strain. But the little door wasn't budging. He gave one final tug, but his fingers slipped across the metal, and off the object, causing him to topple backward. His pointer had gotten caught on something, and scraped across the bottom.

“Ow!” Caruso cried, bringing his finger to his chest and looked at it. He could see the whitish streak typical of a scrape, and a few reddish spots. But he saw no steady flow of blood. He carefully flexed the finger to make sure it was all right. It hurt a little to move, but he was all right.

He glanced back at the door, confused as to why he couldn't open it up. “I don't get it.. Victor was able to do it. I mean so what if he's bigger and stronger...” He took a closer look at the box. He still couldn't find anything different about it, nothing that really caught his attention. The only thing he can think of is that the door locks from the inside. Victor hadn't left the door open up during his little visit, so how could he have gotten out? Only one thing could make sense: Victor had a switch on the outside that locked the door opener on his side.

“Figures...” Irwin muttered to himself. “Looks like I spoke too soon.”

He put his back to the wall and supported his weight on one foot while he lifted the other and crossed it over his other leg. His arms folded, he frowned and closed his eyes, trying to think of what he should do. “Come on..think Caruso...Think! There's gotta be a way out of here...” Then inspiration struck him. “I know! I'll just go dino and nail him!”

No sooner had he said this did the door open up again. He snapped his head up, his eyes wide open, as the door slide open from the middle once more. Victor came inside, holding a handful of different gadgets in his hands. They all seemed to have been modeled after the carnivorous heads of different dinosaur species. But one in particular stood out among all the others. As Victor set the weapons on the ground, this one particular weapon remained in his hands. Two long daggers jetted out from one end, going down the sides of the musket. It lacked a reptilian look. Instead it looked more reminiscent of a mammal. The place where the nose would be was the opening where the energy or whatever would be shot out.

Victor held the weapon up, leveling it perfectly with Caruso. Caruso gulped quietly, and tried to step back, only to realize he was already up against the wall. He clenched his teeth as he prepared for the blow. Despite the size of the room, Victor had already got a lock on him, and his finger was on the trigger. He wouldn't be able to get out of the way even if he tried.


	5. Tortured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“This, my little hairless ape,” Victor explained, his finger straining against the trigger, “is the Stinger. So appropriately named too.. you see, it will shoot out bolts of electricity at you. And don't even think about dodging this one. The bolts hone in on your body heat...” He pushed against the trigger and there was a clicking sound.

A crackling sound followed, and a stream of yellow flashing energy, in the form of two beam-like bullets, shot outward and towards Caruso. Letting out a scream of surprise, Caruso jumped out of the way. The bullet streams bypassed the wall and made a sharp turn in his direction again. He made another dash as the bullets came nearer, but in each attempt, the bullets would change direction, attracted by his heat signature. Caruso kept on dodging, but it only seemed like the bullets were getting closer. Eventually he almost ran into Victor. He gasped when he realized this, and skidded to a stop only a few inches in front of him. Victor looked down at him, sneering.

“Are you having fun, Caruso?” Victor taunted, brandishing the weapon in his hand.

Caruso didn't answer, instead pausing to think of a solution. There was something that crossed his mind, something that could help him get out. Victor had forgotten to close the door this time around. He could try to run behind him, but then Victor would catch him rather quickly, being a Velociraptor and all. And he could just fire his weapon at him again, sending more bolts heading his direction.

The bolts! That was it! He would trick the bullets of energy to hit Victor instead of him. It was a risk, but he couldn't think of anything else. He turned to quickly glance behind him. The bullets were still heading his way. They would reach him in seconds. In his mind, he began to recall Ms. Moynihan's lesson, the way she tricked him into going too close to the volcano. 

He glanced up at Victor, and smirked back at him. “Oh yes..I'm having fun... And so will you.”

“Hmm...? What?” Victor's expression turned to that of bewilderment. “What are you...?”

Before Victor could finish his question, Caruso suddenly dodged to the side. Victor turned quickly to grab the teen before he ran out of the open door. But he suddenly screamed in pain. A sharp blow struck him from the side. He realized quickly what had happened. The boy used the homing shots to his advantage, and tricked them into striking him instead. The electricity coursed through his body, causing Victor to let go of the gun. It clanked as it hit the ground.

“D-Darn..!” Veloci cursed as he fell onto his knees, clenching his teeth against the pain. He looked up to see Caruso running out of the door. Victor's eyes glowed fiercely, his teeth sharpening as he emitted a raptor-like growl. Fighting against the pain, he reached in his pocket and pulled out his communicator. He pressed a button and hissed into it, “The prisoner has e-escaped! Don't let him get out of the building!”

* * *

The ground of the Earth shook heavily as a massive leg slammed down onto it. Cars skidded to a stop. People scrambled to get out of the way as a lumbering giant stomped in their direction. Cracks and holes were created each time the gray legs came down. The road nearly split in half. Signs and street lights were smashed. Abandoned cars were demolished. Smoke billowed out among the wreckage. Some people lined the side of the road, holding out their cellphones to record the monstrous creature as he strode past them.

The creature let out a bellow, as though announcing his arrival. The creature had a set of glowing eyes on top of his enormous neck. It was Peter, still making his way back towards the lighthouse. Raising his neck a bit higher, he could see it off in the distance. He was getting close now. If he could break into a run, he could get there a lot faster. But a creature this size may not be able to harness the energy to make such an effort. Still, it couldn't hurt to try.

He stopped suddenly, his tail lashing from side to side. He turned to look at the people gathered around him. His eyes widened a bit as he realized that a few people were snapping photos of him, or recording live video. He narrowed his eyes, obviously not liking all this attention. He turned his long neck towards the lighthouse in the distance once more. He could just try to run over there, as quickly as he could. But how was he going to lose all these people? They were, no doubt, going to try to follow him. He would have to discourage them, somehow. He glanced back down at him, and a series of flashes nearly blinded his eyes.

He reared his head back and let out a loud bellow that shook the ground. People on the ground wobbled and some lost their balance and fell backwards. Peter roared again, lifting up a massive leg and stomping downward. He didn't aim directly at anyone, instead slamming his foot only a few feet away from them. The fake attack worked on some of the people, who rushed back to their cars to drive away. He quickly turned around and reared on his hind legs. Letting out a third roar, he slammed heavily into the ground, channeling his body weight on one section of the road. The force was enough to crack the concrete, splitting it wide open. The cars nearby were knocked away, and any people too close dashed away in time, screaming in horror.

A bright flash caught his attention. The enormous dinosaur turned in the direction of what appeared to be a young boy holding up a rather large camera. The flash had come from the camera as the kid snapped a picture of the large dinosaur. Peter narrowed his eyes, obviously not pleased with the little kid. He turned his massive body around and stomped heavily, slowly, towards the little boy. His long neck lowered until the tip of his snout was almost right up against the boy's head. As the boy took a step back and Peter got a good look at him, it was revealed this boy was a teenager. He was pretty fat, had very short hair, and a red sweatshirt. Peter snorted, causing the boy to take another step back.

Then the feeling of something tiny slamming against his back leg caught Peter's attention. He turned his head to the side, and spotted a man, looking to be in his mid-50's, balding in a brown corporate suit, throwing a few rocks at him to get his attention. The man threw another rock, and the dinosaur roared in response.

“Keep away from my son, you monster!” The man yelled defiantly, not budging even as the sauropod was turning around to face him. The man glanced quickly at the teenager, and called to him. “Run, son! Run!”

“But..what about...” The large kid asked, his eyes planted nervously on the enormous animal.

“Just go! I'll be fine!” As he said this, Peter had his snout inches away from his face. His jaws were slightly open, exposing the rows of peg-like teeth. They weren't the teeth of a carnivore, but they could still do some serious damage.

Hesitating for a moment, and then, reluctantly, the teen took off, disappearing in beyond the line of foliage that was on either side of the road. He ducked down, peering through the thick bushes, praying his father would make it out all right. The gigantic animal opened his large jaws, a long tongue hanging out from the side, and bellowed once again. But the man remained perfectly still, staring at the creature straight in the eyes. He was not going to be easily subdued, Peter could see. He hesitated with his next movement, unsure of what to do next. He didn't really plan on actually hurting anyone. He thought his size alone would be enough to deter anyone from getting too close to him or following him.

But here was a man, obviously overcoming his fear to save his son, standing in defiance even though the sauropod could easily crush him. Peter was growing frustrated, and it showed as his eyes' glow intensity increased. He lifted his foot and stomped it thunderously on the ground, the aftershock being enough to knock the man down. The boy watched in horror as the creature shot forward with his head, looking as though they were going to clamp down on his father. He closed his eyes tightly and waited for the scream of death. But it never came.

The kid opened up his eyes once more, and could see that his father had dodged the attack, now rolling across the floor a few feet from the creature. Peter shook his head violently, rocks falling from his jaws. He had bitten a loose piece of concrete. The horrible taste hung in his mouth, and he quickly hacked it back up. Drool dripped from his jaws, wetting the ground in a disgusting manner, and his tongue hung further to the side, allowing more spit to drip down.

The man took this opportunity to pull out his gun. Despite his corporate uniform, he was actually a police officer, and always carried out his trusty pistol. He hadn't pulled it out earlier because he was afraid he might accidentally hit his son. But now that his son was nowhere in sight, he had pulled out his pistol. He leveled it up towards the monstrous reptile, sighting along it to get a good angle. His finger pushed against the trigger, and there was a loud bang, and the scent of smoke. A split second later, the sauropod roared in pain. A small but noticeable wound appeared on one of his thick strong legs. Blood started to ooze from it. But due to its large size, this did not cause any serious damage.

As the sauropod turned to face him once more, the man struggled to reload his gun. He had fired the last bullet that was already in the gun. Now he must quickly put in a new bullet before the creature was upon him. But the Apatosaurus moved faster than he had anticipated. Before he had time to fire the next bullet, the Apatosaurus's head, with his neck acting like a whip, smashed into him, knocking him on the ground.

“DAD!” The boy screamed, forgetting that he was supposed to be hiding. Lucky for him, the dinosaur did not seem to hear him. His attention was focused on the cop on the ground.

The man struggled to his feet, his legs a bit shaky, and stared up at the animal. Peter's eyes were narrowed dangerously, and the reptilian lips were pulled up to reveal his teeth. He snapped them down a few times, a clear warning that he was not happy and if provoked further he would bite. The man still stood his ground, his finger once again on the trigger. He knew his chances of getting a shot now, with the animal upon him, were slim to none. Any second, the sauropod could lift his massive leg and stomp him into the road, leaving not much behind.

Peter snorted as the man did not make another move. Feeling satisfied that he had finally subdued him, Peter turned back in the direction of the lighthouse and began to slowly walk away. The man glared as the monster started to walk away and, without thinking, he held up his pistol once more, and fired another shot.

A stinging pain in the thigh of the same leg made Peter stop in his tracks. His eyes were shut tightly. No, this was not the worst pain he had felt, or could feel. But it was still bothersome. It was like a splinter had gotten lodged in his leg. He could feel his warm blood dripping down, now from two points in his leg. He turned his head to stare at the man, infuriated that he had dare shoot him again, even after the head butt and the threat of biting him. But he didn't have time to stay around for much longer. Instead of turning around and biting the man, Peter lifted his long tail a bit higher in the air, and struck down quickly.

The tail caught the man in the side, knocking him clean off the road several feet, flying passed where his son was hiding, and slammed against a thick tree truck. Peter snorted angrily, but continued on his quest. These darn humans had delayed him long enough. He could not spend anymore time standing here, trying to scare them off. He couldn't waste more precious seconds knocking away pesky humans. His destination wasn't far ahead. And once he got there, it should not be too hard to destroy the lighthouse. It would not take much effort for an Apatosaurus like himself. His only concern was that the Dino Squad would be able to defeat him. But how could they, when he was so much bigger? This was going to be a piece of cake.

“Dad!” The young boy rushed to his father's side. “Are you all right?!” He grabbed his father's arm in an attempt to help him up.

“I'm all right. Just a little bruised that's all.” He responded, struggling to his feet. He didn't look too worse for wear. A bit scratched up, a bruise or two, and a bit dirty, but otherwise fine. As he started to put some weight on his legs, he hung onto his son for a bit of support as he tried to keep himself from falling down again. He wobbled a little, but remained standing. “You can let go of me now.”

As the boy nervously released his father, the cop stammered forward a bit, and nearly fell down again. But he quickly caught himself, remaining perfectly balanced on his two legs. That was a good sign. He didn't appear to have any broken bones. He slowly walked back to the road to watch the dinosaur walking off. He felt angry that he wasn't able to kill the beast. He had only angered him, and put himself and possibly everyone else who was on the road at risk. But at least the creature was now wounded, and would probably eventually get some sort of infection, which would slow him down and make him easier to terminate. “At least we are out of danger, for now.”

The fat boy glanced nervously to where the creature was walking off to. “I sure hope so...” He said softly, wiping his forehead. As he watched the creature walking off, a realization slowly came over him. He looked around the road, and the direction the dinosaur was walking off to. He realized that the dinosaur was walking straight toward the lighthouse. The boy could not see the lighthouse from where he was, but he knew this road would lead straight over there. The boy had little concern over the lighthouse itself. He never visited it before, and didn't really have any plans.

But there was someone he knew that was probably in that location right now. And while they were not too good of friends, he wasn't going to just let this guy get killed by this monster of a dinosaur. He quickly pulled out his cellphone, and began to dial a number. As he held the phone to his hear, and he could hear the ringing sound, he said to himself, “I hope he answers.”

* * *

Back at the lighthouse, Buzz was laying on the couch with Rump laying next to him. The others were at the table, either in a chair or standing nearby. He couldn't hear what they were talking about because he was lost in his own thoughts. He was at just as much of a loss of what to do as everyone else here was. He was starting to feel a little depressed that the computer, their only chance of finding Caruso, blew, and he was feeling frustrated that the handheld tracker was still lost. If only they could find that tracker, then they would be able to find Caruso. Why couldn't they find it? Why had they not found it yet...?

“Hey Buzz.” He heard a voice say. He opened up his eyes and glanced up. Standing next to him was Max. The jock had left the group and came over to talk to him. Buzz didn't respond right away, giving the teen a soft glare before looking away. Max sighed, shaking his head. This reminded him of how things used to be, before they had their dinosaur powers. Buzz had never seemed to like him much. He seemed to have something against athletics, and against being in a team in general. Buzz had always been the lone wolf kind of person, and continued to express that even today.

Buzz had started to grow more tolerate of his presence since they became a team. It took some time, but Buzz eventually regarded Max as a friend, especially after the way Max had stuck up for him when McFinn used to bully him. Buzz had regretted how he treated the jock, although he never truly apologized for it. Max had never asked for an apology, and he never expected one. After all, it was all in the past, and was not of concern any longer.

But today, Buzz had started to distance himself from Max a bit, for an obvious reason. Buzz was still a little upset with the way the jock had treated Caruso earlier in the day. He had nearly become a bully himself, insulting Caruso without a second thought. He had wondered if that act had effected the outcome of the situation. But even though he was upset with Max, he couldn't possibly blame him for Caruso's capture. How could he anyway? Max tried just hard as the rest of them, even harder, to save Caruso. He had tried to run after the truck to get Caruso back, but unfortunately failed.

Buzz finally looked back at Max after about a minute of silence. He sighed and asked, “Hi, Max..what do you want?” He tried not to sound bitter, but felt he failed in doing that because he saw Max wince a little at the tone of his voice. “Sorry.” He quickly apologized. “I just not feeling myself right now.” The recent events were starting to wear him down now. He almost laughed to himself at the irony of him wanting to watch TV, just like Max before Caruso's capture.

“I'm sorry you're not feeling well.” Max said, reaching down to pet Rump. “We're all going through a tough time now.”

“Especially Caruso.” Buzz added in sharply, eyes narrowed. “Who knows what Victor might be doing to him right now...”

“Now now..let's not get carried away...” Max started to say.

But Buzz cut him off. “What do you mean? You heard what Ms. Moynihan had told us. Victor would use us as lab rats if he ever caught us! He probably has wires hooked up to Caruso, and...”

Max tightly gripped Buzz's shoulders and shook him a little. “Settle down, Buzz! If there's one thing we know about Victor, he would deem Caruso too valuable to just kill off! He'll survive, and we'll find him!”

Just as Buzz opened his mouth to offer a response of his own, he felt his cellphone vibrating in his pocket. He had turned off the ringer, but kept on the vibrator. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the cellphone, quickly opening it up and holding it up to his ear. He hesitated briefly, realizing he hadn't bothered to check to see who it was. He said, “Hello...?” He heard an enthusiastic yet frightened voice answer him from the other side. “McFinn? What do you want?”

“McFinn...?” Max pondered. “I wonder why he is calling.”

“What?!” Buzz cried, sitting up so quickly he nearly knocked Rump off the couch. “Are you absolutely sure of that?!” He could hear McFinn's voice on the other side chatter away frantically, and as he revealed more information, Buzz's eyes widened more. “Okay, thanks for the warning!” He quickly said. “I'll get out! Bye!” He quickly shut the phone before McFinn could respond. He knew it was rude, but he couldn't waste anytime in warning the others of this oncoming threat.

“What is it Buzz?” Max asked, sounding very concerned. “What did McFinn want?”

“He says there's a giant gray dinosaur heading straight for the lighthouse!” Buzz cried before jumping off the couch and rushing to where the others were to warn them.

“What?!” Max gasped as he ran to catch up to Buzz.

* * *

McFinn shut his phone and shoved it in his pocket. While he understood that Buzz was probably in a hurry to get out when he learned of the dinosaur coming in his direction, but he could have at least stayed on long enough for him to say goodbye. What nerve, just hanging up on him like that. But McFinn couldn't dwell on that matter now. He turned to his father. His father was surveying the road, probably making sure the creature was not coming back.

“So what do we do now, dad?” McFinn asked, glancing nervously at the sauropod, who was still in view.

“We have to get back to our car and get out of here.” His dad responded, heading for the road again.

“But what if that monster turns around and attacks you again?” McFinn asked, nervous.

“Oh don't worry, son. I don't think he'll notice us getting in the car.” He said with confidence.

“I hope you're right...” It wasn't like McFinn to doubt his own father. His father was rather intelligent, and almost always knew what to do when danger strikes. But this situation was unlike any they have ever encountered before. His father couldn't possibly know how this dinosaur would react. He couldn't possibly believe the dinosaur would ignore them. As soon as they stepped on the road, the dinosaur could turn around and attack them, or even eat them. He wasn't even sure if their car could move faster than the dinosaur could run.

But he didn't protest. As his father stepped onto the road, he followed in pursuit, cautiously placing his foot on the broken concrete. There was still enough road to ride along to get away, but it would going to be touch. As McFinn and his father made their way towards the car, they could feel the ground shaking as the beast lumbered away.

“Oh man..how much does that thing weight?” McFinn thought out loud.

“I'd say over a ton at least..no a lot more..” His father said, trying to keep his balance long enough to reach the car. Their car was parked on the side of the road, and stood out among the other cars because it was a pitch black with red tiger stripes on it. The man placed his hands on the front of the car for balance. He made his way to the driver's side, and gripped the door handle and pulled on it. The door opened up, and he got inside the car slowly. He carefully shut it, and motioned for his son to follow.

McFinn went over to the passenger's side, and climbed in, although not as quietly as his father did. But the dinosaur didn't seem to notice them, and McFinn shut the door quickly. His father turned the key in the ignition, and they sped off in the opposite direction of the dinosaur, careful to avoid anyone still on the road.

* * *

The interior of the warehouse was glowing a bright red as an alarm was sounding off from all over the building. Caruso ran along a corridor, unsure of what was ahead. But he knew he had to get out of here. He would eventually find the exit. That was all that was on his mind now. Getting out and getting back to the lighthouse was all he was concerned about. He had forgotten to take into account that not only was he close to Raptor Dyne but that the warehouse was crawling with Veloci's men. He hadn't run into any yet, as luck seemed to be on his side for the moment.

He reached the end of the corridor, where he could see a bright light shining through. It wasn't red like the alarm lights were. It was a whitish color. Cautiously, he stepped through. He had stepped into the largest room of the warehouse. Caruso stifled a gasp as he looked around. The room was enormous, looking to be around twice the size of a football field. Scattered along the room were rows and rows of stands made of wood. Stocked all along them were weapons of many different types.

Another part of the room had a row of large cages, many big enough to hold a dinosaur as big as a Stegosaurus. Next to the cages were gigantic chains and thick locks that looked strong enough to hold even an Apatosaurus in one of those cages. A few of the cages looked as though they were made of chicken wire. Caruso winced as he looked at the viciously hooked wires. They were probably designed to hold smaller dinosaurs. Surely these wires couldn't effect a Stegosaurus like himself.

And still in another part of the room, he could see multiple cylinder-shaped tanks filled with bubbling fluid. Several wires were attached to them, either pumping in something or sucking away something. Caruso couldn't tell from where he was at. But from what he could see, these tanks were far from empty. Inside he could see something floating inside each of them. He knew he should be running. It would only be a matter of time before someone would find him in here. But the sight of these strange things in the tanks caught his attention, and he felt like he just had to know what was inside them. Throwing caution to the wind, Caruso slowly approached the tanks. They weren't far from where he was, and he reached them within a minute.

The cylinders were much larger than he previously thought. They towered over him, at least 8 ft tall they were. Now he could see clearly just what was inside the tanks. They were some of Veloci's failed experimental mutations. They all had a dinosaurian look to them, but they didn't look like any dinosaur he has heard of before. One of the creatures had a frill but no horns and an elongated neck with sharp claws and spikes along the back. Another creature had a long beak and wings but no wing membrane. A third creature had a Tyrannosaurus-like head but the body was more close to that of a Triceratops. And still another creature had a head that reminded Caruso of a crocodile, and its back was covered in Stegosaurus spinal plates, but the tail sported a club. Even though Caruso knew not much of dinosaurs, just by looking at these creatures he knew they weren't natural.

“Man..Veloci needs a lesson in cloning, big time.” Irwin muttered to himself. As he said this, he continued through the room to find another exit. He walked along the side of the room, looking left to right to find another door. As he did so, he passed along the shelves covered with weapons. As he got a good look at them, he shuddered at their sight. They all looked so vicious and dangerous. He didn't know what they were capable of, or even if they worked. But he did not want to stick around long enough to find out the answer to that question.

As he passed the weapons section, moving passed the cages as well, and was now at the far side of the room, a cold realization came over him. There was no other door! This was a one-way-in kind of room. The only exit was the same place he had come in from! Caruso felt like slapping himself in the face for this mistake. He could only hope they hadn't checked down this corridor just yet. He made his way back to the door, and raised his hand to it. He gripped it and slowly opened it up and stepped out of the room and back in the corridor. As he started to make his way down, he suddenly spotted a figure standing not far from him. He didn't need much time to realize who was in front of him.

“Oh no..” Caruso whispered before quickly turning around, but not before he heard a shout from behind him.

“THERE YOU ARE!” Shouted the figure from behind. “STOP!”

Caruso winced at the sound of Victor's voice. Victor must have tracked him down by scent. Caruso was starting to feel a bit foolish. How could he have forgotten about Veloci's raptor sense of smell? Surely a raptor's sense of smell was extremely keen, like a wolf's or bear's. Even if he had gotten out of the building, Victor could have still tracked him down. The blue-haired kid felt a painful pang in his stomach as he realized his escape would have been in vain without a means of traveling much faster. There was no way he could ever outrun a Velociraptor.

Caruso quickly ran back into the room and slammed the door shut. He glanced around the room desperately, looking for a place he could hide. He saw that there appeared to be some room behind the cylinder tanks. Not much, but maybe enough for him to squeeze through. He glanced nervously at the door, and then bolted for the tanks. He went between two of them and squeezed through. He pressed himself against the wall behind one of the tanks, and prayed that Victor would not be able to find him. The tanks gave off a weird smell. He hoped that this would deter Victor from looking over here by masking his own human scent.

Just as Caruso settled down snugly behind the large containers, there was a loud crashing sound. He peered over cautiously and saw the door had been slammed open. Stepping into the room now was a red Velociraptor. Victor slowly walked forward, shifting his head from left to right, trying to figure out which way to go first. He lifted his head upwards, and took in a couple sniffs. He snorted as he caught Caruso's scent, and took a few steps forward. He sniffed a few more times, and turned in the direction of the weapons. Caruso nearly sighed in relief.

Victor came up to the shelves, and lowered himself to the floor, and placed his head as close to the ground as possible. His golden eye searched the floor for any signs of a human foot, but he saw nothing. He lifted himself back up and turned around. It was clear Caruso was not over here.

'Where are you Caruso?' Victor called out in his thoughts. He was certain Caruso would hear them, even if he didn't know where the boy was. 'I know you were in here... I can SMELL you..'

Caruso flinched at that remark, but he kept himself quiet and calm. He wondered if Velociraptors were like dogs. Maybe they could smell fear. If he let himself become frightened, Victor would, in theory, detect him faster. Caruso could not simply squeeze through the containers and make a run for it. Victor would most likely spot him and chase him down, or hear him or smell him. For now, the containers hid his scent from this location. But it wouldn't be long before Victor would grow wise to this and come to the fluid-filled tanks.

Victor walked along the side of the room that contained the cages. This was a bit further from where Caruso was, but closer than the weapons. It was on the wall right next to where he was hiding. Caruso knelt down a tad further and watched as Victor came up to the cages, obviously catching a whiff of him. Victor tilted his head to one side then the other in a bird-like manner.

'Come out come out where ever you are...' Victor cooed as he gazed between the spaces of the cages. Victor could see clearly there was no one there, and let out a dinosaur sigh of frustration. He pointed his snout in the air again, taking a few more sniffs before walking towards the tanks.

Caruso pressed his back against the wall as the Velociraptor drew closer and closer to where he was hiding. Victor stopped in front of the containers, and tried to get Caruso's scent. He snorted. It was obvious that the strong smell of the tanks were masking Caruso's scent, if it was even here at all. He stepped a few paces back, and overlooked the cylinders filled with liquid. He turned his head from one side, and then to the other, like he was trying to analyze whether or not Caruso could be hiding here. Caruso held his breath, and hoped Victor would bypass him. His lungs started to ache, but he refused to take a breath until Victor passed.

However, Victor did not move from the spot. He continued to stare and ponder. He lowered his body down and crept forward slowly, like a predator that was stalking its prey. His body was low to the ground, his nose pressed up against the floor. As he sniffed, the raptor caught the slightest scent of human, and his tail raised in alertness. He sniffed harder, and began to follow the faint trail.

Caruso stifled a gasp. From the look of things, it seems Victor had caught his scent. Victor must have realized that if he couldn't get his scent from the air, he might be able to get the scent from the ground. The strong smell of the containers hadn't had as much effect on the ground as it did in the air. Victor probably caught the scent of his socks or shoes. There was no way Caruso could run away now. If he were to budge from the spot, even just a little, Victor might hear him and lunge in to grab him. If he tried to stand up, Victor would spot him for sure. He braced himself, hoping to be able to fight off Victor if he had to.

The trail led Victor to a space between two large fluid-filled containers. He raised his body back off the ground, his eyes narrowed slightly. The space was rather small, he thought. Could Caruso have possibly fit through there. But when he thought about it, it did seem to make sense. Caruso was thin enough to fit through the space. The shadows were probably concealing the boy, or he was hiding directly behind one of the cylinders. Victor took a step closer and began to sniff around. He pressed the side of his face against a container, growling softly as he tried to locate Caruso.

As he tried to squeeze in further, he realized his body was a bit too wide to fit through. He would have an easier time in human form. While wider from the side, his human body was also thin enough to fit through. In a flash of blue light, Victor returned to his human form, and approached the space between the cylinders yet again.

“There's no other place you can be, boy.” Victor said as he pressed his hands against the sides of the containers and leaned in a little. He knew that if Caruso was here, he was not just going to come on out. But maybe he could encourage the boy a little. “Why don't you make it easy on yourself and come on out? Or do I have to drag you out myself?”

Obviously there was no answer. Victor smirked slightly. Caruso was probably trying to make him believe that no one was there. But Victor knew better. He squeezed himself through the opening, edging closer and closer. He heard a slight shuffle, and quickened his pace towards the source of that sound. As he edged closer, he could see a figure in the shadows, and grinned. He did not need to see a clear shot to know who this was. There was only one prisoner in the warehouse, only one person who would have any reason to hide from him like this.

As Victor peered behind and became face to face with the boy, Caruso gasped. He had been spotted, and now cornered up against the wall. He bared his teeth, and formed fists with his hands in cheap attempt to warn Victor off. But Victor could tell the boy was in no position to fight, and he could see Caruso was struggling to keep himself as far away from him as possible. But he couldn't back away any further. And he could not squeeze behind the other containers fast enough. He could only watch as Victor got closer to him, and reached out with his red-sleeved arm, hands open.

“You thought you could get away from me, did you?” Victor asked, smiling. “Well you thought wrong kid. You thought wrong...” Without hesitation, he reached forward swiftly and grabbed Caruso by the collar of his shirt, and started to yank forward.

“Let me go!” Caruso snapped, grabbing Victor's hand and trying in vain to pry it off. He tried to plant his feet on the ground and tried to pull himself back, but it was in vain. Victor's stronger body was able to pull him further forward than Caruso could pull himself backward. His feet skidded slowly but steadily across the floor, getting closer and closer to the front. He continued to struggle to push Victor's hand off of him, but the raptor wasn't about to let go. He could see Victor was very close to the opening of the space, and it would only be a matter of time before he was completely out, and then he would follow soon afterward. Baring his teeth once more, Caruso did the only thing he could think of doing in a small space, faced with this situation. “I said let me go!” With that, he suddenly clamped his teeth on Victor's hand, something that Victor did not see coming.

“AAARRGHH!” Veloci cried as he felt Caruso's jaws try to drive the blunt teeth into his hand. While human teeth were not generally as sharp or as dangerous as a raptor's, their molars were designed for crushing and Caruso had clamped onto a finger, where the bone was close to the skin. Caruso continued to clench his jaws tighter. His teeth wasn't cutting the skin, but they were causing considerable pain. Victor was not letting go, but his grip loosened up a little.

“Stop biting me, you little brat!” Victor snapped as he continued to pull Caruso forward. But every inch Caruso moved forward, his jaws squeezed the raptor's hand tighter.

Though muffled, Victor could make out the boy's remark. “Continue to pull me forward, I'll hurt you more...”

“The only thing you're doing is making me angry!” Victor retorted. With that, he reached forward with his free hand. He grabbed Caruso's left ear and pulled hard. Victor knew this was a sensitive spot for humans, and pulling here would cause considerable pain. He had learned it was used as a disciplinary measure at times, and as a means of forcing one human to follow another. He dug his fingernail into the thin skin of the ear as he squeezed harder and pulled again.

Caruso's eyes closed as he tried to ignore the pain. He continued to drive his teeth into Victor's finger. But he continued to be pulled forward, and the pain in his ear was increasing. He could feel the fingernails changing into raptor talons. He could feel the talons cutting into his skin, causing more pain. Finally Caruso couldn't take it anymore. He released Victor's finger and yelled in pain.

Victor released Caruso's ear, and, ignoring the pain in his finger, tightened his grip on the boy and, with one strong yank, pulled the boy all the way out, and then pushed him against one of the containers, and held him there. The human teeth marks were still visible on his finger. His face drew close to Caruso's, and he snarled, “How dare you trick me like that! How dare you bite me with your pitiful human teeth!”

“Well..” Caruso said, trying to think of a comeback. “What did you expect? That I would just fall in line and obey your every command just because you think you're all that?”

“It seems you need to be taught a lesson boy.” Victor growled.

“Oh yeah right..” Caruso said, rolling his eyes. He gave Victor a sly look. “It seems to me like you're the one who needs a lesson. You wake up after a sixty-five million year hibernation, and, in a closed-minded decision, right away decide that we humans are inferior and that dinosaurs should still rule the planet. Hasn't it ever occurred to you, Mr. Veloci, that these changes you are planning to make could have more dire consequences than positive results?” Caruso knew then he was spending a bit too much time with Ms. Moynihan. “If you cared so much about the planet, then why are you taking such huge risks? One small change could destroy an ecosystem, and poof! There goes your chances of creating a balanced environment.”

Victor growled softly. “I do not need a little brat like you to tell me how to carry out my plans! When they come full circle, everything will be transformed almost all at once! There will be no loopholes, no imbalances! Nothing but perfection!”

“Perfection...oh brother.” Caruso shook his head. “There is no such thing as perfection...Nothing in this world is perfect.”

“Yeah..especially you humans!” Victor snapped as he gripped Caruso a little tighter. “For years I have watched this planet suffer under your wretched kind's hands! I'll be doing this world a favor by getting rid of all you humans! Like the world will even miss you!” His voice was increasing in intensity and anger.

“Well the planet didn't miss the dinosaurs now did it?” Caruso said, smiling slyly. Victor's eyes widened a little. “Take a look around, Victor. Do you see any signs of the Earth itself mourning for the loss of your precious dinosaurs? The planet moves on. It didn't even flinch when the dinosaurs disappeared.”

Victor bared his teeth, now forming into fangs. He was growing angrier and angrier with this boy as he continued to speak with him. “We dinosaurs have dominated the Earth for two hundred million years, you pathetic creature!” He snarled, a bit of saliva dripping down the side of his mouth, a sign of increasing anger. “There's no way that you, a mere human, could possibly comprehend that! You pathetic humans have only ruled this world for two million years, a very lucky feat at that!”

“We weren't lucky.” Caruso said, narrowing his eyes a little. “We ruled for two million years because we dominated the other species! We outsmarted all other creatures, and advanced further than many other creatures. We managed to wipe out entire species, and conquer entire continents, possibly at a faster rate than you dinosaurs!”

“It was all dumb luck for you stupid primates!” Victor retorted. He pushed the boy harder against the wall of the container. “If any other real dinosaurs were around, they would certainly agree with that!”

“What about Moynihan?” Caruso asked suddenly. Victor opened up his mouth to say something, but shut it, as he could not think of a response. But his expression had not changed. “She is a Velociraptor, much like yourself, is she not? And yet, unlike you, she recognized humans as the new dominant species. She did not try to wipe us out. She joined our side.”

Victor's eyes narrowed further. The mention of Moynihan was making him more temperamental. He did not think fondly of Moynihan all that much. It still boils his blood the way she just outright betrayed him like he had, and after all the progress that they had made together. “Ms. Moynihan is nothing but a traitor! She turned her back on me to be with you inferior insects! She had forgotten about her potential when she was my partner! If she had realized the mistake she was making and come back to me, we could have perfected the DNA together. We would have brought back the reign of the dinosaurs!” He was started to shake slightly from anger. “But she just had to turn he back on me, turn her back on everything that once meant so much to her, to be with YOUR KIND!”

Using a large amount of his strength, Victor roughly pulled Caruso away from the containers, and threw him across the ground. Caruso rolled a few times across the floor, grunting as he came to a stop near the middle of the room. As he struggled to get up, Victor stalked towards him slowly and deliberately. Caruso looked up at Victor, panting a few times. “The only reason she was ever with you was because you were another Velociraptor, not because she actually liked you! And besides, Moynihan does not have the guts to take on the human race! She's too much of a coward herself! She never fights with us on our missions! She just sits back in her nice safe lighthouse! If anything, she is the weakling!”

Victor's eyes widened a bit before narrowing even further, and a faint yellow glow appeared in his eyes. Yes, he agreed that Moynihan was a bit of a coward. Yes, he was still furious at her, even hated her for joining the human's side. But she was still a dinosaur, just like he was. She did not deserve to be insulted by a pathetic creature like this human. He quickened his pace until he was standing next to the boy on the ground. He glared down at him harshly as the boy struggled to his feet. “I'm really getting sick of your attitude, boy!”

Caruso continued to stand up to Victor. He wasn't going to run from him. He was not going to show fear. He was going to show Victor what humans were capable of. He tried to stand tall against the insane raptor, staring at him in the eyes. “And I'm sick of your stupidity, sickle clawed freak! You Velociraptors are not so smart at all! In fact, if your brains were gasoline, you wouldn't have enough to power a tiny motorcycle around the outside of a penny!”

That was the final straw. Victor could not hold himself back any longer. The human had angered him beyond the boiling point. His insults were eating away at his nerves and mind. The pathetic creature obviously did not know who he was dealing with. Now was the time to show him who was really in charge. His legs glowed, changing into the distinct legs of a raptor. The large sickle claws, raised above the ground, seemed to glisten sharply. Before Caruso had time to realize what was going to happen, Victor raised a foot and struck forward, making contact with his arm.

The sickle claw dug deep into the skin, and slashed along the side. As the claw slide across the skin and eventually was wrenched free from the arm, it had left a deep gash from the elbow to the wrist of the boy's left arm. Eyes closed in pain, Caruso backed up a few steps, trying to stifle a scream of pain. He held his arm to himself, and examined it. He looked horrified as he saw his own blood seeping from the deep cut. He tried to press his hand against the cut to stop the bleeding, but every time he did, it would increase the pain, causing him to pull his hand away. He looked over at Victor with eyes filled with fear.

Victor smiled darkly as he advanced on the boy. “Do you still think I'm a joke..?”

“G-Get away from me!” Caruso said in defense, trying to sound brave.

“You're in no position to give me orders...” Victor said as he continued to get closer. Caruso took a few steps back, but was clearly trying to stand his ground. “All you humans are the same. Your arrogance and ignorance both astound me. I'll never understand how you ever got to be in charge. It was just some sort of fluke...” He reached out with one hand, the same hand that Caruso had bitten earlier, and gripped the boy's lower jaw tightly. He forcefully tilted the boy's head to one side, and then to the other, as if he were examining him. “You humans are just a bunch of bags of flesh I could easily rip open...”

Caruso felt the fear rising up inside him, but he had enough rebellion left in him for one more retort. “L-Lizard lips..” He managed to say.

Victor's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he shoved the boy roughly, knocking him onto his back. Before Caruso could try to get back up, Victor placed his foot firmly on the kid's chest, and used some of his weight to keep the boy from getting back up. He pushed on the boy's chest with his foot a little harder, causing him to have slight difficulty in breathing. “You little whelp... You obviously have no idea who is really running the show here...”

“Please get off of me..” Caruso said, his voice no longer filled with the energy it once was.

Victor smirked. “Feeling the fear rising up inside you? Good... You should be afraid boy.” He applied more pressure, causing Caruso to gasp. “You're dealing with a superior species now.” He bent down and enclosed his raptor hand around Caruso's neck. His grip on the boy's neck tightened, and he smirked as the boy continued to struggle to breathe normally. “Such a weak boy you are..”

“Such..such strong words coming from a...tiny brained creature like yourself..” Caruso said without thinking, his hands trying to pry off Victor's foot. He continued on to say, “D-Dinosaurs were s-stupid... brains the size of walnuts... Just complete idiots..they were...”

Victor's eyes glowed intensely, and he quickly released Caruso's neck, and lifted his foot off of him. At first, Caruso thought he was being set free, but he was quickly proven wrong when he felt a sharp pain in his side. Victor slammed his foot against the kid's ribcage, and sent him sprawling backwards a few feet. He cried out in pain as he slammed harshly into the hard floor. He quickly stood up on shaky legs and stared over at Victor, who was again stalking in his direction. Caruso backed up against the wall, watching in horror was Victor drew closer.

“Puny little urchin...!” Victor quickly cornered the boy. He knew the boy was too frightened to think about going dino, and he used this to his advantage. Extending his finger talons, he held his arms in a threatening manner, like a Velociraptor would. His teeth were bared, the lips pulled back to reveal the sharp tips of his raptor-like teeth. The eyes glowed so intensely that the black eye-whites were no longer visible. “Since you seem to have no respect for your superiors, you will have to be taught a lesson...” He reached upward, beside Caruso just a few inches away, to grab something. “I did not want to have to do this..but you left me no choice, Caruso.”

As he said this, his fingers fumbled around the shelf until he felt something thick and leathery. He quickly grabbed it and pulled it out. As he held the device in his hand, Caruso let out an audible gasp at the sight of it. It looked like nothing he had seen before. He could see one piece that looked like it would fit around a human head, and a larger section that could fit around the waist. There was a rope attached to it for some reason. But what frightened Caruso were the vicious spikes that lined the device, and he could see tiny gray wires that ran along it as well. He didn't know what they were for, but he didn't want to find out.

“W-What is that..” Caruso asked, stammering.

“It's a human war bridle...” Victor responded, holding it up closer with the intention of putting it on the teenager.

“No..don't put that thing on me!” Caruso begged, pressing himself against the wall as far as he could go. His body started to shake visibly, and he could have sworn he could hear his own teeth chattering.

“Oh I'm sorry.” Victor said sarcastically. “But I'm only doing what must be done..” He then lunged forward and pinned Caruso on the ground. He struggled to keep the boy pinned on the ground. Caruso kicked and punched blindly, trying in vain to get the criminal off of his back. But Victor was stronger, and he managed to subdue Caruso long enough for him to fit the head piece onto him. A band wrapped around the boy's forehead, the sharp tips of the spikes starting to dig in slightly. Another band wound around his lower jaw and the back of his head. The bit, the mouth piece of a bridle, had forced its way into his mouth. It was lined with sharp spikes as well, and it scraped against his tongue.

As Victor put on the rest of bridle, hooking it to his body, Caruso could feel the spikes drive deeper into his forehead, and he could feel the bit pulling painfully against his lips. He tried to talk, but every time he attempted, the bit would cut into his tongue painfully. Eventually Victor released him, and held the rope in his hand. Caruso realized, in horror, that the rope was attached to the bridle in such a manner that if pulled it would painfully drive the spikes into his head and possibly activate the wires, sending who knows what through his body to increase the pain.

“You will find out, boy, that I am not like Ms. Moynihan. I am not a soft fool... I know how all you humans are like. You're all the same... And I know how to break you...” Victor took a step forward. “The bridle won't hurt you as much if you do what I say, and it will hurt even less if you go dino. But mark my words, child, continue to defy me, and I'll make your life a living nightmare...” To prove his point, he pulled on the bridle roughly, causing Caruso to scream as he felt not only the spikes digging into him but electricity as well from the metal wires. He struggled in vain to free himself despite the pain he was feeling, especially the bit cutting painfully into his tongue.

Victor watched the young boy struggle against the bridle, attempting to fight it. Victor's lips pulled back into a vicious grin. He knew no creature could stand pain for very long. He just needed to be patient, and the boy will eventually have his spirit broken. He gave one more pull, driving the spikes deeper into the boy. He could see that already blood was trinkling a little from the boy's forehead. “You can't stand the pain, can you, human?” He asked in a soft, sarcastic voice. “If you can't..I suggest you go dino. Now.”

Caruso's eyes, previously tightly closed, now opened up as he listened to what Victor was telling him. He realized, just as he suspected, that Victor was trying to gain control over him. He knew Victor was going to use this dreaded bridle he was now condemned to wearing to cause him so much pain that he would have to submit to him. He wasn't about to let that happen, and he would offer a sarcastic remark, but the pain prevented him from doing so. All he could do was look up at Victor's smiling face with terror-filled eyes...

* * *

“Are you sure there isn't anyway we can help?” Jack asked as he stood in the door frame of the lighthouse. His wife was standing next to him, her hand and arm wrapped onto his shoulder. In front of them stood the four remaining members of the Dino Squad. Their gear was one, and they were standing next to their dinosaur motorcycles. While she was reluctant at first, Ms. Moynihan decided to allow the kids to try to fight Peter. It was the only chance they had.

“Yes..isn't there anything?” Amanda asked carefully. These weren't her kids, but she couldn't help but feel responsible if they ended up being killed by the sauropod that was stomping its way towards the lighthouse. She tried to hide a gasp as she looked up and could see, barely, the figure of a large dinosaur coming in their direction. This reminded her of how she reacted when she first found out Caruso was a Stegosaurus.

Rodger pushed open a compartment on the Styraco-Cycle and gently placed a bag holding the Chiller and Spiller in it. Ms. Moynihan had suggested trying the Chiller and Spiller on Peter. Maybe there was a chance that his dino DNA wasn't contaminated. If it wasn't, then the Chiller and Spiller should strip him of his dinosaur form. It was a long shot though. She had never tested his DNA for herself. She had never even met him personally. Ms. Moynihan had only known about him through spying on Victor, and had known for some time that he could transform. She had kept this information a secret from the Dino Squad all this time, something she was starting to regret now.

Max saw this as an opportunity, regardless. If they could successfully subdue Peter in either dino mode or in human form, they could force him to talk and tell them where Caruso was being held. He could lead them straight to Victor's hiding place. Fiona and Buzz partially disagreed with him. They stated that Peter could pretend to agree to their terms and then just lead them straight into a trap. Max had taken this into consideration, but still thought they had a chance to negotiate with Peter. During the discussion, Rodger had thought about what Ms. Moynihan had said, about removing the dinosaur DNA, and, while he did not suggest it, thought they could warn Peter that if he wants to keep his dinosaur form, he would spill the beans. But so far no one really had a fool-proof plan.

“We are certain, Mr. Caruso.” Rodger said as he placed his helmet onto his head. “We don't want to endanger your lives. And someone needs to stay here with Ms. Moynihan.”

“But isn't she a Velociraptor?” Amanda asked, her grip on her husband tightening a little. She never did get completely used to the idea of her son being taught by a prehistoric predator. “Can't she take care of herself?”

Rodger shook his head. “Not with that injury she can't.”

“Come on, guys.” Max said, interrupting the brief chat between Rodger and Caruso's parents. “If we don't go soon, Peter will run us right through.”

As the Dino Squad got on their respective bikes and rode off into the distance to face off with the encroaching Apatosaurus, Jack and Amanda sighed and went back into the building, shutting the door behind them. Ms. Moynihan was still sitting down. She had gotten out her knitting equipment and was slowly knitting something resting on her lap. She briefly glanced up as the couple as they sat back down on the couch closest to her chair. She gave him a sympathetic look before returning her gaze back to her knitting. She didn't know why she was doing this other than to keep her mind off of the things that had happened in such a short period of time. First they are tricked by Michelle and her accomplice into letting Michelle into the lighthouse. Then Michelle sneaks in after the Dino Squad leave, attack her, and destroy the monitoring equipment. Then the next day, Victor arrives at the lighthouse and captures Caruso. Then they try to get a computer to work and it blows on them. Now Peter was coming, obviously to destroy the lighthouse. Things just couldn't get any worse.

And she was becoming a bit frustrated at her inability to do anything. It would be around this time she would be up at the top of the building, aiding the kids from the sidelines with her equipment. But today, she could not do anything but sit and pray they would make it. She couldn't even go with them to help them fight. Her ankle still bothered her and walking was almost impossible even in dinosaur form. What use would she be if she kept falling down due to the pain in her ankle? She would only get in the way. And she also started to feel like a burden to Caruso's parents. They had to stay behind just for her due to her ankle. She sighed, feeling a bit guilty about this.

“...Professor Moynihan...?” Amanda heard a masculine voice ask her. She looked up, although she did not need to to know who was talking to her. Jack looked as if he was struggling with what he wanted to say. He was not looking directly at her or his wife. Instead his gaze was distant, pointing towards the ground although he did not seem that focused on it. He was nervously fumbling with his fingers, feeling himself succumbing to the feelings of despair and crushed hope, even though it hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet.

“Yes, Mr. Caruso?” Moynihan said gently. She continued to knit a little, but at a extremely slow, delicate pace.

Jack opened up his mouth to say something, but no words were coming. He shut his jaws, and let out a sigh of frustration. Ms. Moynihan was patient, and allowed the man enough time to come up with something he wanted to say. She could tell he was going through a tough time. At last, the man sat straight up, and managed to sum up the courage to look at her straight in the eyes. “Do you think..” He gulped. “Do you think that those kids will be able to...defeat that guy? I mean I know they can turn into dinosaurs and everything, but..they're still just kids. They-”

“I can assure you, Mr. Caruso,” Moynihan interjected him, “They are quite capable of taking care of themselves. They have faced off with countless different types of mutants and have made it out all right. This will be no different.”

“How can you be so sure about that?” Now it was Amanda's turn to say something. “Have they ever fought against a dinosaur larger than themselves before?”

“Well...no...but...” Moynihan tried to say, but Amanda interrupted her.

“But nothing! Those children are risking their lives out there and you aren't lifting a finger to help!” Amanda yelled, surprising both her husband and the elderly teacher. “You're just sitting here..knitting! You aren't helping!” She tried to say more, but she felt her husband's gentle hands on her shoulders.

“Now..dear...” Jack said to her softly. “I'm sure she wouldn't just let them go if she did not truly think they could do this for themselves.”

Joanne gave a nod, attempting to give a small smile although her guilt was making it difficult to do that. She said, “Your husband is right. I would not dare risk the children's lives if I believed the challenge was too great for them.” She lifted up a hand and pressed a finger on her forehead to push her glasses back. “And I wish I could help, but I would just get in the way. How can I help the children if I can't even stand up for very long?”

“I...” But Amanda couldn't think of a comeback. The brief anger she was feeling was seeping away quickly. Her husband and the teacher were both right. There was really no point in blaming Ms. Moynihan. Even if the old woman had tried to stop the kids, they would have gone anyway. “I'm sorry.” She said, closing her eyes lightly.

“It's all right.” Joanne said as she offered a comforting smile. “You don't need to apologize.”

“What about Caruso?” This question from Jack almost caught Moynihan off guard. The question seemed to have come out of nowhere. “What do you think Victor will..do to him if we don't find him quickly?”

Ms. Moynihan gulped audibly, and fell silent. Her gaze slowly casted onto the cloth she was knitting. Her mind was soon invaded by many thoughts and regrets. She hadn't really fully explained to Caruso's parents what might happen if Victor ever found out the truth and successfully caught one of them. She knew that if she had told them, they would have gone hysterical. And there would be little she could do to comfort them. And now she was faced with this very question. And she could tell that Jack was not going to let it go unanswered, and he wanted the truth. Feeling guilt rising up inside of her, Joanne took in a deep breath and told them the truth.

“I have..told the children not long after they joined what could happen if Victor found out they were not perfect dinosaurs, but rather humans who can change back and forth. He would do everything he can to capture them all. Because he has only seen this ability in himself and I, he would want to know just how they are able to perform the same feat. So he would..turn them into his personal lab rats and use all kinds of untested material on them.” Moynihan explained solemnly. She heard both parents of Caruso gasp loudly, and she could not bear to look at their expressions. “While I would like to believe that Victor would not kill any of them and deem them too valuable to just destroy, Victor is not above ending the life of anyone whom he believes stands in the way of his dream.” She had recalled how Victor looked determined to kill her off in that final battle so many years ago. Even though he spared her life, the look in his eye told her very clearly that he would have killed her, and not hesitate to do so. She prayed Caruso would not fall under a similar fate.

* * *

Peter continued to travel along the road. He hadn't had any trouble with people for some time now. He figured that he must have frightened everyone off. He hoped so. He couldn't afford drawing attention. He gazed off into the distance and he could see his target: the lighthouse. He smirked mentally as he noted that, like all lighthouses, this one stood precariously close to the edge of the cliff. With his powerful body, he could easily topple it over the edge and send it crashing into the water below. He did wonder briefly of what might happen to the ships that sail by this area if the lighthouse is destroyed, but he quickly dismissed it. The outcome of the act will be irrelevant once Victor's plan is fully realized.

He felt a cool breeze swaying against him, and he paused momentarily. There was some kind of scent mixing in with the air. Sauropods' sense of smell isn't too strong, but it is good enough to detect certain odors. The smell was almost metallic in nature. It didn't smell like smoke, and if it was he should have been able to see it by now. His eyes remained focused on the stretch of land in front of him, as the smell was coming from over there. And then something else caught his attention. He could feel a slight rumble in the ground. It was being made by something rather small in comparison to him, but still considerably heavy. And it felt like there was more than one source.

He stood his ground, stomping his foot into the road. A loud bellow escaped through his long, tube-like neck. His challenging call went unanswered, but whatever was coming towards him was not stopping. His eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what could be coming his way. He had a choice. He could either make a break for it and stomp his way past the intruders to the lighthouse, or he could stand and fight and make sure they don't interfere with him. He had chosen to spare the last intruders. Instinct was telling him to spare these ones too, but his mind was telling him otherwise.

Then, just as suddenly as the rumble started it stopped. There was nothing but silence, but the smell still hung in the air. Peter lowered his neck in nervous anticipation. He didn't know what he had to worry about in this dinosaur form. But working with Victor has taught him to always be on his toes. Something unexpected could always happen.

And in this case, something unexpected did happen.

There was a bright flash, orange-yellow in color, that illuminated part of the road and foliage alongside it. He briefly heard a weird sound, a sound that he had associated with dinosaur transformation. It didn't take him long to realize just what this was about. Eyes widening, he realized that he had caught the attention of the Dino Squad, also known as the perfect dinosaurs. But how had they known he was coming? Their equipment was destroyed and he was still too far away for them to realize who he was and why he was approaching. His mind flashed back to the kid who he had harassed earlier. As he was walking away he did happen to look back briefly to make sure they weren't following him, and he happened to notice something shiny in the kid's hand. He didn't know what it was, and he paid it no mind then. But now he wishes he had done something. The stupid kid had alerted the Dino Squad to his presence! Well there goes the element of surprise.

Before he could try to take another step, a large Tyrannosaurus Rex jumped onto the road. Green with maroon blotches, eyes as intimidating as Victor's, and massive jaws full of sharp teeth, he was definitely the same T-Rex that Raptor Dyne has tried to deal with time and time again. He was the same T-Rex that Victor was so obsessed about capturing since he is purebred. And yet he is the same T-Rex that has been helping foil Victor's plans all this time. But despite his fearsome appearance and massive size, he was still dwarfed by Peter's dinosaur form. His head towered well above the snarling T-Rex.

But of course, the Tyrannosaurus had not come alone. Soon joining him were three more perfect dinosaurs. One was a very muscular and large Styracosaurus. He was gray with dark maroon markings all over his body. He let out a bellow that closely resembled an elephant's call. Peter had always assumed that Styracosaurus wouldn't have brow horns, as that was more traditional with a Triceratops or Torosaurus. When he had expressed this to Victor, the billionaire had told him that the human scientists just never found a perfectly preserved skull of a Styracosaurus. It appears that, despite fearsome appearances, the brow horns were quite brittle compared to the other horns and could not fossilize easily.

Standing next to the T-Rex was the golden female Spinosaurus. Victor identified her as female because she had a crest on her head. Victor claims that some species of dinosaur have crests on the female members, but none on the males. This was also true for Velociraptors. Victor lacked a crest but Ms. Moynihan sported one. Peter still had a hard time believing at how fast this animal could move. She was pretty fast on land, but very fast when she was in the water. This was because she was streamlined, reducing the amount of water resistance against her body as she moved through the liquid. But although a predator like the T-Rex, she did not appear nearly as fearsome. Peter didn't know if that was because Spinosaurus was generally a fish-eater, or if it was because the teenager behind the dinosaur just wasn't the type into conflict.

Flying above them was the bright green and orange Pteranodon. Contrary to what Peter had learned growing up, this purebred Pteranodon had a long tail and sported a beak full of sharp teeth. The name Pteranodon, which meant toothless flyer, no longer fit the description of this animal. Peter knew the Pteranodon did not have as much strength as the others. He had to remain lightweight and thus did not have as much muscles for fighting as the other dinosaurs. His beak was not relatively strong and his feet weren't well designed for gripping. But despite that he has seen the Pteranodon holding objects with his feet, and he can't really figure out how he does it. Despite the Pteranodon's overfall physical weakness, he has the flight advantage, and this ability has helped the Dino Squad escape in the past.

'Greetings, perfect dinosaurs.' Peter called out, taking one step forward. He did not flinch as the dinosaurs in front of him growled at his approach. 'Or should I say Dino Squad?' 

'Shut up, Peter.' Fiona opened her jaws to display her teeth. Peter did not look surprised that they knew his name. Ms. Moynihan probably found out during her spying sessions and told them. 'Where have you taken Caruso?'

A growl rumbled in the throat of the T-Rex. 'Where are you hiding him?'

Peter turned his head to the side, his eyes still focused on the smaller dinosaurs standing before him. He opened his jaws in a dinosaurian laugh. 'And what exactly makes you think I will tell you?'

Buzz narrowed his Pteranodon eyes, the glowing slightly intensifying as he softly growled a statement. 'We will make you.'

'Oh please.' Peter shook his head. 'After working with Victor for so long, it's going to take a lot more than a bunch of teenagers to frighten me.' He lowered his head a little, and baring his teeth in a dinosaur grin. 'You have a much better chance at winning the lottery than getting information from me.'

Rodger moved his head a little, and pointed his nose horn towards the direction of Peter's long neck. He used one foot to kick up dirt in a threatening manner similar to rhinos. 'If you don't tell us, we will have to strip you of your precious dinosaur form.'

Peter blinked his eyes a few times, and tilted his head. He seemed to be contemplating this information. He was quite aware that the Dino Squad did apparently have the equipment to remove prehistoric DNA from living creatures. He was wondering if they were possibly bluffing. But he did not see a reason for them to do that, as the bluff wouldn't last long. And it would only work once. He then wondered just how they would pull it off. They would need to subdue him somehow as he was likely to strike them down if any of them turn back into human. And they could not operate the Chiller or Spiller in dinosaur form. He concluded that there was little chance of the Dino Squad subduing him long enough to remove the DNA from his body.

Peter narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth. His tail raised up high and lashed from side to side. He stomped his foot into the ground a few times, cracking the cement on the road. Letting out a sauropod battle cry, he announced, 'All right then, Dino Squad. If you want to know where your precious friend is...fight me. And if you defeat me, I just might tell you where to find your pitiful friend.'

Max was the first to answer. 'Don't you dare talk trash about my friend!' His large jaws opened up quickly and a loud roar tore through his throat and jaws. He took off towards the large dinosaur, his feet stomping so heavily in the road they were making footprints. Despite his heavy body, he managed to lunge forward and attempted to knock Peter onto the ground. But when he hit the gray body, it was only he himself who fell to the ground. The sauropod towered over him.

'Is that the best you've got, punk?' Peter teased. He lowered his long neck down and gripped Max's tail with his long jaws. He bit hard enough that his peg-like teeth broke through the thin skin of the T-Rex's tail. Max let out a bellow of agony as blood seeped through the cuts formed by the teeth. Peter pulled his head back, pulling Max with him. With a fling of the neck and head muscles, he tossed Max aside, sending him crashing onto his side. Peter turned his attention back to the other dinosaurs. 'Who is next?' He asked.

'If strength won't work,' Fiona charged forward. 'Maybe speed will!'

Peter barely had time to react. It took only seconds for Fiona to get from where she was before to getting close enough to land a bite on one of his thick trunk-like legs. Peter pulled his head back and bellowed in pain, and pulled his leg roughly from the jaws of the fish-eating predator. There were a few shallow lacerations across the leg and a little bit of blood, but nothing serious. Fiona wasn't finished through. As Peter moved in to attack, she backed up quickly and ran around behind him. Apatosauruses could not turn very quickly due to their massive size.

'What are you planning..?' Peter asked, even though he knew he was not going to get an answer.

Almost as if to answer him, Fiona jumped onto the villain's back. Her small but formidable claws sank into his scaly skin, making it difficult for him to knock her off of his back. Aiming carefully, Fiona shot her head forward and sank her teeth into the base of his neck. 'This is what I was planning.' She told him, smirking to herself.

With Fiona on his back distracting him, this gave the others a chance to move in. Wanting revenge for having his tail bitten, Max went behind Peter and snagged the thin end of the tail in his powerful jaws. There was an audible cracking sound as the vertebrae at the tail tip were crushed. Overwhelmed with excruciating pain, Peter bellowed loudly, his voice filled with agony.

'Why you little brat...!' Peter said through the pain. 'When I get my hands on you, I'll...!'

'You'll..what?' Max asked, biting the tail harder and threatening to rip the tail tip off.

Buzz rose up into the air further until he was several feet above Peter. He brought out his talons and aimed carefully. He had to make sure he was right on target. Making a call like that of an eagle, he dove towards Peter's head, his sharp talons aiming for the face. They made contact, and he took pleasure in digging his sharp talons into the villain's face. The sudden assault had left Peter temporarily blinded, and as the gray dinosaur struggled with three dinosaurs hanging off of him, Rodger took his opportunity to step in.

Rodger lowered his head, his jagged horns aiming at Peter's side. He kicked up dirt as he prepared to charge. He had to charge at just the right time, when Peter's side was facing him. He had to be careful not to hit any of his team mates. If he did, they would be at a disadvantage. He wanted to call out a warning, but believed that if Peter knew what he was about to do, he would find someway to stop him. Rodger would have to trust that his teammates would get out of the way in time. Letting out a bellow, he charged forward. The sharp tips of the horns aimed directly at Peter's right flank. Within seconds they connected.

His horns did not drive that deep into the flank, but deep enough to draw blood. The force of the impact nearly cracked his horns and had caused Peter to topple a little. But to Rodger's horror, the force of the impact was not enough to knock him over completely, yet succeeded in knocking Fiona and Buzz off of him. Rodger shook his head and took a step back. Peter quickly regained his balance and stared at the Styracosaurus. 'Heheheh..I guess I should thank you for freeing me of those two pests...' He turned his long neck to face the T-Rex who still had a hold of his tail. 'And as for you...' He lifted his tail up into the air despite the pain, pulling the T-Rex with him. Ignoring the pain further, he started to slam the Tyrannosaurus Rex against a tree a few times before he finally released his tail.

Max shook his massive head as he struggled to his feet. 'Nice going Rodger...' He said, clearly disappointed in his friend. 'We almost had him!'

Buzz nodded. 'We could have defeated him if you hadn't charged in like that. If Max couldn't knock him down, what made you think you could?'

'I'm sorry guys...' Rodger said, bowing his head. His effort to help hadn't paid off and had instead backfired. 'I was just trying to help...'

'Enough sulking and arguing.' Fiona snarled as she kept her eyes on Peter. 'What are we going to do about him?'

Max tilted his head. 'What can we do? I can't knock him down. Rodger clearly can't knock him down.'

'Hey, I tried!' Rodger said defensively.

Buzz flapped his wings as he hovered above the group. He nervously watched as Peter approached them. 'Well I hope one of you gets an idea soon. Otherwise we're gonna be sore losers and the lighthouse will be history!'

Max turned his head to face the lighthouse. He thought about the defenseless occupants inside. He imagined what it would be like for him if Peter reaches them. He didn't want to be the one who let this happen. He knew he must figure out a way to stop Peter and fast. Thoughts ran through his mind, and he tried to analyze them, trying to think of some sort of weakness Peter might have. His massive body makes him difficult to attack, and his large bulk made it nearly impossible to knock him down. If they knocked him down, his own body weight could break some bones.

'Oh man...what are we going to do?' Fiona asked as she showed Peter her fangs in an attempt to scare him. Peter only brushed it off and started to walk towards them.

Max shook his head. 'I..I don't know. But we'll have to think of something fast.'

* * *

Michelle walked down one of the hallways in Raptor Dyne. She and Oscura had been left here, along with other staff members. Victor said he did not require their assistance any longer on this mission. Oscura was really bummed about it, but Victor had made up his mind. Oscura and Michelle were both off-duty until further notice. Michelle didn't mind too much, although she silently wished Victor had given them something to do to pass the time. Raptor Dyne was closed, and mostly empty. Many of the lights were off, many hallways were dark, many rooms almost black in color. Several large doors had been shut and sealed, preventing anyone from crossing, including staff members with authorized cards.

Michelle had little reason to wonder why these doors were sealed. Although this was Raptor Dyne, there were some staff members who weren't let in on the secret of the company. To guard against unwanted visitors, Victor had designed door locks that only open when he gives the command. Only the rooms with the most important experimentations were sealed off. Other rooms, such as the one Michelle had accessed the same day she was given the assignment to infiltrate the lighthouse, were deemed safe enough to avoid the mega seals. Only staff members who shared Victor's vision were given authorization cards to be allowed in.

The brown-haired girl reached a large door, beige in color with a gray metallic border. She pushed it open to enter a large room filled with long tables with circle chairs and a large food bar. Various types of food, including rice, chicken, broccoli, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, and pasta, lay under heat lamps in small containers. She strode over and grabbed a plate, and began to take a bit of chicken and broccoli. She wasn't really hungry, but she had a bad habit: when she's bored she eats. When her plate was full, she walked over to one of the empty tables and sat down.

As she began to eat, her mind began to wander. She didn't know why, but she couldn't stop thinking about Caruso. She didn't know exactly what Victor was going to do with him. She knew that Victor isn't exactly the gentle type. She would label him more of a manipulator, but she's never known him to be especially cruel. She's never seen him do anything that had frightened her or gave her reason to call the cops on him.

But she knew, deep down, Victor was not the one to mess with. She knew what he was capable of, and what he might be capable of. She couldn't help but worry about Caruso because his attitude may push Victor over the edge. And then what? How could she defend herself against the charges of murder? She would not be guilty of first-degree murder, but she could be found guilty of helping Victor capture Caruso. Even if she tried to explain that she did not want it to happen, she'd still be found guilty and sent to prison. And if that happened, she'd have no one to bail her out.

Oscura had mentioned to her, when entering the Raptor Dyne building, that Victor's secret plan to control Caruso was going to be a shocking experience. When Michelle had prompted her to explain further, Oscura just smirked at her and wandered off into the building. Michelle has not yet been able to locate her current position, and she won't answer her communicator. She could not really expect a direct answer from Oscura. Teasing, talking in riddles, and giving hints has been the nature of their relationship since day one. And barely anything has changed.

Still, she wondered what Oscura had meant by shocking experience. There were probably many things it could be, all or most of which were unpleasant or disturbing, maybe painful. And as she began to think of pain, her eyes narrowed, but not because she was feeling sympathy for Caruso. No, this time she was getting upset with the idea of the Dino Squad finding them. She could feel it; the Dino Squad would eventually find them. And if Victor does anything to Caruso, and the squad finds out, they could be in big trouble.

Sure, they weren't much of a match for her and Oscura before, but back then they weren't powered by raw emotion. If they became pissed off for one reason or another, their own anger could fuel their strength, and make them hard to beat. But then, this same emotion could cause them to make irrational or stupid choices, and one slip-up could give her or Oscura the upper hand, or claw as this case might be. Yet even with Caruso out-of-commission, the squad would still out number them four-to-two. Two small dinosaurs against four large dinosaurs powered by raw anger and hatred, that was going to be a challenge that even Oscura herself might have doubts about.

The Dino Squad's reaction would be based on the severity of Caruso's wounds, if any are inflicted on him. Michelle did not know yet what Victor had in mind other than experimentations. While they are generally unpleasant sometimes, she hasn't seen any of Vic's experiments go too far. But she could be wrong. There were probably plenty of experiments that she has yet to see or never will see.

“I knew I'd find you here.” She heard a playful yet annoying voice say behind her. She groaned softly.

“Look who finally decided to show her face.” Michelle muttered in between bites of food. She sat down a piece of chicken and turned around to face Oscura. What perfect timing too, she was just thinking about her. Perhaps she could convince Oscura to tell her exactly what Victor had planned for Caruso.

Oscura grinned. “I didn't know you were hungry already.” The raven-haired girl teased, pointing at the plate full of food. “I thought you already ate about an hour ago. You're such a pig. I'm surprised you don't get very fat.”

“Oh shut up Oscura.” Michelle said bitterly. She picked up a fork and began to eat a couple pieces of broccoli. After she swallowed, she spoke to Oscura in a calmer voice. “Is there any reason why Victor doesn't want me to know what he has planned for Caruso? Oh I mean I know that Caruso is to be subjected to a few experiments. But this method of control.. why doesn't he want me to know? Thinks I'm too squeamish for it?” She forced a chuckle.

Oscura didn't reply right away. She walked slowly, deliberately, towards Michelle, and sat down on the chair across from where she was. When she answered, it was no longer a riddle or sarcastic remark. It was a very serious and yet somewhat calm response. “He is afraid you might rebel.”

This statement almost caused Michelle to spit her food out. “What?!” She cried in almost disbelief. “I've seen Victor do all sorts of things, Oscura. I've even agreed to help him wipe out humanity! What could he possibly be going to Caruso that would make me even think about betraying him?”

“Are you really sure you want to know?” The seriousness in Oscura's voice was almost foreign to Michelle. It was like she was a whole other person entirely. “I don't think you could handle the truth.”

Michelle rolled her eyes. “Just try me.” She placed the fork, piercing a piece of meat, into her mouth, pushed the piece of chicken off, pulled the fork out, and began to chew. “There isn't anything you can say that will catch me off guard, Michelle. I know you.”

“All right then.” Oscura said. She leaned forward a little, holding her hands together and resting her chin on the crossed thumbs. She opened up her mouth to speak, but the words that came out would take even Victor himself completely off guard. “Get down on your knees and tell me you love me!”

“WHAT?!” Michelle gasped, dropping the fork from her hands.

Oscura said, “You gotta do better than that!”

“I have no idea what you are talking about!” Michelle said, becoming scared. She got up from her seat and backed away. Oscura had gone bananas! Well sure she was crazy before, but this was taking the cake!

Oscura chuckled and began to approach her. “Merry Christmas you filthy animal! And a happy new year!”

* * *

Suddenly the world turned bright white as if a light was shined in Michelle's eyes. She bolted up, her forehead a bit sweaty, and her vision a bit blurred. After a few seconds, it sharpened up and she looked around the room. They were in a room that resembled a teacher's lounge. She was sitting on one of the chairs of a long wooden table. There were other occupants, including Oscura. There was a TV mounted in a top corner of the room. Flashing on the screen was a relatively old movie from the 90s, a comedy movie.

Next to her was Oscura. She was holding her mouth, trying hard not to laugh. Michelle narrowed her eyes at her. She could tell Oscura was having a very hard time to hold back her laughter. Her eyes were starting to water, and were squinted so much she could barely see her pupils. “What do you want, Oscura?” Michelle snapped, almost completely over the shock of the dream. She felt a little embarrassed that she had fallen asleep to one of her favorite movies.

“Did anyone tell you that you talk in your sleep?” Oscura smirked, chortling softly so she didn't distract the others. “It could be an entertainment form all on its own!”

“Shut up!” Michelle snapped, blushing fiercely in humiliation.

* * *

“Transform!” Victor shouted as he gave a small but firm pull on the device that still ensnared Caruso's body. Sparks flew everywhere around his body, mildly burning his skin. The spikes dug deep into his skin multiple times. The bit in his mouth sliced his mouth up a bit, and blood was oozing out of the corner of his mouth. But still he remained standing, glaring at Victor defiantly, yet still retained that fear in his eyes. Victor was a little frustrated, but he knew the boy's strength was weakening. He gave another pull. “Transform!” He commanded again, shouting louder than the first time. “I said transform!”

Caruso attempted to speak. “I won't..take orders..from you...” His voice was full of terror, and after talking he couldn't help but cry out in pain as he felt his tongue get another deep cut in it. The corner of his lips were getting lacerated as well.

“I know you can't stand the pain, boy.” Victor said calmly. He let the rope that attached to the human war bridle slack a little, but his grip on it remained tight. He walked over to the child, confident that he wouldn't try to run with that device still on him. He still had Caruso backed up against the wall. The boy's back was centimeters away from the hard surface. He had no where to go anyway. Just as before, Victor reached out to hold Caruso's lower jaw. This time though he was more gentle. He pushed the boy's head up a little, and locked eyes on the kid.

“Let me get something straight with you kid.” Victor said softly, although Caruso could still hear the frustration and anger in his voice. “I don't really like to cause pain where it is not needed. I don't really like doing this to you. Why don't you make it easier on yourself and quit before I am forced to hurt you even further?” Victor was trying to sound sincere, but he was lying through his teeth. He had little sympathy for the boy, and he didn't really care if he had to continue to cause him pain. He was mainly telling him this lie for his benefit. If the boy stopped struggling, he didn't have to waste as much energy on him.

Victor had used this facade before when dealing with humans. Whenever a human were to spot one of his creations and they weren't on his team, he had to step in and reassure them that there was no such thing as monsters or mutants. He had to make sure they would not spread this news to anyone. Luckily for him, the human race was overall gullible, at least by his standards, and many were willing to believe him simply because he was a high-ranking individual. They will soon realize their trust in him would lead them to their own downfall.

Caruso glared at Victor fearfully, but did not try to respond for fear of cutting his tongue more. Instead, he responded physically. He jerked his head away from Victor, freeing the grip on him. He then turned his head to look at Victor. His eyes were still narrowed, and his teeth were bared, biting into the bit that rested inside his mouth. But Victor only smiled. He could still see that spark of fear in the boy.

“So it's going to be like that, is it kid?” Victor asked as he took a small step backwards. “Very well then...” Victor had to admit, he was a bit impressed at how the boy still tried to stand up to him, despite the obvious discomfort he was in. This high tolerance of pain could make him a valuable ally to his purpose.

But before he could even think about that, he would have to break the boy's will. He now knew this was the only way to make the boy listen to him, and obey him. Only after he broke the boy's spirit, or at least severely weaken it, could he continue his experiments on the kid, testing a few weapons as well as untested chemicals, plants, and perhaps even battle a few of his mutations. As he pulled the rope up ever so slightly, he smiled as he saw Caruso's eyes locked onto the rope, anticipating the next pull and the next wave of pain to overtake him.

Then Victor did something else. Instead of pulling on the rope itself, he reached out with his hand again. This time he grabbed two leather straps, both connected to the bit in the boy's mouth. Without hesitation, he gave a sharp tug. The action caused the bit to wrench free of the boy's teeth and cut deep into the corner of the boy's mouth. With lips being one of the most sensitive parts of the human body, Caruso's eyes watered and he screamed in agony. The scream soon diminished into soft whimpering as Victor released the grip on the straps. Caruso bowed his head as he felt both relief of the pressure off of his lips and in shock of Victor pulling on the bit so suddenly.

Victor took a few steps forward, heading in the direction of the door. He wanted to return the boy to his cell room to confine him for now. He believed the boy had enough pain for the time being. He would let him rest for the remainder of the day, but the next day, he wouldn't be so understanding. He stopped, and realized the boy wasn't following him. He turned around, and pointed his finger roughly to the ground, a gesture he's seen humans give to dogs when they want them to come. Caruso, however, just stood there, and took a step back. Veloci glared at him, and held up the rope, threatening to pull it again. Eyes widening and wanting to avoid the pain, Caruso lowered his head and started to walk forward.

Victor smiled arrogantly. “Good...” He entered the hallway and started to make his way towards the cell room, holding the rope in his hands as he led Caruso closely behind.

* * *

'Look out!' Buzz shouted as he pumped his wings to stay in the air. Below him, Peter had just smashed into the ground, narrowly missing Fiona, who dodged him at the last second. She retaliated by attempting to bite the leg closest to her, but Peter had anticipated this move, and proceeded to intercept her. His sauropod jaws clamped down onto her thin, flexible brown sail, and knocked her back into the ground. Keeping a hold of her sail, he held her in place as he raised up a foot above her head, intent on crushing it under his weight.

'Fiona!' Rodger cried, charging towards the gray dinosaur and ramming his jagged horns into his side. Peter's eyes widened in pain and he roared, releasing Fiona from his grasp and allowing her to slam her strong legs into his chest, which forced him to back up a couple inches. Fiona rose up onto her sturdy legs and let out a roar. Other than a visible bite mark, the sail on her back remained undamaged.

Max dashed towards Peter while the gray dinosaur's attention was on the Styracosaurus that still had its horns lodged in his flank. Max lowered his body to the ground, and opened up his maw wide. He twisted his head so that one side was close to being flat on the ground. Then taking careful aim, and keeping his legs as sturdy as possible, he pushed his large, heavy body forward, and clamped his jaws onto one of Peter's leg. Realizing what was going to happen, Rodger quickly pulled back, dislodging his horns from Peter's side. Max gave a quick pull backward, causing Peter's foot to slip and skid across the dirt. Peter bellowed angrily and went to attack Max. But a flash of bright green and orange blocked his path, and he soon felt talons digging into his face again.

Buzz had soared down and was using his own body to keep Peter from landing a bite on any of his friends. As he kept Peter's head and mouth at bay, Rodger and Fiona looked at each other, and nodded. Max seemed to be onto something. If they couldn't ram him down, maybe, as a team, they could pull on his legs and make him slip. Fiona ran over to one of Peter's other legs. She clenched her crocodile-like jaws around a leg. Ignoring Peter's cry of pain, she began to pull in a different direction than Max was pulling, using all her might to move that leg with her mouth.

Rodger went to a third leg, and proceeded to do the same as his team mates. His beak latched onto Peter's leg like a vice, and he back to pull back on the leg, moving at a slightly faster pace than Fiona or Max. As the three dinosaurs pulled on the legs, Peter kept trying to free himself. He used his head to knock Buzz away, and then tried to bite Max, but Buzz would come back, cawing loudly and pecking at his head with his long sharp beak. The assault would force Peter to rear his head back up.

'You little pests..Let go of me!' Peter demanded, attempting to bite the thin membrane of Buzz's wings. But thanks to being a video game nerd, Buzz used several maneuvers to keep close to Peter while at the same time prevent him from biting him. The villain was growing frustrated, and used his only free leg to pull back in an attempt to free his other three legs.

'I'm sorry, but you aren't going anywhere.' Rodger said as he gave a mighty pull to thwart Peter's attempt at freeing himself. Fiona and Max shared their enthusiasm for Rodger's statement by pulling harder on Peter's legs. There were shallow paths in the ground now from where they were pulling back.

Peter pulled his head away from Buzz again, his eye side glancing at the Spinosaurus below him. His eyes glowed a little brighter as he gave a soft growl. He then started to use the only appendage that was not preoccupied at the time. He lifted his long, whip-like tail and moved it towards Fiona. He was intent on grabbing her and tossing her away, and doing the same with the other two dinosaurs that held his legs. But as he moved his tail toward Fiona, Buzz immediately noticed what he was going to try to do and dove in towards the tail. He clamped his beak down around the same place that Max had bitten him earlier. Peter's eyes started to water in pain and he hollered loudly.

'Everybody, together!' Max shouted. 'Pull as hard as you can!' He had begun to use his powerful Tyrannosaurus Rex jaws to pull. The others followed his lead.

Clenching their jaws, bodies started to tire, nevertheless the three dinosaurs pulled as hard as they could, using every ounce of strength they had left to spare. The gray legs started to skid a little more on the ground, and the speed gradually increased as Peter started to lose more and more balance. He struggled to pull his feet back, but was at the same time distracted by the sheering pain in his tail as Buzz clamped on tighter in an attempt to avert the villain's attention.

As one of Peter's legs jerked violently into one direction, Fiona declared, 'We're almost there! Pull!'

Peter's glowing eyes widened in shock as he realized the Dino Squad were about to tip him over. He felt a new sense of urgency, adrenaline rushing through his body. He started to fling Buzz wildly in the air, constantly smashing him into the ground. Although in obvious pain, Buzz refused to let go. His beak only clamped on tighter, increasing the pain in the sauropod's tail. Peter tossed his head from side to side, trying to brush aside the pain long enough to concentrate on one of the dinosaurs holding his legs. As he lowered his head to bite Max on the head, he felt one of his legs give out from underneath of him. Max quickly let go and backed up quickly as Peter began to topple in his direction. The other two legs gave out as well, causing Peter to lose his balance completely, and start to fall onto his side.

Rodger and Fiona quickly let go of Peter and backed away just as Max had to avoid being hit. As Peter started to fall onto his side, his legs not all in the same position, Buzz released the dinosaur's tail and rapidly beat his wings to rise up higher. He soared down and landed on the ground in next to his friends.

'AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!' Peter felt his body crash into the ground with heavy force. Even though he did not fall from any great height, his massive body weight seemed to crush him nevertheless. He felt a few ribs crack from the force of the impact. His head slammed into the ground, kicking up dust and leaving a small cut along the underside of his chin. One of his front legs was splayed out at an angle as he hit the ground, his back legs were bent forward as though he were kneeling down. The other front leg had bent in such a way that when he slammed into the ground his body weight crashed upon it.

CRRRRAAAAAACK!

'YEEEOOOOOOWWW!' Peter cried as he felt a leg bone snap. Within a few seconds, his body started to topple to the side. Another wave of force, although milder than the first, spread through him, cracking another rib as his body finally came to rest on the ground. He let out another cry of pain as he tried to move his now broken left leg. But the slightest movement sent waves of unbearable anguish through his nervous system.

As he rapidly kicked his back legs to try to get up again, the four dinosaurs began to walk towards him from different directions, completely surrounding him. Peter managed to lift his head and look around, and hissed, 'You rotten little animals...' The remark seemed to go almost unnoticed as the Dino Squad continued to close in on him, trying to make a barrier tight enough that he didn't have enough room to get up. While his leg was clearly broken, bent at an odd angle, he could probably still walk on his remaining three legs.

With an animal his size, the Dino Squad could not take any chances of him recovering from a well executed blow like that. So they remained on alert, preparing for a sudden attack if it ever came.

'So now will you tell us where Caruso is?' Fiona asked.

'I don't need to tell you anything!' Peter growled, baring his teeth defensively.

'I'm afraid you do.' Max said, opening his jaws enough to expose his bottom teeth. 'We beat you fair and square.'

Peter shook his head rapidly left to right. 'No! Why don't you children just mind your own business?!'

Rodger snorted, narrowing his eyes. 'You aren't in any condition to give us orders, Peter. Now I suggest you cooperate.' He lowered his nose horn to emphasize his statement, the tip of it aimed for Peter's broad shoulder.

'I don't need to cooperate with you little whelps!' Peter snapped, gnashing his teeth together threateningly. 'Give me one good reason why I should tell you anything!'

Rodger took a step forward. 'Gladly.' He closed his eyes and a glow covered his body as his form shrunk back to that of a human. Peter laughed coldly at this move but Rodger paid him no mind. He went over to his bike, which was hidden behind some trees, and pulled out the large bag that he had stored in it. He unzipped it, and reached in to pull the Chiller and the Spiller. He made his way back to the fallen sauropod, holding up both weapons so he could see them. When Peter's eyes widened a little at the fearsome appearance, Rodger smiled faintly, pointing both at the large creature. “Do you know what these are, Peter?”

The large dinosaur rapidly shook his head. 'No..I don't.' Peter said, trying to sound like he was scared. But his voice betrayed him.

“They are the Chiller and the Spiller. I'm surprised Victor hasn't told you about them. He's encountered prototypes of these, hasn't she?” Rodger didn't know why he asked that question. He didn't believe Peter was even involved with Victor when Moynihan had fought Victor all alone. Just as he thought, Peter attempted to shrug his shoulders, but winced in pain when he put pressure on his broken leg.

Rodger started to contemplate what to do. He wanted to say something that would scare Peter enough into confession. He could tell Peter he might lose his dinosaur form forever if he uses the weapons on him. But then, he doesn't know just how attached he is in this form, and how protective of it he actually is. Would the fear of losing this ability really be scary enough to force him to speak out? Another idea that he had was to lie, to make the weapons seem more dangerous than they actually were. It wouldn't be hard to fool Peter. He already seemed to think they were dangerous just by the appearance. While the Chiller and Spiller were not designed to inflict harm on any living creature, they certainly looked vicious enough to seem to underline a malign purpose.

Rodger placed down the Chiller and held up the Spiller, resting his large finger on the trigger. The other dinosaurs, minus Peter, looked at each other, and were about to say something, but Rodger subtly put his finger to his lip to silence them. “The Spiller here, Peter,” Rodger said, “is designed to shoot a hot acidic liquid over the opponent's body, causing severe third-degree burns.”

Peter's eyes widened and he pulled his head back in shock. 'Y-You're kidding me!' He cried in disbelief. From what Victor had told him, Moynihan was not the type of person to hold such dangerous weaponry.

Rodger grinned, knowing he got him where he wants him. He lifted up the gun so that the barrel was facing directly at Peter's face. “Do you really want to take that chance...?”

Silence fell upon the group. No one moved much, remaining in their current positions. Peter's glowing yellow eyes locked onto the gun that Rodger held in his hands. Rodger nervously felt for the trigger, trying to make it look like he was threatening to pull it. But he had to make sure he did not pull it all the way. If he did, Peter would see that he was just bluffing and that the Spiller was not really that dangerous. Peter himself was trying to figure out if the african-american was speaking the truth. He continued to eye the weapon and the teen nervously. He could just be pulling some sort of trick. He could just call his bluff.

But then, he himself was in no condition to attack. And what if the boy is actually speaking the truth? If he were to make a move, Rodger could severely burn him. And if he was severely burned and could no longer work, Victor might have a cow. Could he really take that chance? Peter bowed his head, and let out a sigh. He could not see any way out of this other than tell the children what they wanted to hear.

'...fine, I'll tell you.' Peter said, giving into Rodger's threat. As the others leaned in to listen, Peter began to recite to them a sentence. 'Victor took your friend Caruso to his secret hideout.'

'And where is this secret hideout?' Buzz asked.

'I..I don't know...' Peter said, baring his teeth nervously. 'I just know that it's a warehouse of some kind, from what he told me. And it has a lot of failed or incomplete experiments in it. Many different weapons and creatures there too.'

'And just what did Victor say he planned on doing with Caruso when he got there?' Max growled. He and the Dino Squad were already aware of the experimentation part. And while that's bad enough on its own, there was probably more Victor could do to multiply the seriousness and urgency of the situation.

Peter lowered his gaze a little, hesitating slightly before responding. 'He said he was going to subject Caruso to a few of his incomplete weapons to see what effect they would have on dinosaurs. He also said he was going to force Caruso to eat a few of the plants he's successfully regrown to insure that they are safe to eat, and make him fight a few of his new mutantsaurs to test strength and endurance.'

“Doesn't he know that Caruso would just fight back?” Rodger asked, glaring at the big dino. “Caruso isn't the type to just submit himself to stuff like that. He could easily turn into a Stegosaurus and give Victor a run for his money.”

Peter nodded. 'Right you are. But Victor anticipated that, and found a solution for that.'

'What kind of solution?' Fiona opened up her jaws to show off her sharp teeth. 'Tell us.'

'He planned do force the boy into obedience.' Peter explained solemnly. 'He was going to subject your friend to extreme pain if he refused to listen. He already had a plan worked out, but I do not know the details of it other than it was cruel and would eventually break the boy's will. And if it doesn't break his will, it could...' His voice trailed off, and he didn't want to continue. A growl from Max forced him to finish. '..kill him...'


	6. Desperation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“What?!” Ms. Moynihan gasped as she held the phone to her ear. It has been around twenty minutes since the Dino Squad got the information they needed from Peter. Rodger had volunteered to take Peter to the hospital. He might have been one of the bad guys, but they couldn't just leave him out here like this. Max had walked someways from the group, walking very slowly, not able to think too clearly. The information that Peter gave him shocked him, especially the last thing he had said. He had decided to call Moynihan and break the news to her.

Ms. Moynihan sounded horrified by what information Max was giving her. Caruso's parents were nearby, and hearing the urgency of her voice made their hearts race, and start to anticipate the worse. As Max relayed a bit more information, Ms. Moynihan closed her eyes and shook her head. “I..I wish I knew where that was, Max. But I never could locate it.” She could hear Max groan in disappointment. She could understand his frustration. Peter could have been their lead, but all he could do was provide some information, but no precise location. “Thank you for telling me, dear boy. We'll..think of something. Mothersaurus out.”

As she turned the phone off and put it back, she found herself confronted by two worried parents. “What? What did he say?” Amanda asked, her voice shaky. The husband didn't say anything, but from the way he looked at the teacher and held his wife suggested he was just as determined to find out as she was.

Ms. Moynihan wasn't sure how they were going to take the news, but to deny them the information that they so deserved would have been just cruel. They were the boy's parents and were more closely attached to Caruso than the rest of them were. Losing a child is a parent's greatest fear, but an even bigger fear is to have that child disappear and the ultimate fate for them remain unknown.

Old Professor Moynihan exhaled slowly. The parents already knew it was going to be bad news. “That was Max on the phone. They have managed to apprehend Peter and defeat him in battle. The lighthouse is safe. They have also managed to get him to reveal information on what Victor had planned for Caruso. He took Caruso into some sort of warehouse, but unfortunately not even Peter himself knows the exact location of this warehouse.” 

Moynihan took in a deep breath and waited for one of the parents to say something. But they kept quiet, and urged her, silently, to continue with the solemn message. “It was just as I suspected. Victor plans on subjecting Caruso through a few experimentations. Eating untested food, battling new mutantsaurs, and testing new weapons on him were what Victor had in mind.”

Amanda took in a sharp gasp. “Oh no...”

Jack was just as horrified. “W-What else..? Did he say anything else?”

Professor Moynihan nodded slowly. “But I fear it won't provide much comfort. Max said that Peter told them that if Caruso did not allow himself to be subjected to those things, that if he tried to fight back, Victor would inflict bodily harm on him.”

“What?!” Jack said, his eyes widened. He jumped out of his seat and took a step back, looking at Moynihan as if she had gone crazy. “He's going to beat my son?!” He could feel the anger rising up in him.

“Oh dear no...not my son..” Amanda whispered, trying hard not to cry.

“And I'm afraid that's not all...” Moynihan said, lowering her gaze. She tried to hold back a tear as she told them more. “Peter said that if the method did not break Caruso's spirit first..it was going to take his life...”

The parents reacted just as Moynihan had suspected. They were absolutely devastated. Amanda broke down crying. Images of her son torn, beaten, and bloody flooded through her mind, and no matter how hard she tried, she could not shake them out. Jack wrapped his strong arms around his wife and held her close. He placed his chin on her hid and allowed her to cry into his chest. He was fighting back his own tears, but it wasn't just sadness he was feeling. He was also very angry. The thought of his son being hurt by some billionaire creep like Victor boiled his blood. He looked at Moynihan and wanted to say something, anything, but no words came out of his mouth. All he could do was continue to huge his wife and try to comfort her.

Moynihan felt terrible about having to tell this to them. And she felt even guiltier knowing she couldn't do anything about it. She wish she could find where Caruso was and bring him back before time ran out. She wished she could say something to the parents to completely ease their pain, but unless she could magically bring Caruso back form a place she's never been to, she would just have to face facts. Caruso's missing, he could die, and there was nothing they could do about it except try to find him. But without a clue, how were they to know where to look? And even if they found where to look, would even that be enough?

“I'm so sorry...” Joanne said to the parents. “I...wish I could have brought better news.”

“Oh..it's all right.” Mr. Caruso said after a moment's hesitation. “It's not your fault...”

“If it's of any condolence,” Moynihan said softly in a reassuring tone, “The Dino Squad and I will do everything in our power to bring your son back. We won't rest until we have found him and brought him back, and we will make sure that Victor doesn't get away with this unpunished.”

Although he was still busy comforting his wife, Jack looked up at Moynihan and smiled softly. “Thank you..”

* * *

'So...now what?' Buzz asked, still in his dinosaur form. He was glancing towards Fiona, who had detransformed just a few minutes ago and was standing by her Spino-Cycle. Rodger hadn't returned yet, and Max had not come back. They could not leave without them.

“Now..I guess we have to find another way...” Fiona said softly as she lowered herself to the ground and rested her head in her hands.

Buzz slowly shook his head, slowly feeling frustrated. They thought they had a lead. They thought they had a way to find Veloci. But it only turned out to be a dead-end. The feelings of helplessness slowly returned to the punk teenager, causing him to grit his teeth. Peter's inability to help them was bad enough, but his information he had given them was just as bad, if not worse. Buzz could not shake out the images of Caruso dead from his mind. He could see his body on the ground, torn up and bloodied. He closed his eyes tightly and tried not to shed a tear.

Fiona was no better off. She felt like screaming at herself for not being able to free Caruso earlier that day. They had all failed him. They had not succeeded in getting him away from Victor. How could this have happened to them, Fiona wondered. In all the other missions, luck seemed to have been on their side. They managed to defeat Veloci, managed to keep their identities a secret, and none of them ever got seriously hurt. Even some of their parents had found out about them being dinosaurs, and took it quite well.

But now it seemed luck had run out for them. As of late, all they've managed to do was fail. They failed to keep themselves in hiding. Victor had somehow found out about the perfect dinosaurs being teens. He had come to the school to get DNA from Caruso. The Dino Squad failed to stop that. Then the raptor had set up a trap to get Michelle close to the lighthouse. The Dino Squad fell for it. They had also left Moynihan alone in the lighthouse, and she became vulnerable to Michelle's assault, and failed to stop her from destroying the equipment, which not only exposed them on radar but also prevented them from knowing when Victor was coming. And when Victor came, intent on capturing Caruso, the Dino Squad had failed to stop it.

They had tried to set up a computer to find Caruso, but it blew up in their faces. They had managed to defeat Peter and tried to get information from him, but he knew little about the location of the secret warehouse. He did not even know which state it was in. And then there was the hand held tracker. Even if they could find it, it was no guarantee it would work well enough to track down Caruso's signature. And since Veloci now knows just how was blocking his satellites, he could easily do the same to them. He could scramble their signature and render the equipment unusable, no matter how good of a condition it was in.

'Maybe we should head back to the lighthouse when Max and Rodger get back.' Buzz said, stating the obvious. 'There's nothing more we can do here.' His sharp, yellow eyes gazed off at the distance, and briefly, he thought he could see Veloci's truck. A quick shake of the head and reexamination revealed it was just a normal red truck, probably carrying mattresses or different types of food.

“Yeah, I know...” Fiona said and then growled in frustration, digging her fingers into her scalp. “It's just...so frustrating... We were so close.. so close!” Fiona usually doesn't feel anywhere this frustrated unless she was going to that cabin with no electricity or any signs of modern civilization. She understood how much it meant to her parents, and their peanut butter cookies did stop some of Victor's mutations. But she did not understand why they had to go there every year. Revealing the fact that she was a dinosaur helping protect the world did not change her parents' mind about making her come with them. They insisted she needed to spend more time with them, regardless of her dinosaur powers. The only thing that had really changed was her sister, Terri, had grown jealous of Fiona's dinosaur powers. Fiona had recalled how Terri asked her to get dinosaur DNA for her so she could transform, but Fiona had to refuse her request. She did not want to expose her little sister to danger.

'Yeah..I know we were close.' Buzz said, his thought-speech interrupted Fiona's thinking. The large green Pteranodon was standing underneath a tree. As Buzz started to stretch his massive wings, he said, 'But what do you expect to happen? A miracle to just..fall out of the trees or something?' He forced a chuckle, but Fiona was not laughing at his cheap attempt at a joke. He was about to apologize when he felt his wings smack against the tree. A second later, something heavy and hard fell into his head, smacking him pretty good. 'Ouch..what was that..?' He looked at the ground, and changed back into a human.

Fiona chuckled a little at seeing Buzz get smacked in the head after making his lame joke. “So what was it, Neil?” She asked, calling Buzz by his real first name just to tease him a little bit. “An acorn?”

Buzz knelt down on the ground. The item fell into some thick grass. He parted the green blades until he could see the soft dirt underneath. He combed through the flora, scanning the foliage until he could see something hard and metallic glinting in the grass. He reached down, and grabbed it. It felt rectangular, and felt like it had a screen on it. Buzz pulled it out of the grass to get a better look at it. His eyes widened when he realized just what it was. Although it was covered in dirt, obscuring much of the features, there was no mistaking it. It seemed luck had turned in their favor this time.

“Fiona!” Buzz exclaimed, a look of disbelief on his face. “It's....it's....”

The sense of urgency and excitement in Buzz's voice peaked Fiona's interest. She was immediately off the ground and heading towards Buzz to check out just what was so important. She noticed the general shape of the item, but thought it was something else entirely. “What, you found a miniature TV so you and Max can watch your shows?”

Buzz shook his head. “No, it's not a TV Fiona...” He slowly turned to face her, the object held tightly in his hand. He brushed off the dirt from the object, and held it up to Fiona, and when she, too, realized what it was, she placed her hand on her mouth as she gave a sharp sudden gasp. “It's the missing hand held tracker...”

They then heard something crack and snap behind them. They quickly turned around, a bit tensed up as if they thought they had to fight. But they quickly calmed down when they realized it was only Max. The jock had placed his cellphone back in his pocket, and looked pretty glum because of all the negatives that had been occurring lately. Telling Moynihan the bad news did not make him feel any better. “All right guys... let's go...” He said as he headed towards his bike. He had forgotten Rodger still hadn't returned from the hospital, and likely would not be back for another ten minutes or so.

Max glanced back at Fiona and Buzz, and gestured towards their bikes. “What are you waiting for? We have to get back to the lighthouse. There's nothing else of use for us out here.”

“Umm..Max...?” Fiona spoke slowly, a smile working its way on her face. “There actually is something of interest here.”

“What?” Max asked, snapping to attention. “What is it?” He glanced over at Buzz, who appeared to be grinning broadly. He shifted position and held up the tracker in front of him in a place where Max could clearly see it. A wave of shock swept through him, and his heart started to race. He was in disbelief as he stared at the tracker that had been missing for a few days. The only equipment that Michelle had not gotten her hands on. The only device still in tact that could be used to find their missing friend. What were the odds of them to find it way out here? Max felt his hands shaking as he approached Buzz and reached out to grab the hand held tracker. “Guys..where did you find this?”

“It fell out of a tree.” Buzz said. He looked up at the tree where the tracker fell out of and rubbed the back of his head where it had struck him.

“No joking Buzz!” Max scolded. “Seriously, where did you find this?”

“He wasn't joking, Max.” Fiona started to explain in a serious tone. “It really did fall out of a tree.”

Buzz continued to rub his head on the area where the object had smacked him. He glanced up at the tree he had been unfortunate and yet fortunate at the same time to have been standing under. “Yeah..and my head still hurts from it landing on my head.”

“Well we've got to tell Ms. Moynihan!” Max said, trying to level his excitement and keep it from overwhelming him. His hands were so shaky he was afraid he would drop the device and destroy it. “Come on, let's go!”

“But...” Buzz looked off into the distance where Rodger had ran off in. “What about Rodger? He isn't back yet.” They would still need to wait a few minutes before Rodger could come back. The hospital was still a good distance away.

“Well, I'll call him on his cellphone.” Fiona suggested as she pulled out her cellphone. As she opened it up, she said, “You guys can go back to the lighthouse. Rodger and I will catch up.”

Max nodded. “All right... if you are sure.” The jock said, nodding to the redhead before turning to his Tyranno-Cycle.

“Just don't step on the tracker, okay Maxwell?” Fiona joked as she started to dial Rodger's number. Max had ruined one of their spare trackers because he had not looked where he was going, and stepped on it with his Tyrannosaurus foot. Even though it was just an accident and Ms. Moynihan had pretty much forgotten about it, Fiona hadn't let Max forget that little blunder. “We don't want to have to clean up after your mess again.”

“Oh very funny...” Max growled softly as he revved his motorcycle and sped off, not saying another word to Fiona.

“See you later Fiona.” Buzz said as he got on his Ptera-Cycle. He decided not to comment on what Fiona had said to Max about stepping on the tracker. He had to admit, it was a pretty funny statement, but he was afraid that she could have jinxed them by saying something like that. Maybe Max could very well step on this tracker too. As he turned the bike on, and the engines turned on, he turned to her and said, “I really hope we don't get anymore bad luck.” He revved his motorcycle and followed Max as they headed back to the lighthouse.

Fiona leaned against her Spino-Cycle, and held her phone to her ear. She could hear the ring tone, and groaned, wondering why Rodger had poor taste in ring tones. Would it kill him to get a cooler, much better sounding ring tone than a beeping sound reminiscent of a computer game? She felt relieved when she heard a click and the sound disappeared, replaced by a familiar voice. “Hello, Rodger. It's me, Fiona. Why did I call? Well it's kind of..no it's very important!” Rodger did not sound happy at first. Fiona had forgotten that Rodger does not really like to use his cellphone a lot, and only permitted people to call him if it was an emergency. He was asking Fiona if she had forgotten that. “No, I did not forget! Listen, Rodg, you're not going to believe this...” She said as she glanced back at the tree, still wondering how the tracker had gotten there in the first place. “Buzz found that missing hand held tracker!”

Fiona had to quickly pull her cellphone away when Rodger's elevated voice shouted in disbelief, and demanded to know where they had found it. “It fell out of a tree and hit Buzz in the head. ...How did it get there? I don't know!” Fiona shrugged her shoulders. “It was just..there. I don't know who..or what put it there! ....The others aren't here right now. They just left to take the tracker to Ms. Moynihan. Did we test it? No... I guess we were too excited to even make sure it still worked... I'm sorry.” Fiona felt like smacking herself in the face. Why hadn't they tested the device to make sure it still worked? This discovery could just lead to another major disappointment.

“Okay, okay Rodg! I'll tell them!” Fiona said, rubbing her forehead as Rodger scolded her for negligence. “I'll see you back at the lighthouse. Bye!” She quickly said before Rodger could get another word in edgewise. She shut the phone off and put it back in her pocket. She quickly climbed onto her motorcycle, and hopped onto it. She quickly turned it on and began to head back to the lair, where the others were most likely waiting for her. She looked up at the sky, and realized it was getting dark out. She could already see the moon starting to rise, the sun was close to the horizon. She closed her eyes, and whispered as she headed off, “Caruso...we'll find you.”

* * *

At first, Caruso followed Victor, although unwillingly, for fear the raptor would pull on the rope and send another wave of electricity through his body. He stayed close behind Victor, his head bowed in submission. He hadn't attempted to talk again because if he did, he would hurt himself even more. He could not bring himself to look directly at Victor. His gaze was on the ground. The corridor lead straight towards his room, so he did not need to worry about sudden turns or tripping. He slowly raised his hand and placed it on the headpiece. He felt the cold metal on his fingertips, the sharp edge cutting into him. He whimpered softly, and lowered his hand down.

He could have tried to remove the device himself, but it was well secured to his body. The headpiece was held in place with straps that went across his shoulders and waist. The device was secured so tightly that if he pushed his head forward to get a good look at the waist and shoulder straps to determine how to remove them, they would put pressure on the head piece and pull it even further downward into his skin. And he was not strong enough to break the waist and shoulder straps anyway. He would have to be in Stegosaurus mode. But that wouldn't do much good for him.

The Stegosaurus form might relieve some pressure in the head region, but it would make removing the device impossible. He had no arms in that form, and he suspected that when he transforms, his tail would be bound in some form, perhaps by the bridle itself. Caruso would need someone to remove the bridle for him, but unfortunately all his allies were still at the lighthouse probably, which no way of locating him. Caruso could only hope of holding out against the pain long enough for the others to find him.

Caruso hadn't realized that, in his pondering, his pace had slowed down, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by Victor. Scowling at the boy's slowing gait, he pulled on the device lightly to get his attention. “Hurry it up. We're almost back at your cell.” Victor said, narrowing his eyes. Caruso seemed to understand the meaning of that gesture and quickened his pace to catch up to Victor. Satisfied, Victor turned around and continued to advance towards the door, which was now within view.

He gazed down at the boy briefly, and turned his attention back on the path of the corridor, smirking to himself. He began to think of what he should do with Caruso tomorrow. He could tell the boy was not completely broken yet. And he did not know how long it would take before his spirit could be crushed. Victor did not always have the best patience, especially when it comes to his dream of bringing back the dinosaurs. He wanted to put some of his experiments to the test as soon as possible, but he could not do that until Caruso was finally broken and forced to obey him...or could he?

The more he thought about it, the more Victor came to realize that perhaps he did not need to fully break Caruso after all. If he could at least force him into dinosaur form, he could subject Caruso through experiments in a closed area so that he could not escape. His cell would probably have to do. It was large enough for his Stegosaurus form, he thought. He glanced down at the boy again, and looked at the bit cutting into the boy's mouth. He frowned a bit. If Caruso was going to be subjected to the experiments, he would need his strength, in other words food and water. But he doubted the boy could eat much of anything with the bit in his mouth.

“When we get into the cell, boy,” Victor said to Caruso, “I'll remove the war bridle.” This statement made Caruso's eyes widen a little with anticipation and relief. “But only because I know you need food and water. You'll need your strength for tomorrow, trust me, kid.” He did not need to turn around and face Caruso to know the boy's expression was that of fear. There was a sense of dreadful foreboding growing up inside the young human. “Don't even think about getting too comfortable when I remove the war bridle off of you, Irwin. It's just for tonight. Tomorrow morning, at dawn, it goes back on you. You understand me?”

Caruso made no initial response. He simply stared at the floor, pondering what Victor might have in store for him the next day. A sharp pull on the rope brought him out of his thoughts, and he looked up at Victor. Those dark eyes stared at him, narrowed, waiting for an answer. Caruso knew he had best not keep Victor waiting unless he wanted him pulling on that rope like he had before. The young teen slowly nodded his head, keeping his head low. If he could, he would have given a verbal answer. But the bit inside forced him to use a physical response instead.

Victor smiled, his expression softening a little. “Good.” 

Within a few seconds, he had reached the door that lead into Caruso's chamber. Opening up the door he roughly shoved the boy into the room. Caruso landed onto the ground with a loud thud. But he didn't attempt to get back up. Instead he strained his head to look up at Victor. The reason Caruso hadn't attempted to get up was because he was resting on his good arm, and the only way he could get up was if he pushed up with his injured one. But he was still in pain from that first wound Victor inflicted on him. The bleeding had stopped, but the pain hadn't subsided. It hurt just to move the arm.

Victor narrowed his eyes, sensing this. “Pathetic creature.. You get one little cut and you act completely helpless...” He knelt down beside the boy and gripped him by his shirt collar. He leaned his face real close and spoke harshly to Caruso, “You will never last in the dinosaur world.” His sharp teeth were bared as he said this.

With a swift pull, Victor yanked Caruso roughly to his feet. The teen staggered a little from the force, but managed to regain his footing quickly. He could see the open door behind Victor, and the urge to run off again came over him. But this time there was something holding him back, something to give him a reason not to run. And he was wearing it right this minute. All Caruso could do now was stare longingly at the open door, wanting to run but not being able to. Victor could see this spark of hopelessness in the kid's eyes and smiled.

Reaching out with his hands to unfasten the bridle, Victor said, “You look like you are finally starting to understand your position, Caruso boy.” Caruso winced as Victor called him that. “You're not in your safe little lighthouse anymore. You are not out in the open. You are not with any of your companions. You are without your motorcycle and equipment. You are in my domain now, boy. And if you know what is good for you, you will listen to me.” As he said this, he had undid the strap that held the bridle in place. He pulled the head piece off the boy, the saliva-covered bit slipping out with ease. He removed the other parts of the bridle and held them with one arm.

Caruso carefully opened his jaws and placed a finger inside. He gently pressed on one of the cuts on his tongue, ignoring the stinging pain the best he could, and pulled out his finger to take a look. The whole front tip of his pointer was coated bright red. His eyes widened in shock as he started to taste something salty inside his mouth. Without the bit inside to cover most of his tongue, he was starting to taste the blood that was seeping out of multiple small cuts inside his mouth. When he looked at the bit attached to the head piece, Caruso stifled a gasp, noticing that parts of the bit, specifically on the bottom, were coated in dark red blood.

Caruso slowly opened his jaws to speak. He ignored the pain he was feeling as he moved his tongue. “Why...should I...listen to...you?” Every time he spoke a word, he could feel a sharp pain wave through his mouth. It was like he was eating broken glass for dinner.

“Why...?” Victor asked this as though he was surprised Caruso even thought of asking this. “Take a good look around you, boy.” He said, looking around the area himself. An arrogant smile spread across his face. “You're trapped. You have no where to run, nowhere to hide.”

“I...was trapped..by you before... I escaped...” Caruso spoke defiantly. Even after enduring the bridle, he still had some courage left in him. “In..in fact.. all of us did...”

“You speak of the time when I had captured all five of you?” Victor inquired, getting a nod from Caruso as a response. He frowned softly. The memory of that brought feelings of frustration to Victor. He had caught all five of the perfect dinosaurs right then and there. He could have brought them back to the lab for testing. They could not have gone anywhere. Even in dino mode, they would not have been strong enough to break open the bars and set themselves free. And in human form they wouldn't have been small enough to get through the spaces of the bars.

Victor could not think of what possessed him not to be suspicious of the students that had somehow gotten into the cage. Why had he not tested their DNA? His only answer to that was, at this time, Victor couldn't really believe that any human would have the intelligence needed to master the dinosaur form and the art of transforming so easily. And he so determined to insure that these kids would not sue him to even think about questioning them. Just what were they doing way out there? He had wondered this a bit after the encounter, but he knew the answer now.

Victor narrowed his eyes slightly. “Yes of course you escaped, boy. But that was only because you had your friends to back you up.” He took a quick look around the room before returning his gaze to the injured teenager. “You're all alone now. There's no one here to save you. This is no fairy tale, little Caruso.” He took a step closer. Instinctively, Caruso took a step back, half-expecting Victor to strike out at him with his sickle claw again. “This is real life...” His free hand and arm glowed and were replaced with his raptor limb. He raised it up, the claws extended, to prove his point. Caruso immediately took a step back without really thinking about it.

Satisfied the boy seemed to understand his situation better, Victor pulled out his communicator and contacted one of his followers that was in the warehouse. As he began to speak to him, Caruso walked over to what appeared to be a long flat boulder stationed near the corner of the room. He slowly sat down on it and rested his head on the palms of his hands. He winced as the sharp pain shot through his injured arm, but it quickly subsided. His gaze was to the ground, his eyes a bit vacant. He was not sure what to think anymore. He was doing his best to remain brave and defiant. He did not want Victor to taste victory in 'taming' him.

But, although he hated to admit it, Victor did have a good point. Caruso was all alone in this warehouse. He didn't have anyone to help him. He had no one to discuss any escape plans with. Everyone was against him here. If he had stepped foot outside the room, it surely would not take long before he would run into one of Veloci's men and be brought back here. He could go dino and try to break out of the room, but the walls were made of a thick metal. Not even Max would be able to break through it, so there was no way he could.

As Victor continued to speak with whoever it was he had just contacted, Caruso slowly closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh. Perhaps he should just give into Victor's will. Maybe he should just surrender to avoid being hurt again. Maybe Victor would consider releasing him when his usefulness had expired. Yes, that's it. He should just give himself up, allow Victor to do whatever he pleased with him, and then release him, and then Caruso could go find his friends....

No! No, what was he thinking?! He shouldn't think like that! Caruso shook his head to bring himself back to his senses. He formed fists with his hands as he glared at Victor with determination. He shouldn't give himself up to this monster. He would have to bide his time yes. If he waited until the right moment to strike, maybe he would have a new chance at escape. All he would have to do was wait until tomorrow when he believed Victor would take him out into another part of the warehouse to endure the first experiments, and make his move then.

If he pretended that he was giving in, he could get close enough to Victor to land a blow, the element of surprise with him. It was a risky idea, Caruso knew. He would only have one shot at it. After that, Victor surely would not fall for the same thing again. Caruso would have to make sure the first shot counted. He did not want to think of what would happen to him if this plan failed...

“Caruso,” Irwin heard Victor call out to him. “I have some important business to attend to. I am going to leave the door open so one of my men can come in to give you something to eat and drink. Don't even think of trying to escape. I have all my men in this warehouse on guard and patrolling all the corridors and rooms of this building. If you even set foot outside the door, someone will know and catch you. You understand me, human?”

Caruso simply nodded his head. “Y-Yes...”

“Good... And one more thing,” Victor said as he turned to face the door. “If I find out that you have walked outside your cell even after listening to my warning...” He showed Caruso his raptor-like hand once again, raised in a slashing position. “I may have to give you a more urgent reason to stay put...”

“All right...” Caruso managed to say, his anger quickly replaced with fear as he stared wide-eyed at the sharp claws. Although these claws did not look as dangerous as the sickle claws on Victor's dinosaur feet, Caruso still trembled at the sight of them. These claws were designed for grasping and holding prey. If Victor gripped him with these claws, he would not be able to escape without hurting himself. The claws would scrape along him, making several long cuts. “I...I won't try to escape...”

“Wise choice.” Victor stepped out of the room. He took another glance at Caruso. “Someone will be here shortly. After you are done, I suggest you go to sleep and get plenty of rest. Tomorrow, you will endure your first experiment. I'll be nice this time and use a mild experiment this time. But don't think I will go soft on you again after that.” Victor didn't bother to tell Caruso that this mild experiment would still have him screaming in pain. But it was like a light tap on the shoulder compared to another experiment he had planned for the boy.

* * *

“Finally it's over!” Oscura said as she stretched her arms. The lights in the room flickered back on. Many employees scooted their chairs back and stood up, stretching their stiff limbs after sitting for a few hours watching movies. Oscura had not really liked any of the movies that were playing. But the room had become so crowded that she was not able to squeeze herself out. She had to give a few warning hisses to some employees because they were pushing her up against the wall. Just how the room went from a few individuals enjoying a movie to a room as tightly packed as a sardine can was beyond her.

People slowly began to leave the room, and Oscura felt herself relax as more and more room became available. She went back to her chair and sat down when enough room was freed. Still remaining in her seat next to Oscura's was Michelle. She was watching the other people as they walked out of the room. But taking a glance at the look in Michelle's eyes told Oscura that this girl was not thinking about anything involving the people in the room or the movies that were on. Her mind was wandering somewhere else. It would appear something was troubling her, and Oscura did not even need to ask what it was.

“You're thinking about him again aren't you?” Oscura asked, a little bit of a growl emerging as she finished the sentence. She had always considered Michelle to be the weaker of the pair. But she was becoming even softer since Caruso's capture. There was something about that boy that was changing her partner, making her weaker. And Oscura was not liking it. When she got no response, she hissed, “Will you stop thinking about that Caruso kid for once?!”

This sudden outburst quickly snapped Michelle back to reality. She looked over at her partner with wide eyes for a few seconds before contorting her face into a snarl, her dinosaurian teeth bared. “I was not thinking about him, okay?!” She snapped, defending herself. “So why don't you just drop the subject?!”

Oscura tilted her head, the same glare still plastered across her face. “I'm growing sick of this, Michelle. Ever since we captured the kid, you have grown soft!” She quickly got up from her seat and pointed her finger accusingly at the brunette. “Admit it, you traitor!” She shouted at her without really thinking of her choice of words all that well. “You're so concerned about this Caruso kid that you are willing to betray us just for his benefit!”

Michelle's eyes widened at the words traitor and betray. Her mind reeled back to the strange dream she had. She still shuddered at the quotes Oscura had quoted in the dream. Her thoughts brought back a statement Oscura had said in the dream. She had mentioned something about Victor being worried that she would betray them. After she woke up, she dismissed it as a dream. She didn't really see any reason why Victor would suspect her betraying them. He had never acted in any particular way to make her believe he was suspicious of her. She herself had never given him a reason to believe she would turn on him.

But hearing Oscura restate this make her rethink the dream. Was it just a coincidence? Or was the dream a message of things to come? Was it a warning of sorts? Maybe Victor had noticed her behavior changing, and had linked it to Caruso's capture. If he was now a bit suspicious of her, he will probably keep a closer watch on her now. Maybe he will have someone follow her around, or even put a tracker on her...

No...no he wouldn't go that far, Michelle thought. Or would he? Maybe he had assigned Oscura to keep an eye on her, to monitor her behavior and to report to him if she saw anything suspicious. Maybe that's why Oscura had been on her case a bit more frequently today. This was not the first time she had brought up Caruso with her, not the first time she's scolded her for allowing her thoughts to drift back to him. Michelle narrowed her eyes further, becoming a bit agitated at this thought. The last thing she wanted was this Troodon girl to be shadowing her everywhere.

“No! I won't admit it!” Michelle shouted, slamming a fist onto the table swiftly and loudly. “First of all, I have not grown soft! Second of all, I am no traitor! And finally, I don't give a darn what happens to Caruso! So stop acting like I care about him!” After yelling, she tried to calm herself down through slow breaths, but Oscura was not going to give her the opportunity to let her anger die down.

Oscura's narrowed eyes widened in shock, and she snapped her head back, teeth bared, another behavior she adopted from her Troodon self. As she did so, she let out a 'Hah!' kind of sound. She took a step back, and drool started to dribble down the corner of her mouth. Michelle recognized this behavior. Oscura usually only did this when she was so angry that she would rather bite than talk. Usually when this happened, she would try to calm Oscura down to avoid a fierce fight, but this time she just stared at her, her own dinosaur teeth bared.

“Who are you to order me around?!” Oscura yelled. She pulled an arm outward, and up, like a raptor would, and showed her claws to Michelle. “You have no authority over me! You do not have the right to order me around, Michelle!” She wasn't afraid to attack Michelle, and she knew Michelle knew that too.

“And if I recall correctly, you do not have the authority to order me around either, Oscura!” Michelle yelled back, her eyes beginning to glow. She could feel the anger rising up in her.

“Whatever.” Oscura rolled her eyes slowly. “That does not mean I cannot question you when you start to daydream about your Stegosaurus boyfriend!”

Now it was Michelle's turn to have saliva streaming from the corner of her lips. She also adopted this behavior from the Guanlong Wucaii, but used it less frequently. She usually had better control of her temper compared to Oscura, and only used it when she was extremely angry. And Oscura was rubbing her the wrong way today, and she was not going to stop. Michelle's body started to shake visibly as she tried desperately to control the anger. But it kept gnawing at her stomach and insides. Now she could see no other outlet except...

As a drop of saliva landed on the table, Michelle wiped her mouth, and said, “Why you....” Her talons grew from the tips of her fingers as she slowly got up from her seat. Oscura looked at her with a puzzled look, unsure of what she was going to do. Deciding to answer Oscura's question before she asked it, Michelle hissed, “I'll show you...” With that, she lunged forward, and slammed against Oscura. The raven-haired teen was knocked backwards and tripped over a chair and landed on her back.

Feeling a rush of adrenaline, Oscura jumped back up and gripped Michelle's shoulders, digging her talons into the skin. She avoided biting Michelle simply because she did not want to get into trouble with Dr. Veloci for poisoning a fellow Raptor Dyne employee. Her claws would do just fine for the fight. She attempted to push Michelle onto the ground, but the other girl held her ground. She winced in pain as she felt the claws dig into her shoulders, and she could see a bit of blood come through. Michelle attempted to defend herself by swinging her arms around Oscura's body and shoving her claws into Oscura's back.

Oscura stifled a scream, and tried to ignore the pain as she continued to slash into Michelle's shoulders and tried to push her down. Michelle did likewise, baring her teeth close to Oscura's face and vice versa. The two avoided biting each other however, preferring to stick to their claws rather than their teeth. They kept pushing into one another, and eventually both began to give out, dropping to their knees. At first glance one would think they were trying to comfort each other. But one look at the blood seeping from each teenager would quickly debunk that theory.

The fight was not an attempt to kill each other. It closely resembled a dominance fight that Veloci had told them about once. He explained that Velociraptors fought for dominance not through biting, but through clawing and demonstration of strength. If Oscura and Michelle were going to agree upon which one of them would have the higher authority, they would do so through this dominance fight.

Suddenly they both released each other, and got up off the ground. They took a few steps back, their eyes glued on each other. They transformed into their respective dinosaur forms and began to walk around each other, watching the other, trying to find a weakness. They bobbed their bodies and heads up and down in a bird-like manner, their hands raised upward, the claws facing forward threateningly. They continued to circle each other in the room, careful not to trip over any chairs or the table. Their eyes glowed intensely as they both anticipated the other one to attack first, anticipated that soon the other would sink their teeth in.

After a few minutes of this behavior, Oscura decided to make the first move. The red Troodon jumped into the air, extending her forearms outward to take a hold of Michelle. But the black Guanlong Wucaii anticipated this and quickly moved herself out of the way. When Oscura was close enough, she pulled her black paw upward and delivered a blow onto the Troodon's back, knocking her onto the ground belly-first.

Oscura shook her long neck and head before climbing to her feet and letting out a screech, bits of saliva flying everywhere. She held out her arms as if to hug, and approached Michelle slowly, letting out several bird-like squawks to try to intimidate Michelle. The Guanlong, however, remained unfazed. She returned the calls with sounds that were more ferocious than a Troodon could dish out. The Guanlong calls were more guttural, like a lion's, and sounded more threatening. The Troodon seemed to sense this, and stopped advancing for a moment. Then, quickly, she raised one of her long legs and struck at Michelle with one of her diminutive sickle claws.

Thinking fast, Michelle held up one of her feet and, using her long dewclaw, gripped the red-skinned leg and tossed Oscura aside. The Troodon crashed into the ground, and once again scrambled to her feet. She hissed at the Guanlong, and raced in to attack again. The Guanlong lowered her head in anticipation, her teeth bared. Her arms were also held outward in attack mode, bracing for the assault the Troodon was going to deliver.

The two collided with each other, and began to wrestling each other across the floor, becoming a blur of colors, claws, hisses, and growls. They dug their claws into each other, slashing away at any available skin they came in contact with. They kicked and slashed as they fought to pin the other one to the ground. They snapped at each other frequently, but deliberately missing, instead just trying to intimidate the other. They knocked over a few chairs and even almost knocked over the table as they continued to grapple each other.

Eventually, Michelle managed to pin Oscura onto her side. The Troodon struggled to get free, but Michelle's bodyweight kept her down. She held Oscura firmly by sitting on top of her and using her forepaws to push her into the ground. The Troodon snapped at the air, hissed and growled, and kicked her feet violently, trying in desperation to land a blow onto the Guanlong Wucaii. But the black dinosaur ignored any wound inflicted on her at this point, and simply lowered her head close to Oscura's and hissed.

In anger, Oscura snapped her jaws in Michelle's direction, causing the Guanlong to jerk her head backwards to avoid the bite. 'Let go of me!' She demanded, snapping her jaws once again, releasing another squawk.

'Only if you surrender.' Michelle answered.

'Never!' Oscura squirmed under Michelle's bodyweight. 'Just release me at once!'

Michelle shook her crested head. 'I am sorry, Oscura.' She said, although she did not really feel sorry. 'I cannot release you until you surrender. That is the rule of the dominance fight.'

Oscura let out a loud screech of agitation and struggled more violently and desperately. She did not want to admit defeat to this..this weakling. Oscura was frustrated that the rules would not allow her to bite. If she did she would be disqualified. She did not know and did not understand why Victor's kind didn't allow biting. It could easily turn the tide in the fight. With her infectious bite, she could easily defeat Michelle.

But the fight was to be interrupted. As Oscura struggled on the floor, the door knob jiggled, and the two dinosaurs snapped their heads over and could see a figure on the other side. Not wanting to be caught in the act of fighting, they quickly changed back into their human selves, and brushed themselves off. Unfortunately they could not hide the blood that was starting to stain their clothes now. And they did not have time to cover it up. The door swung open, and a figure dressed in black and wearing a helmet stepped in. It was one of Veloci's men.

“Hey,” the man said as he walked into the room. “I got a message from Dr. Veloci.” He took notice of the blood stains, and snapped his head back in shock. “What the heck happened to you two?”

“Nothing..nothing.” Michelle said quickly. “So what does Veloci want us for?”

* * *

Time had ticked by slowly in the lighthouse. Jack looked over at the clock nearby. While not much time had passed, it had seemed like an eternity. Like Moynihan and his wife, he was sitting patiently, awaiting for the children to return. It had been sometime since they got a phone call from one of the children, and there was no good news they could bring to them. Jack leaned in the chair, his elbows on the table. He stared blankly at the table, refusing to look at his wife, sitting behind him on the furniture because he couldn't stand seeing her this way. Amanda hadn't said much in the past several minutes, and her tears couldn't stop flowing, despite comforting statements from Jack and Joanne.

Jack eyed the door slowly, almost expecting it to open up and see the Dino Squad return empty-handed. But no one was coming, and he didn't expect them to return anytime soon. He started to think of what a normal day this had started out as. His son had woken up earlier today to get ready for a meeting. Because of his vain personality, Irwin took great care in his appearance, and always took a bath in the morning. He wouldn't go outside until he looked perfect, at least in his eyes. Jack sometimes felt Irwin took too much pride in his appearance, but he felt it was a bit better than someone who could care less about their appearance and not clean themselves up that often.

He recalled how Irwin said he had to get to the lighthouse for some special training. It wasn't supposed to last all day. When his wife was doing the dishes, Irwin was due back any minute. They hadn't realized, then, that something was very very wrong. Sure, his wife did suspect something was wrong, but she wouldn't have believed, in her wildest dreams, that this is what had happened. Jack started regretting letting his son go out today. He wished he had forced him to stay home. Maybe then this would not have happened...

But then, maybe one of the other kids would have gotten captured. He flinched a bit, realizing that he would have unintentionally wished his son's fate on one of the other kids. He couldn't do that. As much as he loved Irwin, he also would not have wanted the other kids to get captured either. That would have been unfair on his part. And he didn't blame the other kids either. After all, they did do their best to save his son. While they failed, they still put up a great fight. Jack placed his head on his arms, folded on the table, and sighed softly. He was suddenly feeling a painful gnawing in his stomach as he thought about how they had blown their chances at finding Irwin because they had forgotten to put in the fan in the monitor. But then, even if it had been able to turn on, would it have worked? Would they have been able to find Veloci or would their signal have been blocked?

Deciding to take his mind off of what happened, Jack Caruso pushed his seat out from the table and stood up. He turned towards Moynihan, who had gotten back to her knitting, although she was doing it very slowly. Jack suspected it was because she was thinking about what happened today, and was feeling guilty she wasn't a better help. He eyed her ankle, which still looked red, but a bit better than it was earlier. Her cane was set next to her chair for easy grabbing. He strode over to her slowly, and sat down on the couch his wife was on. Amanda, however, was too distracted by her feelings of loss to notice him next to her.

Ms. Moynihan sensed someone looking at her, set down her knitting stuff, and looked up to see Jack staring at her. She tried to offer a small smile, but couldn't bring herself to do so, considering the circumstances. “Yes?” She asked, already knowing Jack was going to ask her something judging from the look in his eyes.

“Ms. M... I was just wondering..” Jack said slowly, sounding unsure of how to say it. Moynihan didn't say anything, instead slightly tilting her head, awaiting for him to continue. Jack gulped. He wasn't sure if this was a great time to ask this, or if Moynihan would have been offended by the question. But he wouldn't really know until he'd ask it. “Out of curiosity, just what were things like between you and..Victor before you two, well, split ways?”

Ms. Moynihan's eyes widened at that question, and she quickly looked at the floor, looking rather troubled. Jack took a step back, already feeling guilty about asking the question in the first place. Moynihan didn't say anything, only kept her gaze on the floor, looking at her ankle that Victor had broken thirty years ago. Her gaze was filled with some anger as she stared at it, but there was a mix of other feelings, such as sadness and betrayal. She could feel those bitter feelings inside of her all over again. Her mind backtracked to the days when she and Victor were partners, and how all that changed all because of difference in opinions. She often wondered why she ever considered Victor a good friend. If she had known the monster he was going to become...

“Dear, why did you ask her that?” Amanda asked her husband, finally snapping herself back to reality just as she heard her husband ask Joanne such a personal question. And judging from her reaction, it was a rather troubling question at that.

Jack looked away, regretting asking in the first place. “I-I'm sorry... I...”

“It's all right...” Joanne raised her hand up, though the pained look was still on her face. “I'm not angry with you asking me that, Jack. It's just...painful sometimes for me to think of how things used to be between me and Victor.” She glanced down at the necklace she wore around her neck, and fingered the claw-shaped piece that lay center on her chest. It had originally been a gift from Victor himself, but she had made some modifications to it. “Time does not heal all wounds, I'm afraid.”

“Was that from Victor?” Jack asked carefully, eyeing the necklace.

Moynihan slowly nodded her head. She glanced back down at the necklace, drawing in a breath as she stared at the necklace once more. She only kept it around for sentimental reasons. She longed for who Victor was before he became obsessed with wiping humans off the face of the Earth, who he was before he grew too powerful and before he began experimenting with DNA to change life back to how it was sixty-five million years ago. Victor hadn't always been this way. He had always hated humans yes, but he wasn't always so determined to change things back. He wasn't always such a...monster.

“This was a gift Victor gave me..for our anniversary.” Joanne said softly.

“Anniversary..for what?” Amanda asked before she could stop herself.

“Wedding anniversary.” Joanne stated softly, looking up and staring at Jack and Amanda as she said this. Their reactions were just as she expected. They looked horrified, and moved back a little. She could not blame them. They knew she was once partners with Victor, but she had never told anyone, not even the Dino Squad, that they were once mates. Sixty-five million years ago, they never did have any children, no eggs to call their own, and when they awoke after their long hibernation, they became too busy with trying to fit in rather than starting a family.

“You never told us that you and Victor were...husband and wife.” Jack said, trying his best not to sound so frightened.

“You needn't be afraid, Mr. Caruso.” Joanne assured him. “As I told your son before, I parted ways with Veloci long ago.”

“But...” Amanda spoke up. “Why didn't you tell us this before?”

Ms. Moynihan lowered her head slightly. “I..was afraid of what you would think of me. I never told anyone this because I didn't know if they would trust me anymore.” She closed her eyes for a few seconds then reopened up, looking at Jack and Amanda in the eyes. “For over thirty years, I have concealed the truth of my past from everyone. Your son and his friends were the first people I had confided in, the first people I spoke the truth with. It was a risky move, and I had feared they wouldn't trust me again after that. To my relief, they accepted me for who I was now, and still trusted me.”

Jack nodded once, and raised a finger up. “So..if they trusted you, why didn't you tell them then?”

“It was too early. I did not think they were ready to hear it.” Moynihan responded.

“And what about now?” Jack asked, his finger still raised up, although he wasn't pointing accusingly at Moynihan. “It's been a couple years now, Prof. Moynihan. Don't you think it's about time you told them? Why still keep it a secret?”

Moynihan looked away, feeling uneasy to answer that question. “Frankly, this isn't the only secret I've kept from them...” She quickly realized what she said, and swiftly added, “But time for that will come later.” She could tell that Caruso's parents were going to inquire her on her previous statement, and she hoped that saying that she'll talk about it later will satisfy them and they won't ask her further. She decided to go back to Jack's original question. “So you want to know what things were like before Victor and I parted ways?”

Just then, the phone started to ring, interrupting Jack's response. Moynihan looked over at it, along with Caruso's parents, and felt nervous to pick it up. It was probably Max again, bringing more bad news. The phone rang again as Moynihan's fingers trembled above the receiver, hesitating to pick it up. If it was more bad news, she didn't know if she could bear to give the news to Caruso's parents, further shattering their spirits. But regardless if it was bad news or not, if it was the Dino Squad, she couldn't simply ignore the call. What kind of mentor and tutor would she be if she did that?

Hesitatingly, Joanne wrapped her fingers around the receiver and picked it up. She held it to her ear and said, “Hello...?” The nervousness in her voice was apparent, and she waited for the few nanoseconds it would take to get a response. She was expecting to hear Max's voice, or Fiona's, Rodger's, or Buzz's. But the voice on the other end was neither of the kids, and yet it was someone she recognized right away. A scowl appeared on her face, one unfamiliar to Caruso's parents, or even the Dino Squad. “Victor...” She hissed. “What do you want?”

She could hear that cold laughter on the other end, and she flinched. It bared a striking resemblance to the laughter she had received after he'd broken her leg. She felt a sharp pain in her heart as she felt the memories flowing back to her. After Victor was done laughing, he began to talk to Moynihan, his voice in a mocking and sneering tone. Moynihan gritted her teeth as Victor began to taunt her about her not being able to find Caruso, and had asked her how her leg was doing. “That is none of your business!” She growled. “And what have you done with Caruso?!”

Again Moynihan could hear that dark laughter. It took all her might not to throw the phone to the floor in anger. “I do not see what is so funny, Victor! You have committed a very serious offense! ...What offense? Kidnapping a child of course!” Victor had always had the belief that just because he was very powerful and high-ranking it automatically meant he was also above the law, and could do whatever he wanted. The only time he would abide by the law was if it was to save himself some trouble. “Why did you bother calling me anyway, Victor? To taunt me?”

Surprisingly, Victor hadn't initially called her just to taunt her. He had something else in mind. He told her he'd called to give her a warning. Her angered expression turned into shock as Victor began to tell her that Caruso was in pretty bad shape and if she and her Dino Squad friends did not hurry up, it may be too late. After that, Victor bid her farewell and hung up. “Wait!” She yelled, but it was too late. The phone clicked, and she got the dial tone.

“What...what was that?” Jack asked carefully. He knew Moynihan had just gotten off the phone with Victor, and judging from her angered and shocked expressions, it was a none too pleasant conversation either.

Moynihan hesitated for a few seconds before looking at Jack and his wife. All signs of anger and shock were erased, and now replaced with sorrow and concern. “Victor had called me...to inform me that Caruso was in bad shape..and that he may not last for long, and that we should hurry up and find him if we care about him.”

“...what...” Amanda managed to say, choking back tears. “What exactly did he mean by.. bad shape..? What has he done to him?!” She asked, starting to sound a little hysterical. She tried to calm down as she felt her husband's comforting hands on her shoulders.

“What did Victor do to him?” Jack asked hesitantly.

“He..didn't say.” Moynihan replied uneasily. “The only thing he mentioned to me regarding what he's done to him is that he might need a hospital stay.” This gave all three of them very clear and obvious ideas on what Victor had done. It must be linked to what Peter had told them earlier. He had told them that Caruso might die from what Victor was doing to him unless he surrendered to him quickly. And it was like Victor had called them to confirm this.

“Our poor baby...” Amanda whispered, hugging her husband tightly. Jack wrapped his arms around her and tried, once again, to calm her down. Moynihan looked at them sadly, unable to say anything to make them feel better. She silently wished for something to happen to turn the tides. She would like to get some good news out of all this mess. She was starting to feel as lost and confused as she was when Victor left her defenseless after breaking her leg. He had won that day, in their final battle, and now it seems like he would win again, this time at the price of a human life.

Moynihan closed her eyes and leaned back into her chair as she allowed her thoughts to flow through her mind. “We need a miracle now...” She spoke softly as to not disturb the couple. She slowly gazed down at her knitting material on her lap, and sighed. She didn't have the will left to bring herself to continue, and picked up the material and set it aside.

Just then, she and the couple looked up as they heard the sound of motorcycle engines getting closer to the lighthouse. They knew it had to be the children, finally returning from their battle with Peter. Normally Moynihan would feel relaxed, as in the past whenever the children returned from a mission, they'd bring good news, and talk about how they managed to outsmart Victor and his men, and freed any animals that were mutated. But now she had an almost overwhelming feeling of tension, her heart pained as she thought about worse case scenarios.

She gazed over at Caruso's parents on the couch. They looked just as troubled as she was, although she could tell the father was still trying to be strong. She didn't think they would want to go ask the kids if there was anything they left out in their previous report. That was her job anyway. “I'll...go greet them.” Moynihan said softly.

She grabbed the cane next to her seat, and tried to get out of the chair. She planted her right foot first on the ground, and then carefully the left. As she started to feel pain in her ankle, she quickly applied more pressure and tried to support more of her weight on the cane As best as she could, she elevated her left foot slightly, which alleviated most of the pain. Wobbling slightly, she took a step forward, and cautiously brought her left leg forward, and repeated the process of putting more pressure on the cane than on her leg. Progress was slow, but she was inching her way towards the door.

Moynihan found herself continuously staring at the floor, keeping a sharp eye for anything she could accidentally trip over. She could hear her cane scraping along the floor as she continued to use it as a third leg. She winced as she kept moving her left leg forward, and could almost hear the bones crack as she thought about what Victor had done to her that fateful day. She eyed the staircase nearby nervously, shuddering as she remembered how Michelle had callously tossed her down the stairs. Moynihan felt lucky she had survived such a fall with little injury other than a cut or two and a twisted ankle. Judging just how far she had fallen and given her apparent age, she could have easily died.

Now her thoughts were on Michelle once more. She began to wonder why she would want to work for Victor in the first place. Was she not aware of Victor's temperament? Was she not aware of Victor's ultimate goal? Perhaps she was. Moynihan had considered that Michelle was unaware of what Victor really had planned, and perhaps was lied to, tricked into thinking the Dino Squad was the enemy. But judging from how she threw her, an old woman, down the stairs without hesitation, and how she had destroyed the monitors simply to make them more vulnerable, Moynihan started to wonder if Michelle had, like all of other Veloci's followers, given into or accepted his dream, his ultimate goal of wiping out humanity.

Surely, that red Troodon, Oscura, had fully accepted this plan. Max had described to her how viciously Oscura had attacked, and didn't wait for a second to deliver a blow. This seemed a little different from Michelle. It was true that she did not hesitate to toss her, and she did apply pressure to a weak point. But Michelle did not seem to have the same level of ferocity as Oscura did, and did not seem interested in fighting, just completing her mission. Michelle appeared to be the type of person who would rather get the job done quickly and leave with little confrontation. Oscura, on the other hand, seemed the type to want to cause pain, and cared little of getting much accomplished other than agony.

Ms. Moynihan frowned as she thought about this. If she calculated correctly, they would have more to fear from Oscura than from Michelle, even though Michelle's dinosaur form was larger, simply due to a more aggressive attitude. Surely, Oscura was a more loyal follower than Michelle. Personality wise, she was a lot like Victor, although perhaps even more dangerous. Moynihan was almost horrified as Max relayed to her what had happened. She hadn't even known Victor to be this vicious. At least under Victor's control, Raptor Dyne, at least for now, tries to keep a low profile and avoid certain situations if it risks getting them exposed. But if they were ran under Oscura, she feared that there would be a lot more attacks, and given the sheer number of people Victor has under his control...

Joanne Moynihan was only a few feet from the door when she could see the silhouettes of a couple teenagers walking up to the door. As she saw the door knob turning, she expected to see a couple exhausted and depressed teens to walk in to try to come up with another plan. But instead she got something quite different, and unexpected.

The first person who walked in was Max. He looked very happy about something, and had a big grin on his face. Rodger came in next, and looked no less cheerier. Then came Fiona, and she was in the same mood as well. Moynihan was a little confused. Not too long ago they sounded depressed, hopeless, almost lost. Now all of they sudden they looked almost happy. Just what had happened to change their mood so quickly?

“Kids...” Moynihan began to say, but before she could ask them what had happened, the final student came walking in, and in his hands, he held something that caused Moynihan to draw in a sharp breath. “Is that what I think it is?” There, within Buzz's arms, was the missing tracking device that Rodger had lost a few days ago. It still looked like it was in working condition, and had gone unnoticed by Michelle. While she could feel the excitement building up inside of her, she had to remain calm, and not get her hopes up. Something could still go wrong.

“Isn't it great, Ms. M?” Fiona said cheerfully. Moynihan wished she could share her enthusiasm, but they had gotten nothing that bad luck lately. Fiona frowned slightly at Moynihan's lack of rejoice. “Hey..is something wrong?”

“Yeah.” Max said, noticing it too. “I thought you would be very happy.”

“Oh believe me, dear boy,” Moynihan assured him, “I am. It's just that I don't want you kids to get your hopes up. Even if we get that device to work, it could still have its signal blocked.” If Victor truly believed that all tracking equipment was destroyed, he probably wouldn't bother trying to block out signals at this point. But he could easily have set up a satellite to emit a scramble signal for the lighthouse to prevent them from being able to properly use their equipment. He could easily have set up a beacon like the one the lighthouse had to hide his location as well.

“Blocked...?” Max said, a puzzled look on his face. “But the only one I know who has any kind of equipment that could scramble signals was you, Ms. Moynihan.” The only other person Max could think of that could have the technology to block signals was Victor, but Moynihan had never mentioned this to them in the past. She had never warned them that if Victor pinpointed the location of the scrambling, that he could block out that signal. “...Victor can't block signals, can he?” He said, feeling his excitement die down.

“I'm afraid so, dear.” Moynihan said sadly, feeling guilty about having to tell them this.

But Fiona wasn't about to let the situation turn hopeless again. “Come on you guys. At least it's something isn't it? It's better than having nothing to go by.”

“Fiona's right, yo.” Rodger said as he walked up to Buzz. “Despite what we've been through, we can't let ourselves lose hope. Come on, we'll get our big break soon, won't we?” He held out a hand towards Buzz. “Do you mind?” He asked, indicating the device in the punk teen's hands. Buzz shook his head slowly and handed over the device so Rodger could look it over.

“Just don't lose it this time, all right?” Buzz said in a teasing kind of tone. “Because if you do, I swear I'll...” He stopped himself when he received a glare from Fiona.

Rodger glared at him softly, but didn't have the time to deal with him now. “I won't, Buzz, okay?” Rodger held the device in his hands as he headed towards where Mr. Caruso and his wife were, and sat down on another couch.

Max looked over at Moynihan and concernedly said, “Ms. M, what are you doing up? You shouldn't be standing with a twisted ankled.” He didn't know why Moynihan had decided to get up on her feet, especially when her ankle was still pretty swollen. She would end up only hurting her ankle even further doing this. Max attempted to grab a hold of the old woman to help her walk back to the chair, but Moynihan lifted up a hand, stopping him.

“I'm fine, Maxwell.” Joanne said quickly as she slowly turned around to head back to her recliner. She was moving painfully slow, and Max bit his lip as he expected her to fall down and this time actually breaking the ankle. But to his relief, Joanne managed to reach her chair and lowered herself into it, and set her cane beside the piece of furniture. She felt relieved as there was no longer any pressure being applied to her sore ankle.

“Why were you standing up, Ms. Moynihan?” Max asked as he headed towards her. “You could have gotten hurt.” He didn't know why he was telling this to Moynihan. He wasn't her father. It was not his place to tell her what to do. She was the mentor, he was the student. He had no authority over her, and he knew it. But that doesn't change the fact that he does care about her, as well as his other teammates. He regards them as close friends, and would do anything to protect them from harm. Although he doesn't always prevail. He winced as he thought about Caruso, and how close he was to saving him, yet failed in the end.

“I feel fine, Max.” Moynihan assured him, although Max could see she was rubbing her ankle.

“You don't look fine.” Max pointed out, eyeing her ankle.

Before Moynihan could respond, Jack spoke up, looking at Rodger and the device he held in his hands. “What is that?” He asked, pointing at the equipment Rodger was tweaking with.

As the large-bodied student pushed a few buttons to see if the item was still functioning, he looked up briefly and looked at Jack. “It's a hand-held tracker.” Rodger said, briefly holding it out so that the man and his wife could get a good look.

“A...handheld tracker?” Amanda asked softly. She wasn't too big on technology, so she didn't know what Rodger was talking about. She eyed the device curiously, although a confused look was in her eyes. The device looked a little like a GPS she's seen once before, but was configured differently.

The remaining Dino Squad had walked into the room to join the others, each one taking a seat, and eyes staying on Rodger. The african-american didn't like this kind of attention, as it distracts him from his work. He tolerates it to a certain degree, but given the circumstances, he was feeling even more pressured than before. He could feel sweat forming on his forehead, and he wiped it with his hand. He didn't know why he was so sweaty already. He had hardly touched the device. Maybe he was just too cautionary, worried that he might slip up and destroy the tracker by mistake. He continued to tweak with it, pushing a few buttons and seeing if the screen would light up. When it didn't, he opened up the back of it to see if the battery needed changing.

As Rodger pulled the battery out from the compartment, he noticed it looked a little worn. His brow furrowed. This could explain why the device wasn't turning on. He looked up at Ms. Moynihan. “Do you have any batteries laying around?” He said in a serious tone, holding up the useless battery in his thick palm.

“Why yes. Over there.” Moynihan answered, pointing at a cupboard that sat in the living room. “In the bottom shelf.”

Rodger nodded and set the tracker down. As he got up to go towards the cupboard, he looked sternly at Buzz. “Do not touch it, okay?” He had believed that Buzz would mess around with the tracker to get it to work himself. But he was probably just being paranoid...

The punk teen frowned a little. “Don't worry, I won't.” Buzz said in a grumpy tone. He was becoming a little frustrated with Rodger. What was he so mad about? Why would Buzz even want to mess around with the tracker, especially when they needed it to find Caruso? Buzz shook his head, dismissing the thoughts. Rodger was probably just worried, just like they all were. It's been almost a full day, and Caruso was still missing, and they had no idea where he was yet. He glanced down at the device, looking at the black screen, visualizing a bright green screen that it would normally have when in use. He thought about how the device would pick up Caruso's signature, and they would be able to find him, and rescue him from that monster of a dinosaur, Victor.

Amanda was still eyeing the device with a confused look on her face. She turned to her husband, and saw he seemed to have a new hope shine in his eyes as he stared at the device. She tugged at his shirt, bringing his attention from the tracker to herself. “Jack...what is it?” She asked, motioning towards the tracker.

Jack gave her a comforting smile, and placed his hands on her shoulders, preparing to give her a big hug. He seemed happy about something, so filled with new hope. Amanda knew this could only mean he had good news for her, the first good news she would have heard all day. “Dear, that's a hand-held tracker.” He explained, pointing at the device. “It's...it's going to help us find our son.”

Amanda felt an overwhelming joy fill her up inside. “Oh Jack...” She said softly in a happy tone. She wrapped her arms around her husband and squeezed tightly. This was the best news she has heard all day. Finally, a way to find her son. Poor Caruso, she thought. He must be very scared right now, all alone trapped with a madman. She silently promised to herself that when she gets her son back, she would make Victor pay.

Ms. Moynihan leaned back in her recliner as she watched Caruso's parents regain hope. While she is happy they have a new reason to hope, she herself couldn't bring herself to share the same enthusiasm. She knew something could still go terribly wrong. She would have spoken up to the couple, and tell them to not get their hopes up. But she didn't want to ruin the moment. It made her feel better to see the Dino Squad and Caruso's parents in higher spirits.

Rodger opened up the bottom cabinet door and began to rummage through it. He could see different materials scattered all over the place. There was a bit of dust collecting on the edges. It seemed Ms. Moynihan hadn't dusted it in a while. This surprised Rodger only a little bit. Moynihan wasn't the type of person to leave things dirty, but considering she has more important things to worry about, a little dusty cupboard isn't going to hurt anyone.

Inside the cabinet were a few trays laid out, although none of them were labeled. Rodger glared a little. He grabbed one of the trays and pulled it out, but found it to be filled with nothing but small balls of yarn. He pushed it back in. He grabbed the second tray and pulled it out. This one had a bunch of different sized needles. He groaned softly, wishing Moynihan and mentioned she kept some of her knitting equipment in here. He was expecting more technical things to be in here. He grabbed the third tray and slowly pulled it out, expecting to find more knitting stuff. But instead he found the batteries. He smiled softly. Inside the tray were a couple packets of different sized batteries. He reached in and grabbed one of the packets and took it out.. He shut the cabinet door tightly, and made his way back to the hand-held tracker.

He made his way towards the couch where he had left the hand-held tracker. He found it still laying in place where he had left it. He felt pleased that Buzz listened to him this time and left the device alone. The last thing he needed was Buzz messing around with it and accidentally break it before it was fixed. He said nothing, though, as he sat back down and began to replace the batteries.

Buzz looked over Rodger's shoulder, trying to see if the device was working. “Hey is it on yet?”

“No Buzz.” Rodger said with an annoyed tone. “And it won't unless I change the batteries, which I haven't done yet.”

“Gee, sorry. I was just asking...” Buzz muttered, scooting a little bit away from Rodger to give him space.

“Now guys, don't start.” Fiona warned them with a low tone of voice. She was worried that the tension between Buzz and Rodger would cause a mistake to occur. She understood why they were tense though. Rodger was usually felt pressured when everyone was relying on him to get something done, especially when that something meant the difference between life and death. And of all of them, Buzz was the closest to Caruso in friendship.

It was a little funny, Fiona thought. Buzz and Caruso seemed like opposites, and yet they got along great, although they had their fair share of disagreements. But she knew that Buzz and Rodger acting this way wasn't going to make the situation better. Despite both having a reason, she knew this behavior wasn't to be tolerated. She glanced over at Moynihan, and noticed a small frown on her face.

“Fiona is right.” Moynihan spoke up, waving a finger in a disciplinary manner as she scolded the two boys. “That attitude is not going to do any of us any favors.”

“I'm sorry, Ms. M.” Buzz said, lowering his head.

However Rodger didn't respond. His eyes were widened, and his lips were pulling back into a smile. His hands were so shaky it was difficult for him to not drop the device in his hands. The monitor was glowing green, and he could see the circle, and the line that swung around it, like a radar would. There was a low beeping sound, although no target was appearing. He lifted up his head and looked at the anxious group of people, waiting for him to deliver the news.

Rodger couldn't hold back his cheerful chuckle. He opened up his mouth, and gave the news they all wanted to hear. “It works! The tracker works!”

* * *

As night had started to fall onto the city of Boston, the tall skyscrapers as well as the streetlights were still illuminated. In spite of the darkness casting its shadow over the land, the bright lights still made the city seem like it was still in daytime. The amount of cars hadn't diminished and neither had the number of people walking the streets, into and outside buildings. The air was filled with the sounds of engines revving and screeching. The roads became a blur of light, further illuminating the city in contrast to the darkness surrounding the outer skirts of Boston. Some of the stores were closed, the inside as black as it can get. Many more, though, were still bustling with life. Such buildings included many of the restaurants that resided in the city.

Outside one such building, a bright red car pulled up along the sidewalk. Two tall figures, both male, stepped out, and looked up at the building they parked in front of. The building had a large sign hanging above the entrance that read 'Burton's Grill'. As one man headed towards the entrance, the other stayed behind for a few moments to put in a quarter into the parking meter. They hadn't planned on staying too long, and they couldn't anyway unless they wanted their car towed. And at the moment they did not have the money to spare to pay such a fine.

The second man walked through the doors to rejoin his companion, who was standing close by what appeared to be a podium with a young woman standing behind it. A clipboard with paper attached to it rested on top. A pen that was wired to the table was carefully held in her hand, the point close to the paper. She appeared to be writing down something down, although the pen and her hand weren't moving. She kept her eyes on the first man, briefly looking over to see the other man coming up from behind the first guy.

“Is he with you?” She asked politely, pointing the pen in direction of the second young man.

The first man gave a nod. “Yes, madame. He is.”

The woman nodded in return, and pressed the pen against the paper as she started to write down the name of the first man. Across the first line of the paper, she wrote down 'Donald Simmons'. She then looked up, feeling a little embarrassed she didn't ask this earlier. “What is the name of your friend?”

The second man took a step forward, now standing right next to Donald. “That would be Michael Conner.”

“Thank you.” The young lady responded as she wrote down 'Michael Conner' on the paper.

Michael and Donald were around the same height, although Michael was a little taller. They both looked very similar to each other, with the same color hair and same style they kept it in. But despite their similarities in appearance, they weren't related. They were, instead, close friends since childhood. Michael was dressed up in a nice black shirt with a tie. Looking at Donald, he could have sworn he read his mind, as Donald was dressed in a similar fashion, although the white and black were switched around.

The two had just gotten off of work. Their workplace was nearby, in an electronics store. It was not as fancy as their previous job, but it sufficed them. They had decided to stop by Burtons Grill to get something to eat after a hard day at work. It was amazing how many customers they were getting. It seemed like as soon as one customer left, about two or three more would take their place. It was driving Michael insane, although Donald seemed to be able to tolerate it well, or at least better than Michael was.

The pair had originally worked for Victor Veloci, and had been for about a year. They were receiving great pay, although the hours were a little unusual, and took some time to get used to. They recalled having to wear those unusual outfits, full body suits with odd-looking helmets. Victor had assured them it was for safety reasons, although they both believed he was lying about that. Maybe it was so that Victor could easily identify whom was working for him. Donald had briefly complained about the suit because it was making him feel like he was overheating, but it didn't take long for Victor to convince him to keep wearing it, and Donald hadn't said anything about it since.

Working with Victor was a unique, although very stressful, experience. They had no idea just what they were in for when Victor selected them to join him at his true work station, with all the mutants he kept stored in large cylinders and that prehistoric feel in the room. It did take Michael and Donald sometime to get used to the fact that their employer was a sixty-five million year old Velociraptor. And it wasn't any better knowing that Victor would rip them apart if they revealed this to anyone. But despite him being a Velociraptor, working with him, in general, wasn't too different than what they were used to.

Although there was one difference. Victor had revealed to them, quite early on, that he despised humans and that he only tolerated their presence because he needed them. As much as it was painful for Victor to do so, he had to admit that if he wanted to achieve his goal, he needed the humans and their technology. Although Michael and Donald were terrified for the first few days, afraid that Victor was going to go raptor on them and kill them, they got used to the idea of working for a dinosaur, and become a bit more relaxed around Victor. But they never let their guard down and were careful to try not to disappoint Victor.

They did fine at first, achieving their goals and their assignments as they were told. But then in one mission they had started to mess up. And it was the last mission they would endure with Victor. Victor had developed another new mutant formula, and had wanted to test it out on some animals in a pet store. He needed to know if he was getting closer to perfecting his experimental DNA. He had assigned Donald and Michael in the task of contaminating every last one. He had given them each a bottle filled with the formula, disguised as anti-lice spray.

They had gotten to the store just as a couple teenagers were walking out. The male teen was pushing a cart with five different animals. Under Veloci's orders, they were supposed to contaminate all the animals. However, after they were finished spraying the first customer's animals, they had started to feel hungry. So they left the shop to go to a fastfood restaurant to get something to eat. They had originally planned on going back to the store to spray more of the animals, but by the time they were finished with their food and talking about things, the whole thing had slipped their mind. They didn't remember until sometime after they got back to Raptor Dyne.

They thought that maybe Victor wouldn't notice that not many animals were mutating, but they knew they would have to confess the truth eventually. Victor had several scans going on that would pick up the mutations as they occur. And sure enough, when Victor saw that only three mutant outbreaks were occurring, he grew suspicious. When he questioned Donald about this, he told him that they only contaminated the pets of one customer and then took a lunch break.

This did not take too well with Victor. The Velociraptor was so angry that he reverted back to his dinosaur form and advanced on him. Donald promised he and Michael would do better and be more responsible. Victor agreed to give them another chance, but threatened to eat them if they failed him again. After that Michael and Donald, although frightened, tried their best to act better and try to impress Victor.

Later on in the night, they had gone to the local nursing home where the final mutantsaur had been spotted. Upon arrival they noticed that one of the perfect dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, was there, appearing to be apprehending what appeared to be a mutant goldfish. Michael and Donald find it difficult to remember exactly how the events played out, but they had somehow shot Victor with the tar trap and net instead of the T-Rex. And as they dragged it towards the truck they were excited because they felt like they were in for a raise for capturing a perfect dinosaur. But they quickly realized they had bagged Victor instead, much to their horror. As Victor began to vent his anger at them they took off running. As they disappeared, they could hear Victor yelling at them that they were fired.

Finding another job after that wasn't easy, and it didn't help that they kept having nightmares about Victor coming over and eating them. He had sounded so serious when he told them this too. Maybe he wasn't being serious about it. But he was still a carnivore, and was fully capable of doing so. And seeing how he was larger and stronger than a human, he could easily have his way with anyone. Donald had thought about spreading word about Victor in an attempt to protect others from him, but Michael had opposed it. He warned his companion that if word gets out, Victor could easily locate them and kill them.

“Will you follow me?” The woman asked them as she stepped down from the podium. She began to lead the two young men towards their chair.

The restaurant was lit up by large, rectangular lights that hung low from the ceiling. The carpet was a nice light tan color. There were round, amber-colored tables with black seats. And there were olive colored leather seats attached to a section of wall, and an amber table set in the middle. Several pictures were hung along the wall, which was painted a pale yellow. The air was nice and cool, and as they breathed it in it felt clean too in contrast to the dirty city air. The young men were led to one of the olive leather seats. As they sat down, the woman gave them each a menu and walked off to tend to other customers.

“So what do you plan on ordering, Donald?” Michael asked his friend as he opened up his menu to see the selections.

“Oh the usual.” Donald responded, yawning a little. “That sesame tuna they have.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “You always get that one!”

Donald chuckled as he turned the menu to take a look at desserts and drinks. “Well I can't help it if that's my favorite meal they got here.”

Michael gazed out the window nearby. He could see a few people walking by, and so many cars zooming along the road. He took in a long sigh. He wondered how long this sight would last. He knew that if Victor's dream was achieved, all this city life would be a thing of the past. All of it would be destroyed or abandoned, and the cities would crumble down. Although Michael had once agreed to Victor's vision because he believed it would do the planet some good, he had started to regret thinking like that. While it was true that humans were damaging the planet, he did not think condemning everyone to death was the right way to go.

Donald noticed where his friend was looking, and he too began to have that same feeling of guilt overcome him. To think that he was going to help Victor destroy this city, as well as many others, was mind-boggling. He felt so filthy being associated with Victor, and he tried to hide the fact that he had worked for him.

“I still can't believe he were going to help Victor destroy all this.” Donald spoke up, catching the attention of his companion. “I mean the guy wanted to take it all away from us. He wanted to erase it all.”

Michael nodded as he returned his gaze back to the menu. “Well at least it's all in the past now.” He said.

“Is it?” Donald raised an eyebrow. “What if he actually succeeds? What are we going to do?” He raised a hand to emphasize his statements. “I mean no one is going to believe us if we try to warn them. I mean seriously, who would believe that a man who is really a Velociraptor is plotting the very downfall of mankind?”

“Well people have believed stranger things.” Michael responded.

“Yeah that's true...” Donald admitted.

There were so many things people used to believe in, no matter how bizarre they seemed. There was the whole moon being made out of cheese thing, the world being flat, and lemmings committing suicide. Old wives tales were still believed today despite scientific evidence that disproved much of them. It was amazing what people will believe based on so little fact. Really, spiders making giant hairdos their home? Bats being blind? Earwigs crawling inside the head to lay their eggs? All these weird stories that people would believe without a second thought.

There were other things people used to believe in as well, such as giant humans existing at one time, and all sorts of mythological creatures as well, such as griffins, hydras, and of course the famous dragons. These, however, had some logical evidence. The ancient people had uncovered the bones of many extinct animals, but had misinterpreted them as something else entirely. They thought the skull of a mammoth was the skull of a cyclops, and the skeleton of a Protoceratops as the remains of a powerful griffin. It was easy to understand the misinterpretations however. How were they to know any better? How were they to comprehend what they had actually found?

Times have changed however, and scientific advances had revealed the truth behind these skeletal remains. But although they are now proven to be nothing more than a myth, there were some people who truly believed these creatures existed at one time. There was even a program trying to prove that dragons exist, and had even gone into detail on how they could have lived and what could have wiped them out. Donald had laughed this off, dismissing it as absurd, although Michael was a little more willing to listen.

The woman came back and stood next to their table. “Okay are you two gentlemen ready to order now?”

Snapping back from his thoughts, Donald nodded. “Yes. I would like to have the sesame-crusted tuna.”

“All right.” The woman said as she wrote the information down on a piece of paper. She looked at Michael. “And you?”

“The calamari please.” Michael said as he set his menu down.

“And anything to drink?” The woman asked politely.

“Just some water.” Michael said without looking at her directly.

“Same here.” Donald said, holding up his menu, his eyes still scanning through the desserts section. He didn't really have much of a sweet tooth today. He just liked looking at the desserts section. For some reason just the sight of it made him feel better, usually. But not today...

That was all the woman needed to know. Without hesitation, she said in a very polite tone of voice, “Your meals should be ready in about twenty minutes. Is there anything else you would like to order?”

Michael slowly shook his head. “No thank you.” He handed his menu to the woman.

As the woman grabbed the menu and held it under one of her arms, she turned to Donald to await his answer. She decided to give him a couple minutes. She could tell he was still looking through. She wasn't allowed to take the menus away if a customer was still looking through them.

When Donald finally spotted something he wanted, he looked up at the woman. As he started to tell the woman what he wanted, they did not notice that they were being watched.

* * *

Outside, on top of a tall building right across the street, a feminine figure stood in the darkness. She had long hair that flowed as the wind blew in her face. She wore what appeared to be a beautiful golden blouse with a bright white skirt. She wore a few gold rings around her left wrist, and she had high-heals on, colored a silvery way. Her golden blouse had a few blue stripes on it, along the sleeves and across the waist. While it was unusual, it still looked good on her.

Her long hair was a pale blond, almost as pale as it can get. It was tied into a ponytail, and dangled across her right shoulder. In her hands, gloved in dark-colored leather like Fiona's, she held a pair of binoculars as she kept an eye on the two young men inside Burtons Grill. She growled softly to herself. Although they never met face to face, she knew who they were. As she leaned over the edge of the building to get a better look, she let herself go deep in her thoughts.

She didn't know why she was spying on these two men. She didn't normally bother herself with such things. Spying was not something she normally did. While she was hired to keep an eye on these two men for a while, she was never told whom was hiring her, and what they wanted her to do other than spy on the two subjects. She was not even told why she was doing this. This frustrated her. If there was no reason to motivate her, why should she even bother doing this? It wasn't like her “employer” is going to know if she left her post or anything.

But being the responsible woman that she was, she remained on the rooftop, mentally noting what the men were doing. Despite how close she was too the edge, she was unusually calm, as if she felt she had nothing to fear. She continued to look through the binoculars, quickly growing bored since nothing interesting was going on. She didn't see the point in this. These men were nothing that special. They weren't that rich. They weren't criminals. They didn't have some breakthrough miracle. They weren't celebrities. They were just normal, ordinary, everyday gentlemen.

But regardless, she continued to do her job, spying on them. She was informed to call her employer if the two men did anything suspicious or out-of-the-ordinary. She didn't know what they had meant by that, but she felt that she'd recognize something suspicious when she sees it, or if she was close enough, hears it. But she couldn't think of anything that these men could say that would be so unusual that they would have to be spied on so often. There were enough weirdo humans in the world anyway. What was a few more?

After a few more minutes, the woman groaned angrily. There was still nothing interesting going on. Perhaps she needed to be inside the building, listening in on their conversation. Yeah, she would probably get something good from there. She turned around and headed back to the stairs, preparing to go into Burtons Grill to pay these two men a visit. She opened up her mouth to speak her first words in what seemed to be hours. “If I cannot see anything interesting, maybe I will hear something interesting.”

Within a short time span, she managed to get out of the building, and stared straight across the street. The two men had chosen a seat near a window, much to her delight. She could clearly see them, even from her position, chatting with one another. Michael and Donald seemed to have finished their orders, and the woman that was catering to them was no where in sight. She probably walked away to confirm their orders and tend to other customers, the woman thought. She smirked softly. Maybe this meant she could get close enough to them without arousing suspicion. She shook that thought of her head. There was nothing elaborate about it. Anyone could easily walk in and choose a seat near these young men. The only hard part was listening in without them realizing what she is doing.

She reached into her pocket, and felt around for a small device she had stuffed into it. A small recorder in the shape of a pen. Very deceitful little object, it allowed her to secretly record conversations without being noticed. Clipping the pen on the pocket of her blouse, she took a step forward, looking left and then right to make sure the roads were clear. Once she was sure it was safe, she crossed the street, and headed for the doors. She pushed them open, and went up to the same podium as the young men did, although another person greeted her. It was a young man, looking to be about five years older than the other person. The blond hesitated for a second, then opened up her mouth to speak.

“Table for one, please.” She asked, trying to sound as politely as possible. As she prepared herself, she couldn't help but gaze towards the two young men.

“Would you like a seat over there?” The man asked her, noticing her staring at some particular seats.

The woman nodded once. “Yes, I would like that.”

* * *

Time seemed to fly fast. Before either men realized it, their dinner was fully prepared, and a waitress came by to hand over their plates. She had also brought them their drinks, and apologized for not bringing them sooner. Neither men seemed that upset, and immediately began to eat. The smell of calamari and tuna filled their nostrils, making them drool even as they ate. After taking a few bites of their food, they grabbed their glasses of water and drank, washing down the food.

After consuming several bites of his tuna, Donald picked up a napkin and wiped his lip of the sauce that clung to his skin. “I still wonder though...” He said without really thinking about it.

“Wonder about what?” Michael asked, his mouth full of calamari bits. He quickly swallowed it.

“Remember that day Victor fired us?” Donald asked warily, looking around to see if anyone was listening in on him.

“Yes, what about it?” Michael did remember that day rather well. It still sent chills down his spine whenever he thought about it.

“Did you think he meant it,” Donald asked nervously, “I mean when he said he was going to have us for his lunch break?”

Michael gulped, feeling a little angry that his friend had brought this up during dinner. The young man glanced down at his plate, and started to visualize the calamari being parts of him, and imagined Victor chowing down on them. The very thought made a chill shudder throughout his body. He tried to take another bite, but disturbing thoughts kept flowing through his head. He eventually had to drop the fork onto the table, and rubbed his temples.

Michael groaned, “I don't know, okay?” He closed his eyes. “Let's not talk about it over dinner, okay?”

“I'm sorry.” Donald looked down at his tuna, suddenly getting the same sick feeling. He pushed the tuna bits around a little with his fork before placing it down on the table. “I was just...” But his voice trailed off when he heard the sound of something clicking. His head perked up, and he looked for the source of the sound. He quickly found it. It was coming from a pen held by what appeared to be another customer. A beautiful blond who was sitting in the seat next to them.

Looking out of the corner of her eye, the woman noticed that one of the men had noticed her. But it didn't really matter now. She had already heard enough. She finally knew why these men were of such interest. They must have worked for Victor Veloci. How else would they know about him threatening to eat his employees? And why else would they be so afraid of him? Anyone who knew about Victor, at least well enough, would know he was really a Velociraptor. A rather intimidating being, she had to admit, that could strike fear into the hearts of even the bravest men. And for good reason too.

She began to wonder just what else they knew about Victor. She thought about asking them directly, but scratched that idea. It would probably arouse suspicion. The young men might not even trust her if they found out she knew about Victor. Maybe they would think she was his second-in-command or something and accuse her of collecting private information so that Victor could find them much faster and tear them apart. She chuckled at the idea. She had a feeling Vic had more important things to worry about then a couple young men like these, such as trying to capture dinosaurs that seem to appear out of nowhere, and disappear into nothingness.

But since now both men seemed to notice her there, she thought what's the harm in talking to them. They do not know what she is actually doing there. She tried her best to hide her smirk, and turned around to face the men, acting as if she was oblivious to what they were talking about. “Hello there.” She said softly. “Is there a reason you are looking at me?” She asked innocently.

“I'm sorry.” Donald said apologetically. “We didn't mean to stare at you, did we?”

After a couple seconds of silent gawking at the woman, Michael shook his head quickly. “Yeah, sorry about that.” He said quickly.

The woman giggled softly. “Oh it is quite all right. I get it a lot.” She quickly glanced at her pen to ensure she was still gripping it tight enough to record the dialog. She also glanced back at the men to ensure that they weren't eyeing the pen suspiciously. They weren't. Instead they were staring at her, probably entranced by her appearance. She almost smiled slyly at this, but stopped herself, knowing it would arouse suspicion in the two guys.

“So what is your name?” Michael asked after a few minutes of silence. The awkward silence of the room was starting to bother him a bit.

“My name?” The woman said slyly. She grinned at him and Donald. “Why don't you guys tell me your names first?”

“My name is Michael.” Michael said.

“And I am Donald.” Donald said.

“And I am...Kista.” The woman said, placing her head on her hand while her elbow rested on the table. The woman, named Kista, stared at the young men in an almost seductive way in order to mask her true intentions. She felt men were too gullible, easily swayed by a beautiful woman like herself, unable to detect any possible dangers. This is why she agreed to track men; they were more prone to danger than women. “I could not help but overhear...” She said as innocently as she could, “..but did you guys happen to mention..Victor?”

Mentioning Victor's name could have proven to be a mistake. But neither men seemed to be suspicious of her. She had almost forgotten how powerful and well known Victor actually was. It would not be unheard of to hear about Victor and his work, especially since there were a lot of articles published on his bioengineering work, minus the mutantsaurs of course. As long as she did not mention anything about mutations or dinosaurs, she would probably be safe.

Michael and Donald looked at each other as the woman had brought up Victor. It was not unusual for people to know about Victor, at least know about the man he had pretended to be all these years. They felt that this woman had probably either met Victor while he was visiting some place checking on his mutants, or read about him in one of the many articles published about him. But if this woman had heard them talking about Victor, just how much had she heard?

“Oh, well..Victor was..” Donald said, fumbling to hold his fork in his hand. But he had a hard time bringing himself to finish his sentence, almost dreading that someone was spying on him and would shoot him if he mentioned he worked for Victor.

Michael noticed his companion's edginess and decided to finish his sentence for him. “Victor used to be our employer.”

Kista pretended to sound shocked, and it looked really convincing as well. She took in a sharp gasp and leaned back, her feminine hand on her chest. “No way, really? That's amazing!”

Michael chuckled softly, not able to share her enthusiasm. “Yeah, I suppose...”

“What did you do?” Kista asked, leaning forward to make herself appear curious and interested in what he wanted to say. Well she was interested and curious, but not for the reason the man probably thought.

“We...I... would rather not talk about it.” Michael said, rubbing the back of his head.

Kista's smile vanished from her face. “Ohh...” She said, trying to sound understanding. “I guess he wasn't such a great man to work with, eh?”

Donald frowned a bit. “You don't know the half of it...”


	7. Glimmer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

The trio continued to talk for what seemed like an hour. Kista had received her food, which was nothing more than a small salad with some Caesar dressing. They started to talk about different things, such as hobbies, their current jobs, their families, and likes and dislikes. The change in conversation, avoiding anything about Victor, seemed to relax the two men as they talk about themselves freely with her. She couldn't help but smile. They were treating her as if they always knew her. The two men seemed relax enough to continue eating, and within a few minutes they had eaten the last bite of their food.

As they finished their water, the waitress that had catered them came by and asked them if they were done. They told her yes and hand over their empty plates and cups to the waitress. She grabbed them carefully and placed them on the cart she had pushed over. She glanced over at Kista, but didn't say anything. She could see that her bowl of salad was still about half full, and believed she still wasn't done eating. She must be a pretty slow eater, she thought.

After they were done eating, Donald decided to try to tell a few jokes to Kista, much to her confusion and surprise. When she laid eyes on these men, she would never have suspected any one of them to be a comedian. They didn't look like the type of men to tell jokes. And as Donald told his jokes, she clenched her teeth. His jokes were pretty bad, and even his male friend was looking at him weird. But nonetheless she pretended to enjoy them, and tried to laugh as much as she could to make him believe she really found it humorous. Donald thanked her, and began to tell a couple other jokes to pass the time, must to the dismay of her and Michael.

She didn't know entirely why she was subjecting herself to this. Her assignment was to spy on them, not endure bad jokes like this guy was telling her. She almost felt like revealing her true intentions to them right then and there, but knew she would face penalty if she did. In all of her missions, she had been forbidden to tell her victims what she was about to do. If assigned to kill, she'd do it secretly, either poisoning them or lethal injection. She had another method in mind, but it would be too drastic and would more easily draw attention to the scene of the crime, and perhaps help expose her.

She finally raised a hand as Donald finished his last joke. “I'm sorry but I had better get going.” She left her salad, a portion of it still inside, on the table as she grabbed her small purse and put her pen inside one of the pockets and zipped it up. She then placed he purse inside her blouse pocket and rose up from her seat. Before she got up, she had quickly wrote down a check to pay for her meal. She turned and headed out of the door before either men could say goodbye to her.

Donald raised an eyebrow. “Now where is she off to in such a hurry?”

Michael chuckled, and elbowed his friend gently. “Maybe she is running away from your horrible jokes.”

Donald growled at him. “There's nothing wrong with my jokes! She thought they were hilarious!”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Yeah. She was just pretending to make you feel better.”

Donald pushed his friend roughly but softly. “Oh shut up..!” He could not believe what his friend was saying.

* * *

Kista walked outside of the restaurant and headed back towards her dark blue car that she had parked close by. She checked the parking meter. It would seem she had gotten there in the nick of time. The meter said she only had about three minutes left before the car would be towed. She quickly opened up the driver's seat, and turned the key in the ignition. The engine quickly roared to life, and the lights flickered on, further illuminating the streets of Boston. The car backed up a little, and then revved forward, gaining speed as it traveled along the road.

“Finally,” Kista said to herself as Burton's Grill became smaller and smaller as she gained more and more distance from it. “I'm away from those two.” She wiped her forehead and grabbed some flavored water she had kept in the car. She popped it open and placed the tip of it in her mouth. Her throat, which had gotten a little sore, seemed to feel better as the cold water splashed inside her mouth and throat.

She placed the bottle back down and focused on finding her apartment so she could get some sleep. “Just why did I agree to spy on those two anyway? They're just a couple of morons.” Another thought crossed her mind. “Morons..who used to work for Victor.” She could barely imagine those two men working in the army, let alone with Victor. The thought amused her to the point where she burst out laughing. If the car frame hadn't muffled the sound, her laughter would probably be heard within a few feet radius from her car.

As she turned a corner, she felt a rumble in her small purse, still resting inside her pocket. She groaned. She knew it was going to be her employer, asking her how the mission went. She quickly pulled up to the side of a street with no parking meters, and pulled out her cell phone and clicked it open. “Hello?” She asked, trying to hide her annoyance.

Sure enough she had been correct. It was her employer. He was asking her how the mission went, no surprise there. “It went fine.” She said. “I really don't know why I am even spying on these guys. They're such small fry. Why are you even concerned about them?”

Much to her surprise, her employer had not only called to ask her mission, but had also called to tell her she is cleared of it. She had been given a new mission, one with higher priority than these two men. She sighed with relief, thankful she would not have to sit through another one of Donald's bad jokes. A raptor would seem less intimidating than that.

“All right then. What's my new mission?” She asked, smiling softly as she awaited instructions for her next assignment. As the information was relayed to her, her smile faded and her eyes widened a little. Then they soon narrowed into slits and her teeth were bared. This was not exactly what she had been hoping for. “You're kidding me..right?”

She groaned softly as her employer confirmed that he was being rather serious about this mission. The new assignment involved some school she's never heard of before to keep an eye on a class she didn't really want to be part of. She rolled her eyes slowly, wanting to tell her employer off. She was getting sick of these useless missions. Although her employer had claimed there was more importance in this mission, she did not see anything particularly special about spying on some brats in an educational building.

She opened up her jaws to express her disinterest and annoyance with these missions, but her employer had broken her off with another statement. He told her that she may be interested in a couple of students, telling her they were rather special and unique, and that she might be able to recognize them when she first meets them.

“Special..?” Kista asked, newfound interest growing up inside her. Maybe there would be something more to this mission than the last one after all. “What makes them special?”

* * *

Back at the lighthouse, Rodger stood outside of the building, a few feet from the lighthouse, standing close to the edge of the cliff. The waves below him were crashing against the cliff edge. One slip up and he could easily fall over. He held the tracking device, held tightly in his hand, high up in the air. He could not get a signal inside the lighthouse for some reason, and determined there was probably some sort of interference, although he couldn't figure out just what kind. Moynihan had suggested he try going outside and doing it. Not one to question his mentor, he obeyed her and took the tracker outside to try to get a signal.

Although things had started to look hopeful, Moynihan tried to convince everyone to calm down. She explained that if they got too worked up over this find, they may become even more crushed when or if the device fails them. They should not jump to any conclusions until Rodger came back with the results. She had convinced everyone to stay inside and await for Rodger's report. He shouldn't be gone too long. Perhaps just five to six minutes if Caruso happened to be within the radius. Rodger, a few days ago, had upgraded the monitoring device to cover far more ground. It was amazing what kind of power he could put into such a little device. But it wasn't the only tiny thing to have so much power, especially when it came to something like computer harddrives.

As he held it up in the air, his thumb felt around for the button to activate a scan. He pressed it, and the machine whirred to life. The screen glowed in the dark night, giving his hand a greenish illumination. The device beeped a few times, and there was a low screech sound as it started to do a scan. Rodger bit his lip and crossed his fingers, hoping the device would work. This was their last chance, and he doubted they would be able to find another chance like this before it was too late. He could only watch as the tracker continued to do its scan, leaving a message that stated the scan would be done in a couple minutes.

Rodger knew it was searching for Caruso specifically. While he was upgrading the device, he had given it the ability to track a single individual by allowing it to hone in on their communication devices, which already had a tracker inside them. Rodger was relieved that Caruso was still wearing his while he was captured. He hoped Veloci wouldn't find out about the tracker, and hadn't removed it. As long as Caruso was still wearing it, the device would find him, surely.

“Come on...” Rodger whispered to himself. “Come on, come up with something..please.” He said, nearly begging the device to find his friend.

After what seemed to be the most intense few minutes of his young life, Rodger finally saw the results of the scan. He looked through the bits of information that now filled the screen. The information being relayed to him was latitude and longitude coordinates of Caruso's current position. While it wasn't going to reveal the precise, pinpoint location, it would give them a place to start. Rodger's lips curled back in a smile as the device did what he wanted it to do, and it revealed the information that they needed. If he wasn't controlling himself, he'd be jumping in the air joyfully.

“Yes!” He shouted to no one in particular. “It worked!”

He looked back at the device as he read the latitude and longitude information. The longitude was negative eighty-five point twenty-four and the latitude was forty-two point eighty-eight. He narrowed his eyes. Being a whiz in school, he knew a thing or two about geography, and he recognized those coordinates. They were Boston's location on the world map. It was not too surprising though. He suspected Victor would take Caruso in Boston. Unfortunately he could not pinpoint exactly where at the moment. But at least now they have a location and can start to formulate a rescue plan.

“Better go tell the guys.” He told himself. Keeping the machine on so that he wouldn't lose the information, he turned back to the lighthouse and walked back to the door.

* * *

Inside the lighthouse, the others were waiting patiently. In Fiona's lap was Rump. The white and black dog seemed confused as to what was going on. He could sense something was wrong with Fiona and everyone else. The dinodog did his best to try to cheer everyone up with his playful antics. But to his disappointment, no one seemed to be in the mood. Whining, he had curled up on Fiona's lap in an attempt to comfort her. Fiona didn't protest. Feeling Rump's warm furry body did help relieve some of the tension she was feeling.

Max leaned back in a couch, and once again stared at the blank TV. He closed his eyes and shook his head, recalling the irony that had occurred earlier that day. He glanced over at the chair where his mentor and reptile-loving friend was. Moynihan was discussing something with Buzz. He assumed it probably had something to do with the little spat he and Rodger had earlier. Max couldn't help but sympathize with Buzz, recalling his own reprimanding from Moynihan earlier that day.

“I hope you and Rodger don't continue that attitude.” Moynihan said, looking at Buzz with a serious look on her face. She didn't like scolding her students for negative behavior, but she knew if she didn't make herself clear, they would probably repeat the unwanted behavior again. She was doing this for their own good, and she was sure they knew that as well.

“We won't, I promise.” Buzz said, raising up his hand to confirm his point. “You have my word.” 

Moynihan smiled and nodded, but she wasn't done with him yet. Before Buzz could walk away, Moynihan grabbed his arm to force him to stay. “I'm not done talking to you.” She said gently, but with a tinge of authority.

Near them, Caruso's parents were still on the couch, having not moved for the past several minutes. They were waiting for Rodger to come back in with any kind of news. They were tense, nervous, almost expecting the worst. And yet in the back of their minds, they still had some hope left. Maybe, just maybe, things would go in their favor, and they would have an idea of where their son was. They could feel the tense feelings eating away at their stomachs. The wait was almost unbearable, but they would have to suffice.

To try to keep their minds off the negative feelings, they had started to discuss, a little, on some happier moments about Caruso. They talked about different things, like his first laugh, his first smile, when he first walked. They also discussed other things about Caruso, such as his early life in school, how he became obsessed with his appearance, and how he had broken his arm one year while on a field trip. But his arm healed completely and there's not even a scar left behind.

They suddenly frowned to themselves. The last memory, about his arm getting broken, wasn't actually a happy memory. It was worrisome enough when they found out about a single fracture. They started to feel upset all over again as they started to imagine just what kind of condition Caruso must be in right now. They might not deal with just one fracture, but multiple ones, perhaps even missing limbs. The worst case scenario is that they would have to plan for their son's funeral. Mrs. Caruso bit her lip as she thought about this. She did not believe she could handle having to watch her son being lowered into the dark-colored ground.

“Do you think the device will work, Jack?” Amanda asked as she glanced towards the door. She could see a dark shadow, and knew Rodger was going to come in any second. But she still felt nervous. What if he would come in only to bring bad news?

“I'm sure it will, dear.” Jack assured her. “I'm positive.”

The door to the lighthouse swung open, and all eyes were now on Rodger. The african-american had a big smile on his face, although they could still see some worry in his eyes. He walked into the lighthouse and shut the door behind him. Everyone waited as he walked in the room to join them. No one said anything. It was Moynihan's suggestion that everyone was to remain quiet when Rodger returned to tell them the good news or the bad news. She felt that this way, Rodger wouldn't feel as pressured, since he wouldn't be bombarded with so many questions, or be surrounded by people trying to look at the scans.

Rodger sat down on the couch where Buzz used to be before Moynihan pulled him aside to have a talk with him. He took a moment to take in a breather, trying to calm down his racing heart and pulse. He then glanced at Max. Instead of giving what kind of news he asked, Rodger asked, “Max, can you get me a pen and piece of paper?”

Max's eyes widened a little. He had a feeling of what Rodger was going to do. Without saying a word, he got up out of his seat and walked over, pulling out a pen from his pocket, and grabbed a piece of paper that was on the floor. He handed them over to Rodger, who took them without saying a word. Max watched as Rodger placed the paper on a book, used as a hard surface, and start to write something on it. Or was he drawing? Max couldn't tell, but he had a feeling it was good news. Why else would Rodger need a pen and paper? Why else would he have that big grin on his face when he walked in through the door?

Rodger wrote down the coordinates on the piece of paper as well as a crude map of the northeast of the country. He had to strain his memory to remember the general shape and size of each state, and hoped his so-called map would make enough sense to his friends. When he was done, he returned to his seat and held out the paper in front of the group, and used the pen as a pointer. He hoped that he would explain in such a way that he doesn't confuse the others.

“The scanner worked.” Rodger announced. He looked around the room, seeing the look of relief and joy on everyone's faces, especially on Caruso's parents' faces. Rodger could feel his heart fill with happiness to see them looking so full of hope once more. The same thing went to the rest of his Dino Squad comrades, and Ms. Moynihan. He looked down at his map, and used the pen to circle the coordinates. “According to the scanner, Caruso's current position is forty-two point eighty-eight degrees latitude and negative eighty-five point twenty-four longitude.”

Rodger looked up to see everyone's expressions. They hadn't changed. They were all still smiling. They probably had an idea of where Caruso was, but they were probably just happy to just know where he was finally. He decided to continue with his explanation. He moved the pen and started to circle an area of what looked to be Massachusetts.

“That would point Caruso around here.” Rodger said, indicating one part of the state in particular. “It means he is somewhere in the region of Boston, possibly in or around Raptor Dyne.”

The news did not particularly surprise anyone. It would seem like Victor to take Caruso there to perform his experiments. They all knew where Raptor Dyne was and they could easily get in, or so they believed, and get Caruso back. And even if they could not get in, they could always alert the authority and tell them of what happened, although this was a risky move. They would have to come up with some sort of lie to cover up the fact that Caruso could transform into a dinosaur, and perhaps also try to cover up Veloci's little secret too. While he was their enemy, exposing him would not make their lives any easier.

“So what are we waiting for?” Buzz said. “Let's go down there and get Caruso back!”

“Not so fast Buzz.” Max said. “First we need a plan.”

Despite the good news they were given, they still had to remain focused, and serious about this situation. They couldn't get too worked up over it, and they still had to approach this cautiously. They still needed a plan. Even if they got into Raptor Dyne, they would have no idea where he was. And what if he's not in Raptor Dyne at all? He could be in any building in the surrounding area. It would take days to look through them all, and surely Veloci would catch on and perhaps relocate Caruso before they got to him. What they needed now was a way to find out Caruso's exact location. Once they did that, they could go there and free him.

“Max is right, yo.” Rodger explained as he set the paper and pen back down. “We now know Caruso's in Boston, but we can't make a move just yet. Without knowing his exact location, we don't know where to start. And if Victor sees us there, he could make the search even more difficult.”

“Well we can't just sit here and do nothing.” Fiona said, stroking Rump's fur. “We have the information we need, so we have to come up with something, don't we?”

“Yes.” They heard Moynihan say. The old woman leaned forward a bit, her fingers interlocked and her chin resting on them. She listened to Rodger's information carefully. She had once lived in the Boston area, and knew how large it was, and how Caruso could be anywhere there. “It is true that we have to formulate a plan, but I suggest we wait until tomorrow morning.” She knew this statement would not take too well with the children and Caruso's parents, but she felt she knew what she was doing. She was a lot more familiar with Raptor Dyne and the way it functioned than the children did.

“What are you saying?” Fiona asked angrily, making the old woman flinch. “We can't just leave him there all night!”

Max joined in. “Why would you even suggest that, Ms. Moynihan?!” He just couldn't believe that his mentor would even think about leaving Caruso in or around Raptor Dyne all night by himself. That was insane! “Whose side are you on?!”

Moynihan flinched again, and moved a bit backwards in her seat, feeling the tension of everyone glaring at her for her suggestion. She knew, herself, that leaving Caruso alone for the night would be risky, but it would just be as risky to go now to find Caruso. “I am sorry that I upset you all, but going after Caruso now would not benefit anyone. Victor's security is more secure at night. And at night, our brains sends a hormone to make us sleepy. We wouldn't be able to function well enough to get past the tight security.”

“But...” Max said, raising a finger. “..we have done missions at night before, with no trouble. Why should this be any different?”

For what feels like the first time, Moynihan felt at a loss of words. She meant well, and she knew the others knew it. They had always trusted her advice, and felt they could rely on her. But now she began to question her own ability to make decisions. Max had brought up a very good point that she could not ignore. They HAD gone on missions during the late night before and were still able to succeed. If she feared it to be too risky to go after Caruso at night, she should have come up with another reason. Perhaps they could succeed in rescuing the boy if they were to hurry up... but where would they go?

Regardless of knowing that Irwin was in Boston, they still don't know what building he was in. And it wasn't like they could go searching without arousing suspicion either. What human wouldn't notice a pale yellow van wandering the neighborhoods and streets, searching every possible building? And what of Veloci and his men? Would they not grow suspicious as well? Victor has seen the pale yellow SUV for himself a few times. He could easily spot the SUV from satellites or from where he resides at night. He may recognize them and find someway to stop their advice long before they could reach their destination.

Moynihan subconsciously bit her lip as she stared at Max. The young boy was looking at her directly in the eyes, awaiting her response. Moynihan felt the pressure a leader would feel when faced with making a final decision that could mean the difference between life and death. She knew that if she chose wrong, Caruso's life might be put to an end. But which decision is the right one? Should she allow them to after Caruso now? Or should she go forward with her plan and make them wait until morning? She already knew the consequences if she chose wrong.

She knew had to choose what was best for Caruso, for his sake. Right now, saving him was the highest priority. If they didn't save him, not only could he lose his life, but Veloci could harness more of his DNA to find out what makes the DNA perfect, and if he succeeds in doing that, he could get one step closer at perfecting his experimental DNA. It could spell doom for the human race as well as modern Earth. Moynihan did admit to herself, yet not to the kids, that sometimes she did miss the Mesozoic Era and how things used to be. But she accepted the changes long ago, and she did not want anyone to suffer from Victor's ambitious ways.

She still struggled on making a decision. It's been about a minute now, and she still hasn't replied. She wondered if Max was starting to grow impatient with her. She wondered if the other children were starting to question her abilities as a leader. And she wondered if Caruso's parents were growing suspicious of her. She couldn't stand the thought of losing respect and admiration, especially from the children, with whom she'd grown close to. The last thing she wanted to do was get rejected by these people.

Joanne finally gained the courage to speak, and finally made a response to Max's question. “You are right Max.” She said. “We have done night missions in the past. We have completed them with succession.” She had respected Max for his leadership skills among the group. He always seemed to just take charge when no one else would. Although his leadership status was rocky at first, he's greatly improved and gained the respect of his fellow Dino Squad team mates. Perhaps she should allow him and the Dino Squad to go after Caruso now. But then..they'd need her help, and what help would she be without her equipment? “However, you won't be able to pull off the mission by yourselves. You kids have never been to Raptor Dyne. I have, and I know what kind of traps Victor sets up. I will need to guide you, however at present time I would just slow you down.” She pointed at her swollen ankle.

“No sweat,” Max said, sounding confident. “We can handle it. We've faced Victor before.”

Joanne nodded. “Yes, but that was before he knew you were really teenagers.” The Dino Squad have confronted Victor before, in dino mode, and faced off with him. But the fights were short, and there was usually no biting or clawing. Victor had thought they were real dinosaurs, and he did not want to damage them. But now that he knows they are human, things might be different. “He went easy on you before. Now that he does now the truth, I fear he may not show as much mercy against you as he had in the past.”

Rodger winced as he recalled what happened earlier that day. He could still feel the stinging pain from his injuries he received from Victor in that battle. “Yeah, I noticed..” He said softly. “He was one nasty fighter.”

“I'm surprised he held back on you, Rodger.” Moynihan said, which caught the boy by surprise.

“You mean he could do worse?” Rodger asked.

Moynihan slowly nodded. “I have faced Victor many times, and he is a more capable fighter than what he's shown you, Rodger.” She knew that Victor could have easily killed the boy from his position. He had his sickle claws in the right place and he was in a position that gave him the most advantage. Rodger was not able to see him and could not buck Victor off of his back. If it weren't for Buzz taking Victor by surprise and knocking him off, Rodger's injuries would have been a lot more severe. “If he wanted to, he could have easily ended your life.”

Rodger gulped as Moynihan told them this. He felt Victor was tough enough as he tried to get him off of him, but to think he could have done a lot more damage scared him. If Victor does not hold back next time, how much of a chance would he stand? “Oh man...” It was all he could manage to say.

“So what are we supposed to do?” Amanda said, finally speaking up. “Are we supposed to allow our son to stay who-knows-where with a monster all night?” By the sound of her voice, Moynihan could tell she was getting angry. “What kind of mentor are you, to leave one of your own pupils in a dangerous situation like that?!” Amanda spat as her husband held her back. If he didn't do this, Amanda might have gripped Moynihan roughly out of frustration.

Joanne Moynihan flinched at the woman's harsh words, feeling a guilty feeling well up inside her stomach. Gritting her teeth briefly as she felt the tension rise, she attempted to reason with Mrs. Caruso. “I have no intention on abandoning your son, Mrs. Caruso. I just fear that going after him now may not work to our advantage. It might destroy any chance we have of recovering your son alive.”

“And what if you're wrong?!” Amanda snapped, baring her teeth. “What if by tomorrow Victor's killed him?!”

“Honey...” Jack said, attempting to settle his wife down. “Calm down...” Jack himself was ticked off with Moynihan deciding not to go after Irwin now, but he knew that yelling at her wouldn't make the situation better. He felt he could trust her, and understood that she would only make this decision if she felt it was for the best.

“Calm down?!” Amanda snapped. “How can I calm down when she...”

Jack pulled his wife closer to him. “Amanda, dear, she is only trying to help...”

“But she does have a point.” Fiona said as she took a step forward. She glared at Moynihan, although not harshly, as she spoke, “Regardless of what you say, Ms. M, I don't think there's any excuse in leaving Caruso when we have the technology know to find him.”

Ms. Moynihan lowered her head and closed her eyes.. So far the only ones who seemed to agree with her were Jack Caruso and Rodger. The others were still either unhappy with her decision or looking as though they were skeptical. She was still outnumbered four to three. And hearing what Fiona said made her feel even more guilty. She let out a sigh. Maybe she should let them go after Caruso now. She slowly lifted her head back up, her eyes now open. She scanned around the room, everyone's eyes on her. She didn't want to send them out during a time she couldn't help them. But then, she did know that the children did manage to complete a mission completely on their own before. She wondered how she could have forgotten about that. She knew what she had to do.

“...all right.” Moynihan said, giving in. “I'll allow you children to go to Boston now. But, Buzz, Max, and Rodger, you must call your parents and tell them you'll be spending the night with me. They're probably worried enough as it is. Fiona, you may call your parents and tell them you and the others are going to Boston.” She did have the children, earlier, call their parents and tell them what happened and why they were going to be home late. But now they'd have to call them and tell them they would be gone all night and might not be back until the next day. Fiona's parents knew about their secret and thus it was not necessary to hide anything from them. But Max's parents, Rodge's parents, and Buzz's parents were still oblivious and thus could not know where they were really going.

But although her new decision was met with approval, she couldn't help but wonder about one thing. Had she made the right decision?

* * *

Caruso took another bite of the sandwich that Victor's servant had given to him. He had only eaten a couple bites, even though he was very hungry. His mouth was so cut up that it was difficult for him to eat. Every mouth full of food stung him and he could feel tears of pain flowing down his face. Just eating was torture for him now. He looked at his sandwich and felt disgusted that it was coated with bits of his blood. The sandwich had quickly gained a salty taste to it.

He set the sandwich down and picked up the glass of water he was given. He took a sip, and immediately yelped in pain. While the water did feel cold, it still stung him. Nonetheless he swallowed the water, now salty-tasking due to the blood that mixed in with it. He set the glass down and looked at it, noticing some streams of red now floating in it. He groaned. How much longer must he suffer in this place? How long was it going to take his friends to find him? He looked up at the ceiling and wondered what time it must be now. Surely he must have been in this cell several hours, or so it seemed.

He glanced over at the door. Obviously it was shut now. The man was instructed to give him the food and then close the door. Caruso had been alone ever since then in this room. He shuddered a little. He was starting to feel lonely. A human wasn't meant for solitude for very long if they were accustomed to interaction like he was. He started to whimper a little as he pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. For the first time he started to feel real fear when being alone.

He began to think of the day ahead. From what Victor had already described for him, he wasn't looking forward to it. The experiments must be horrific and intense if Victor wanted him to have some strength left to endure them. Before Victor left to make a phone call, he had given Caruso a few details on what he should look forward to tomorrow. Victor had planned on testing a few of his new mutantsaurs on him and also wanted him to try a few experimental plants he planned on growing for his new dinosaur reign. But it wasn't these he was most worried about. There was a third experiment he would endure later on in the day.

Victor explained how he wanted to bring Moynihan back over to his side. Despite what he said about her and how he reacts when her name is mentioned, he, in a way, misses her, or at least her cunning intellect she displayed while with him. Victor missed the old Joanne, the one he had known sixty-five million years ago. Why, not so long ago, in Earth time, Joanne would have stood by him in his quest to reclaim the planet. But now she stands on the other side.

Dr. Veloci knew full well he'd never be able to bring Joanne back willingly, especially after his failed plan involving breaking her leg. That didn't work in his favors, instead worked against him by preventing the female Velociraptor from trusting him again. So Victor started to think about another solution. He only recently decided what he was going to do after getting inspiration from a source he would not specify. 

And Victor did not go into detail with Caruso on what his idea was. And not knowing is what frightened the boy the most. Horrible mental images flooded his mind, and he could not get them to go away. What if Victor planned on torturing Joanne just like he had him? What if he would threaten his very life to force Joanne into surrendering herself to him? What if Victor had some sort of device upon which he could control Moynihan? What if he actually planned on killing her in the end?

The thought of Ms. Moynihan brought about a sharp guilt in the boy's stomach as he recalled what he said about her earlier. He just flat out called her a coward and a weakling. He bit his lip softly, and lowered his head. Why had he said those things about his mentor? She'd never did anything to him except try to help him, as well as his friends, become a better team, and better people. And what did he do in return? Insulted her..blatantly insulted her, just like how Max had insulted him that morning. Caruso rubbed his stomach a little to try and rid himself of the horrible mental pain, but it would not go away. He pressed his back against the wall and tilted his head so that his eyes were looking up at the ceiling.

What would she think of him if she ever found out what he'd said? He felt only slightly relieved that Moynihan was nowhere near him when he said that. But he feared that Victor would say that, perhaps to get Moynihan to turn against the Dino Squad. He trembled slightly at the thought. And what would his friends think of him if that did happen and they found out what he said? They might reject him, kick him off the team, or even attack him. And his parents...what would they think? Caruso gulped painfully, wincing as he applied pressure on some of the cuts inside his mouth. He'd probably be forced to live as a nomad, and avoid attacks from both sides. He'd have no one to trust, and nowhere to go.

No! He shouldn't think like that! Caruso swiftly shook his head to clear his mind. He shouldn't be jumping to conclusions now. And he shouldn't be giving into the loneliness and the guilt. That would have to wait. Right now the most important thing was to find a way to escape. He could see no way out, however. Not even his Stegosaurus form would be able to break free of these walls. And the door was locked from the outside. This room was nothing more than one giant cell. And he doubted Victor would overlook any part of it if he intended on keeping him here for a good long while.

Then Caruso shuddered once more. A terrible thought swept through him. What did Victor have planned for HIM when he was done with him? Caruso had pondered this before, and now thinking about it again, he was frightened even more. Caruso tried to keep his mind of it. Perhaps Victor deemed him too valuable, and wouldn't just kill him off. But then, what if he planned something worse than death? Caruso's thoughts went back to what Victor explained earlier, about the experiments he would endure.

He soon began to worry about the other two experiments that Victor had described more in detail than his third. He's faced countless mutantsaurs in the past. There was little that could take him off guard in regards to Victor's mutated animal experiments. But old fears began to rise back up when he allowed his thoughts to trail back in time, and uncovered the memory of their short camping trip. He had gotten Buzz and Rodger, as well as himself, all worked up over nothing. He had frightened Buzz with talk of mutantsaurs so big that even in dino mode they couldn't protect themselves, of mutantsaurs so small they crawled inside the ear and took over or ate their brain, and of mutantsaurs that could turn invisible. And in his blind fear he had nearly ran over the hillside.

Irwin tried to keep his sanity. In the camping trip, when he had let his fear get the best of him, he nearly seriously hurt himself. As Max explained to him, he had let his irrational fear take control. There was nothing in sight, and yet he'd reacted as if something was actually there. The young boy had felt pretty stupid afterward when he found out Buzz had only got his wings caught in a tree; he was never captured by any kind of giant mutantsaur. He knew Buzz felt pretty silly as well. Caruso could almost kick himself for mistaking Fiona's grunts for threatening mutantsaur sounds.

While they were driving home, Caruso had explained to the others more of what happened that night and why he and Buzz had wandered off in the first place. When he explained that he and Buzz were hearing strange noises, Fiona had spoken up, stating that she'd gone out that night to work a little on the SUV. Upon hearing this, Caruso and Buzz had looked at each other, and burst out laughing. Caruso smiled weakly at the memory. That silly mistake had gotten everyone in a cheerful mood as they couldn't stop laughing about it. While it was embarrassing, he and Buzz joined in the laughter, and felt better afterwards.

But that was the past, and this was the present. He was not in some situation that he only thought was dangerous because of his imagination. He was not in the company of his friends and wasn't getting any advice from Max or anyone else. He was not having some sort of nightmare and would wake up from it, no matter how much he wished this be true. He wasn't riding home in the SUV, getting ready to go back to his house. The reality now was he was alone. As much as he admitted Victor be right, he was alone, trapped, caged, with no way out. The danger was now very real, and no amount of wishing it all away will change anything.

Caruso had always thought of Victor as not much of a threat. Sure, he had admitted he found some of his mutantsaurs to be formidable and some of his ideas dangerous. But Victor had never gone out of his way to physically hurt anyone. At least he himself had never witnessed it, or even seen anything to suggest this. He had regarded Victor has nothing more than a show-off, someone who was just all talk and no action. But Caruso had been wrong. And he had found out the hard way that Victor was not someone to piss off. Victor did not just look intimidating, he knew how to back it up as well. Those claws weren't for show...

The young boy lifted his injured arm to examine it again. The skin around the cut had turned a red shade, and the wound was still sealed up. A hard, very dark red line now snaked across his arm, and was still very tender to touch. Caruso thought back to when he was on the ground and couldn't get back up because of this wound, and how Victor was forced to help him up, if one could even call it helping. Victor had called him pathetic, and had stated he'd never last in the dinosaur world. Caruso flinched a bit as the meaning of that statement started to sink in a little. Was Victor right? Maybe he really was pathetic, and weak. Maybe he wouldn't last very long in the world if dinosaurs ruled once more.

A painful feeling started to overtake the dark-haired teenager. He started to think about all the things he's done that had put himself in danger, or the others in danger. He had almost revealed himself on national television. If there was one thing Caruso craved more than anything, it was fame. He didn't see the dinosaur transformations as something they should hide. He understood that exposing themselves would have made it easier for Victor to track them down, but at the time, Caruso only saw this as a minor setback. He hadn't given transforming into a Stegosaurus on national television a second thought and had even lied to his friends. He had eventually stopped after thinking about Max's warning about the tangled web of lies.

He had cheated in a football game using his dinosaur powers all because he thought his dad wanted him to win. Caruso could have went through with it without using his dinosaur powers. So what if he had lost? His dad would have still loved him, and only wanted him to be happy. Why had he done something so reckless? He'd almost quit the team even though they were just trying to protect him. And because of him, Veloci had almost discovered the lighthouse. Although he was able to warn the guys just in time, he had almost gotten himself caught. He was lucky that his friends were nearby, and had saved him.

He had brought a crazed and selfish news reporter to the same place the Dino Squad were for a mission and almost considered exposing Max for fame. He still couldn't believe he ever wanted to be like O'Ryan. The man was nothing but a selfish jerk. But seeing the real O'Ryan did make Caruso realize just how selfish he'd been acting. And as he thought about this today, it made him feel worse knowing that he had actually considered, briefly, telling O'Ryan the truth just so he could be famous. He had never told Max this for fear he would lose his friendship with him.

He had taken advantage of his friends and asked for help with things he could have done on his own. And when Rump got loose and he really needed help, he had refused and ended up almost getting them all captured. Caruso still couldn't believe how selfish he had acted then. He acted for help too often. Ms. Moynihan had been right. Feeling embarrassed about asking for more help, he thought he could handle Rump on his own. But instead, he caused his friends to get captured. And then when he and Buzz freed them, he once again got them captured in order to pull off a stunt to throw off Victor. But what if it hadn't worked...? Moynihan had asked him this, and Caruso had never found an answer.

And he had bought five pets to use them for an internet show. But it did very poorly, and he had blamed the animals. If it weren't for his friends, he would have just dumped them outside. But he had put them all in very real danger because the animals mutated. And it wasn't just them he had put in danger. He had threatened the very life of Fiona's grandfather by leaving his infected goldfish in the koi pond. Fiona was angry with him for quite a while after that incident. He couldn't really blame her. His irresponsible behavior had almost gotten her grandfather killed. And the infected pets had caused Veloci to visit their own neighborhood, and had nearly gotten them caught. If it weren't for those two idiots that Victor had hired, Max would have gotten hurt.

And, unfortunately, there was more...

The more Caruso thought about what he had done, the guiltier he started to feel. After all he's put the others through, perhaps..perhaps he did deserve this fate. Perhaps it was better that they never find him. Victor was right. He was pathetic and weak. Maybe he was better off just staying here and letting Victor do whatever he wanted to him. Caruso didn't think he'd be able to face the others now. Maybe they weren't looking for him after all. Maybe they were staying at the lighthouse, discussing how things were better now that he was gone.

All he had ever caused for the others was trouble. Caruso felt tears form in his eyes as he started to reflect back to the things he'd done. The others probably hated him, and had only tolerated his presence because he could transform like they could. Maybe they had let him go with Victor on purpose just to be free of him. Maybe they had never given it their all, had allowed the Troodon and Michelle defeat them so Victor could capture him.

But..if they truly didn't care about him, why had they tried so hard to keep Victor from taking him? When he was captured after the football game, Max and Fiona had showed up to pull him free. And this morning, when the claw grabbed him once more, the others, despite their injuries, had tried so hard to save him. Why would they give it their all just to save him if they hated him? The answer was obvious. As he thought about it, he started to smile a little, and wiped the tears from his eyes. Despite all he's put them through, one thing remained the same. He was their friend.

As Caruso began to calm himself down, he could hear the door opening up again. He felt a little confused. He thought Victor hadn't planned on doing anything with him tonight. He wondered if Victor had truly changed his mind. Caruso started to feel his heart race at the thought. And he was about to learn just how right that thought was. He watched the door slowly open up, and a shadowy figure stepped inside the large cell. While the darkness hid most of the figure, it didn't take him long to know it was Victor. The mad scientist stood before him, a dark grin on his face.

The young boy quickly struggled to his feet, and backed up to the wall. “Victor...” Caruso managed to say through his pain. It couldn't have been morning just yet. He hadn't completely finished his meal yet, and he hadn't even gotten any sleep. “What's going on?”

Victor's smirk grew larger as he pointed to a watch he was wearing on his hand. “It's time.”

“But it can't be...” Caruso tried to protest. “It's not even morning yet.”

“It's midnight.” Victor said as he approached the young boy.

“It's not morning...” Caruso said as he tried to keep his distance from the Velociraptor. “You said the experiments wouldn't start until morning.”

Victor chuckled. He felt quite amused at how the boy was trying to talk his way out of this. He wasn't at all surprised at the boy's confusion. Humans were surely not the brightest on this planet. Their thought process was too different from a dinosaur's. “Midnight is morning, you hairless monkey.” Victor stated casually, shrugging his shoulders. In a taunting manner, he added, “Please don't tell me you're too dense to know that.” It would not really surprise him if Caruso had told him he didn't know. Humans were pretty dense creatures as far as he was concerned.

As he had Caruso backed up into a corner, he moved an arm from behind and revealed the human bridle once more. Caruso's eyes widened, and he attempted to get away. Using whatever strength he still had, he pushed against Victor to knock him back a little, and attempted to bolt towards the still open door, ignoring what Victor had told him hours ago. But just as he reached the door, a blur of black and red filled his field of vision, and he felt himself knocked back by something smooth and thick.

'Foolish human.' Caruso heard in his mind. He slowly looked up from the ground to see a large red Velociraptor standing before him. In his claw, he still held the bridle with ease. The raptor's mouth was partly open in a dinosaurian smile. The fierce glare, so similar to an eagle's, bore through him like a drill, as though he was reading his mind. 'You can't run from me.'

Caruso tried to push himself up, using his arms for support, but he was pushed into the ground and held in place by Veloci's strong raptor leg. Caruso grabbed the leg with his hands and attempted to pry the leg off. But the foot was firmly planted on his chest, and his efforts to move it off of him was met with a cold dinosaurian laughter from Victor. In response to his feeble efforts, the scientist applied a lot more pressure, causing Irwin to gasp for air as it started to become difficult for him to take in air. He looked up at Victor with wide-eyes, making Victor smirk a little more at the spark of fear in them.

'Why don't you just give in?' Victor questioned the boy. He was quickly growing annoyed with how the boy was struggling underneath him. He was almost disgusted to the point of just kicking the boy with his sickle claw. But he restrained himself. He also felt satisfied, feeling even more powerful that he had the boy pinned down in a vulnerable position. He'd often force some of his less competent or rebellious workers into this position to show them who was boss.

“I...I...” Caruso started, but then gritted his teeth as the pressure on his chest made it increasingly difficult for him to even breathe, let alone speak. His arms were growing tired from pushing and pulling, and his feet weren't doing any good. None of his kicks seem to be effecting Veloci in the slightest. Instead, they seem to only amuse and annoy him. In desperation, and a last ditch effort, Caruso's eyes started to glow.

Victor's eyes widened a little, but soon narrowed as his dinosaurian smirk spread across his maw. This is the moment he had been waiting for. Caruso was finally giving in and transforming into a Stegosaurus. Victor gazed down at the bridle. In Stegosaurus form, Caruso would appear too large for it. But he need not worry. The bridle could be adjusted in size to fit the large herbivore. He would have to hurry though. The Stegosaurus's jaws were filled with sharp teeth. Though they were designed for cutting plants, they could do some serious damage if he bit him. And the Stegosaurus's tail was just as dangerous. Those spikes weren't there for show. Victor knew he must bind both the jaws and tail of Caruso's dinosaur form if he wanted any chance at dominating the boy.

Caruso's muscles in his arms and legs grew in size as he allowed some of his dinosaur form to take over. Baring his teeth, the boy gripped Victor's leg with newfound strength. He squeezed the leg tightly, causing Victor to flinch in pain. He then used his dino strength to push Victor off of him. The red raptor stumbled across the floor, and scrambled to his feet. He nearly let go of the bridle, and winced as he felt some of the metal spikes scrape across his arm, drawing a little blood. He glanced down at the small, insignificant injury, and snorted.

'You dare try to injure me?' Victor said, his eyes narrowed into slits. 'You'll have to do better than that.' Victor was a little puzzled that the boy continued to try to find some way to defy him. How could something so weak like that boy still have enough courage to fight back against a superior being like himself?

“I...will.” Caruso said as his skin started to change color and his size increased dramatically as his body was overcome with a bluish glow.

Victor watched as the transformation took place. So this is how his perfect dinosaurs kept appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Victor was suddenly reminded of himself as he watched the transformation. And this only allowed his anger to eat away at him a bit more. He would never understand why these five children didn't realize the true potential of their dinosaur forms. And he'd definitely not understand why they hadn't join up with him to be part of the dominant species. Instead they waste their time defending humanity; an effort that will be all for nothing, for he will succeed.

With a bellow, Caruso's transformation was complete. He stood over Victor, like an elephant standing over a large polar bear, and bellowed again. With his large red plates, Victor would have a difficult time jumping into his back. His head was armed with his Stegosaurus teeth, and his tail had large spikes that he could easily drive into the smaller dinosaur standing in front of him.

'Impressive...' Victor smirked as he looked the Stegosaurus over, judging his strength with his calculating mind. 'But I don't think you can comprehend its power.'

'Oh really?' Caruso snarled. 'How's this for not being able to comprehend?'

Caruso lifted up his long tail and quickly turned to his side. This brought the tail closer to Victor for a strike. In a second, he leveled his tail above Victor and quickly slammed the tail down. It missed Victor, and smashed into the hard floor, dust being kicked up. Despite the stinging pain he felt in the tail, he went for another blow. Again he missed Victor and slammed his tail into the ground. The Velociraptor was moving too quickly for him. He bared his teeth in frustration as the Velociraptor chortled in his mind.

'You may have the body of a Stegosaurus.' Victor explained as he walked over, holding the bridle. 'But you do not have the mind of a Stegosaurus. You have not yet unlocked its true potential.'

'What are you talking about?' Caruso asked.

Victor shook his head slowly. 'What I'm saying is this: You and your friends may be able to transform into dinosaurs. But you do not know everything your forms can do. You don't naturally know their combat moves, all their strengths, all their weaknesses. So despite all the times you have fought against my creations, you and your pathetic friends have yet to unlock the full power of the dinosaur.' Victor now stood about a foot from Caruso's head. He lowered his own so that his eyes stared straight into the boy's. 'You're all still too weak to resist me, let alone fight me. That's how I was almost able to kill your Styracosaurus friend.'

Caruso hissed in anger. 'That was a coward's move! Striking someone from behind..'

'A coward's move?' Victor asked in a sarcastic tone. 'Only to a human. In the dinosaur world, there's no such thing as a coward's move.' He pressed his head against Caruso's, his eyes inches away from his. 'And if you continue to live by those rules, then you'll never be a match for me.' He told the boy.

Caruso arched his back, brandishing his plates threateningly. His tail was raised high up in the air, and swung it a few times. 'I'm larger than you are!' He declared as he snapped his jaws at Victor's head.

The red raptor quickly snapped his head back, avoiding the clamping jaws of the Stegosaurus. 'You are also a lot slower than I am.' Victor retorted in a raptor-like chuckle. Caruso snarled at him, but offered no comeback. Victor grinned viciously as he reached out with a clawed hand and placed it on Caruso's head, taking the chance of him nearly losing that limb. But he was confident enough in that Caruso's Stegosaurus form would be too slow for him, and he'd be able to pull his arm away to safety. He pressed his talons into the top of the kid's maw, causing him to wince in pain. 'I might be smaller, but I am more than a match for you.' To reinforce his dominance, the Velociraptor's three long fingers closed around the boy's already injured mouth and squeezed tightly, closing the jaws shut.

Caruso's eyes widened as he felt the scaly fingers of the villain keep his mouth shut. He attempted to open up his jaws, but found he could barely move them as long as Victor kept his grip on him. This was a weakness he hadn't known about. A Stegosaurus's jaws were like an alligator's. The power went into closing the jaws, not opening them. He could feel his heart start to race a little, and he shook his head violently left and right. Victor gritted his teeth as he tried to keep his grip on the dinosaur's mouth. But with another shake of the head, Caruso managed to knock Victor into the ground hard enough to force him to let go.

Caruso immediately opened up his mouth, opening and closing it a few times. Each time, he widened his jaws at different lengths, stretching out the masseter that attacked the base of his jaws to his skull. He was testing his jaws to make sure they hadn't received any new injuries. He'd suffered enough blows to that area from the bridle he had to wear for a while that day.

Victor was back on his feet now. His eyes were narrowed, and yet his mouth was slightly open, a dinosaurian laugh. He had to admit, the kid was smart enough to know how to knock him off. But then again that was probably just dumb luck. He looked like he was panicking. The red dinosaur snorted. If the boy was scared of having his mouth tied shut, then he would be petrified of one particular experiment he had planned for him, and Ms. Moynihan as well, if he is able to get close enough to her that is.

Victor wondered, to himself, if the other members of this Dino Squad were as resilient. Would they stand up to him just as this human had, and try to fight him even though they have not yet mastered their dinosaur forms? And just how well do they work as a team? He frowned slightly as he recalled how unorganized their fighting seemed to be. At least that's not any kind of organization he'd see executed by a Velociraptor pack. No wonder Michelle and Oscura were able to win so easily.

What's the matter, human?' Victor said to Caruso in thought-speak. 'Are you unable to handle a few seconds not being able to use that big mouth of yours?'

Caruso bared his teeth at the insult. 'Look who's talking, Mr. I-Am-A-Velociraptor-Who-Hates-Humans-And-Yet-Needs-Humans-To-Fulfill-My-Ultimate-Plan-Because-I-Am-Weak-Without-Them.' He retorted, taking a step forward as he spoke to reinforce his statement.

Caruso quickly regretted his remark. After he said that insult, he could see that Victor was shaking visibly. But it wasn't because he was cold. It was anger. Victor's scaly lips were pulled up to reveal his pink gums and the razor sharp teeth that lined his jaws. Saliva started to drip from the tip of his mouth, and his hands tensed up, the tips of the claws reflecting some light. The red and beige dinosaur arched his back like a cat, the tail raised high into the air. He opened his jaws and let out a horrible sound that seemed to be a cross between a gator's hiss and a bird's call.

Victor was furious this..this human would dare say such a thing to him. Just what did he know?! So what if he worked with humans? How else was he going to achieve his goal? The little urchin knew little about the real world. He was just a primate, just a hairless mammal. He couldn't being to understand his point of view. He was as closed-minded as all the other humans Victor had the unfortunate luck of getting stuck working with. If the boy continued up this attitude...Victor would have to struggle against his urge to kill the boy.

'Why you little...' Victor said as he seethed through his fangs. 'Must I teach you a lesson yet again?' He brought his dinosaur hands forward, facing one another, brandishing the talons in the air threateningly. 'If you keep this up, I may not leave anything behind for your friends to find...' Caruso's eyes widened at that statement.

As Victor uttered another low growl, Caruso took a step back, his confidence starting to wither. He was starting to feel sick to his stomach. He wondered if it was that sandwich he had to eat. He wondered if it was the fear he was feeling now. Caruso knew he shouldn't give up, and shouldn't give into this monster standing in front of him. But he also knew that if he kept acting the way he was now, he might not get out of this situation alive.

Perhaps he needn't totally give in. Maybe he could trick Victor into thinking he had given in. He thought about this idea before, but wasn't one hundred percent sure it would be wise to go through with it. If it failed, Victor could become even more vicious in..whatever he was doing, breaking his spirit perhaps. Caruso tentatively licked one of the small wounds on his lips, wincing at the slight pain that still hung there. If Victor could be this vicious when he is still more or less under control, he wasn't sure if he wanted to witness how he could be when he releases his anger all at once on him.

Caruso lowered his tail, and let out a low sigh of defeat. He took a step forward once again, but lacking the self-confidence and emphasis that it had just moments earlier. With eyes closed, but head still raised, Caruso delivered his message, hoping it would be convincing enough to soothe the savage Velociraptor. '..all right. You win.'

At once, Victor's tail lowered down, his eyes narrowing a little. But his snarl had disappeared, replaced with an eerie smile. He flashed a glowing blue and white, and soon reverted back into his human disguise. The same expression remained on his face. “There's a good lad.” He said softly as he held the bridle up once more and started to walk towards the bluish purple Stegosaurus, who did nothing more but stand there and allowed the scientist to approach him.

* * *

“Just how long is it going to take us to reach Boston?” Buzz asked, starting to feel a little sleepy. It was already passed midnight, and they still hadn't arrived to Boston. They had checked the road maps and determined it would only take an hour to a couple hours to get there. And he would think that they would get there faster since not many people are driving at night.

“Relax, Buzz.” Rodger said. He was the one in the lead as he was the one who looked over the directions the most, and had much of it memorized. It's days like these that it pays to be a geek, he thought to himself as he smiled softly. “Our bikes can't go the same speed as cars can. It will take us a little longer to reach Boston. But don't worry, we'll be there soon.”

“I really hope you're right.” Buzz said, thinking about Caruso. “If we don't get there soon...”

“I know, Buzz. I know...” Rodger said softly.

He didn't say anything after that. He knew he couldn't spend too much time worrying about whether or not they'd get there too late. He had to focus on actually getting there. The others were counting on him to guide them to their destination. But once they arrived, just what would they do? Wander around and knock on doors, asking for directions? Even when they arrived in Boston, they still had no idea where to look for their missing friend. He could be anywhere. And folks may not be entirely willing to help total strangers find someone they had never met before.

They had ultimately decided not to bring the yellow SUV. They felt it might be a little less suspicious of they took their dinosaur-like motorcycles and, once they get to Boston, part ways. Each of them would look in a different section of the large city. A single person wandering around would be less suspicious than a group, even if it was just five individuals. They hoped this would also decrease their chances of being spotted by Victor. If Moynihan was right, they would have to be careful around the entire city, especially around Raptor Dyne. They could only hope that no one would take notice to the unusual design of their bikes, and hope that no one would connect the dots, sort of speak.

Behind Rodger and Buzz were Max and Fiona. The two hadn't spoken much since they began their trip, which was a bit unusual, especially for Max. The jock was usually the one to take charge, and wasn't afraid to do so. The reason why Max was silent was because he had this feeling of guilt growing up inside of him. He was the leader. He felt he should have been able to stop all this from happening in the first place. Why hadn't he seen the warning signs as Caruso had? Why hadn't he listened to Caruso in the first place? And why did he yell at him in such a harsh manner? Max swallowed hard as he felt himself starting to feel ill due to the negative emotions wearing him down.

Fiona on the other hand wasn't feeling guilty for all the same reasons Max was. Like everyone else, she was feeling guilty that she wasn't able to stop Veloci from taking Caruso with him. Like the others, she was right there, watching as the claw dropped the Stegosaurus into the large red truck. All she could do was reach out meekly with her yellow-skinned arm, feebly trying to get close enough to grab something to save Caruso. But the poison that was coursing through her system at the time had made her too weak, and she quickly passed out. And now she was feeling a sense of dread, a foreboding of sorts. She couldn't shake off the feeling that they might arrive too late. But she dare not share this thought with the others.

As she shook those thoughts out of her mind, she noticed, on the horizon, a series of small whtie dots. “Hey I think I see lights.” Fiona said, moving her head forward a little more to get a better look.

“I think you're right.” Max said to her. “I see them too.” The closer they got, the larger the lights seemed to get. And he eventually started to see what appeared to be tall structures, lights shining from them, and he could just slightly make out smaller, moving light that could only be from cars riding along the roads.

“Looks like we're here.” Buzz said enthusiastically, grinning. “Now we can rescue Irwin..err..I mean Caruso.” Buzz recalled how Caruso made him promise not to call him Irwin after he had found out.

“Yes, but remember, we have to find him first. And finding Caruso in this big city is not going to be easy.” Rodger noted. In such a large city, they would have to determine which places are the best to check first, and if Caruso doesn't turn up in any of those places, they would have look elsewhere. Maybe they should check the least likely places first. If Victor wished to hide Caruso from them, he'd probably pick a place he'd never suspect them to look.

“Yeah I know.” Buzz replied, his smile disappearing from his face.

“Just remember, Buzz... Things in real life aren't a fairy tale.” Rodger said solemnly. “We may not even find Caruso at all...”

Buzz narrowed his eyes angrily. “What are you saying? That we should just give up?”

“No!” Rodger said quickly. “Not at all..it's just that...”

Rolf Maxwell noticed the tension between the two boys up front and decided to try to change the subject before things could escalate in a downward spiral. He revved his engine and went a little faster, just enough to get a little closer to Rodger and Buzz. He got in between them, and looked at each of them before stating, “Come on guys, we're here at least. Let's focus more on finding Caruso and less on trying to start a fight with each other.”

“I know that Max...I'm sorry. ” Rodger said, feeling a little guilty for acting negative seconds ago. “It's just that I can't shake off this feeling that...we may be too late.”

“I...” Fiona spoke up, almost regretting doing so. But since she had already started to say  
something, she might as well finish her sentence. She would feel awkward if she just left the others in silence like that. “I feel the same way. I'm sure it's just because we're just all nervous and stressed.”

“Fiona's right, you guys.” Max said, trying to sound like his usual, confident self, trying to be a leader once again. “We can't let ourselves be brought down by these fears.” He gazed at each individual he was with before continuing. “If we continue to get dragged down by these fears, we'll never find Caruso. We must remain focused.” He gestured forward, a physical urge to get the others to move on instead of slowing down to chat. “Come on. Time is of the essence.”

* * *

The remaining time it took for the team to reach Boston, which was only around five to eight minutes, was spent in silence. Inside their minds they replayed the plans over and over, and all hoped they wouldn't forget any detail. Just in case, they had all agreed to stop somewhere in Boston real quick to discuss their plans one more time. It would have to be someplace secure however. They didn't know who in Boston was working for Victor. They would have to choose a place that was not accessible to the public. This of course meant breaking the law. But it's not like they hadn't done it before, for the sake of the planet.

Max however openly opposed to the idea of breaking the law. The others seemed upset with him, and wondered why he wouldn't take the risk. Max explained to them that they shouldn't be drawing attention to themselves. If they had committed any felony in this city, they would possibly reveal their position to Victor, and their efforts would have been in vain. He had also pressured the others not to transform. They needn't be told twice. They all knew Victor had tracking equipment and would spot them in a heartbeat if they were to transform. Even small changes like transforming a hand or foot would be detected, and they would have to dodge dozens of officials from Raptor Dyne, as well as Victor himself.

He suggested they go into a wooded area. There was a place like that in Boston, a park, probably the Boston Common. At this time of night there wouldn't be a lot of people there. And the foliage would provide great cover in case they needed to hide from someone. The others eventually agreed, although they seemed a little hesitant. Max felt a sharp pang at this. He wondered if his leadership qualities were diminishing. He wondered if they would decide on a new leader..no. They wouldn't do that. He was still the leader. But that means that he was experiencing the most pressure. Every decision was weighted on his shoulders. Successfully pulling off the rescue mission was now in his hands. He could only hope he wouldn't mess up.

As they drove into the city, they could see just how active it was at night. To their disappointment, even though it was past midnight now, the city was almost as active as it would be in the daytime. This would mean there might be some people in the park as well. Max frowned. If they couldn't go to the park, where else could they go where there'd be no people to spy on them? He was starting to feel pressured as a few people walking on the sidewalks stopped and stared at him and his friends briefly before moving on. And he could tell the others weren't exactly liking the attention either. He whispered to them to just keep going until they could find a safe place to talk. It was the best that they could do for now.

The group of friends tried their best to ignore the people watching them almost warily, as if they were scared of them, and also tried to ignore people honking their horns to get them to move faster. The Dino Squad were slowing down traffic a little, and it didn't help that these people were in a big hurry to get somewhere. One of them eventually got sick of waiting and swerved in front of them, and almost caused Buzz to fall off his bike and get seriously hurt. The driver never stopped, they just kept on driving by. Buzz was all right, but startled and a little shaken up. After this incident, a few other cars started to swerve by, and it quickly became a hassle to try to avoid them. Max was growing frustrated. They would never find Caruso at this rate. He and the others made a miscalculation. They had all believed that the city would be nearly empty at night. But it was still active, and he quickly realized it would become increasingly difficult to discuss the plans somewhere safe.

So he made a new decision. They wouldn't attempt to find someplace to talk in safety. They would have no choice but to discuss it out in the open. They really had no other choice. And with all this noise, what from the car engines and people chatting, who is going to hear them?

“Guys, you all remember the plan, right?” Max asked, using the helmets' transmitters to communicate with the others.

“Shhh...!” Fiona hissed, looking cautiously around. “Everyone is looking at us.”

“Yeah. We can't make a scene, yo.” Rodger said, feeling uncomfortable with the people still watching them. While this was only brief, it wasn't very reassuring to him. Any one of these people could be working for Veloci. “And any one person here could be one of Victor's men. If we do anything suspicious, they would alert him.”

“Guys,” Buzz said, “If any of these guys worked for Victor, wouldn't they have already contacted him?” He glanced slightly towards the front of his motorbike, which looked very dinosaurian in appearance. “I mean wouldn't our bikes give us away?”

“Thanks Buzz...” Fiona said in a sarcastic tone. “I feel so much better now.”

“I'm sorry.” Buzz responded in an apologetic tone.

Max slowly shook his head. “Look you guys, it doesn't look like we are going to find any place to discuss the plan. So we might as well do it now. It's too noisy here anyway. Who is going to hear us?”

Buzz made an attempt at a joke. “Someone who knows how to make a cross connection?”

“Buzz!” Fiona scolded again, gritting her teeth a little. “That's not funny!” But as he mentioned the cross connection, she wondered if he could be right. If anyone in this city knew how to do that, they could pick up their signal, and be listening in to everything they were saying. Suddenly she was feeling even less safe than before. She cautiously glanced around her, but couldn't see anything different than what they were experiencing the minute they set foot in the city.

Fiona knew that the reason why so many people were looking at them had probably less to do with the fact they were on motorbikes and more to do with the appearance of the bikes. People around here never seen them before. It seems to be human nature to stare at something new and unusual. She just hoped that no one here would discuss this someplace where Veloci or one of his men would hear about it. They still had to find someway to locate Caruso quickly and without being spotted. But of course she thought this may not be possible.

As Moynihan had pointed out, Victor did have security in Raptor Dyne and would most likely have security up where ever he was hiding Caruso. As soon as they got within a certain distance, the alarms could go off, or Victor would spot them, or perhaps one of his workers. They would need to find someway to bypass the security. And she believed she knew how they could do that. She had discussed this with Max briefly before they had left. They could have Buzz distract Veloci. Since he could fly, he would be the fastest. The distraction might not last long, but it may buy them precious seconds to get inside the building.

Buzz hung his head. “I'm sorry.” He said, apologizing to Fiona yet again. “I'm just...”

Fiona interrupted him. “Just forget it Buzz. We'll discuss it later.” Although a little hurt at getting cut off so abruptly, Buzz nodded his head and didn't say another word. Fiona gave him a brief look of sympathy, and then turned to Rodger. “Rodger, do you know where Raptor Dyne is?”

Of course, they all knew it was in Boston. But they didn't know the exact address. It was most likely going to be somewhere in the middle of the city, where most of the other companies were as well. Fiona felt that Rodger would be the most likely person, among this group, who'd know the location of the building. They had forgotten to ask Moynihan for directions and now it was far too late to go back to ask for her assistance. Rodger had known about Raptor Dyne from the start. And being a scientific geek as he is, he would probably have been very interested in Raptor Dyne, and perhaps wrote down the address somewhere. Perhaps he had even considered working for them, but surely that dream would have passed after he found out the truth of that place.

And Rodger would have known Fiona's suspicions would have been right. He had been considering working with Raptor Dyne some years ago. He had respected the company for their supposed efforts to benefit mankind. He had gotten interested in science and technology because of this company. He had once looked up to Victor, and had once wanted to be more like him. The person he saw was a man of authority, calm and assertive and persuasive, someone who cared deeply about the fate of humanity. But he was dreadfully disappointed when he had learned the truth. This was all a front, a trick, an illusion. Rodger took a long time to completely recover from the shock of learning the truth about Raptor Dyne. The feeling of sickness wouldn't go away for a long time, and he wondered if he'd ever feel better.

And Fiona bringing up the address only brought back some of these feelings once again. He had longed to forget about Raptor Dyne and Victor. But until he was stopped, there was no way he could hide from this. He couldn't blame Fiona. It wasn't her fault really. This information would be very important indeed. Once they found the building, all they would need to do was search the area around there. Perhaps they didn't need to split up after all. But Rodger knew they should still go with splitting up anyway. There was still that chance Victor hid Caruso further away from the company to throw them off. He narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself that Victor would have to do a lot more to discourage them.

“It's been a long time since I've looked at the address.” Rodger admitted finally after a few seconds. “I think it was somewhere close by the Paramount Theatre.” He felt bad he couldn't be any more specific. There were a lot of other buildings around Paramount Theatre.

“You think or you know?” Fiona asked. She was hoping a more positive, definite answer.

“At least it's a start.” Max pointed out, trying to sound more enthusiastic. “We can focus our search around that area.”

“Should we still split up?” Buzz spoke up. “Or are we all just going to search around Boston Theatre together?”

“Good question, Buzz.” Max said. “I think we should still split up. Victor might have hidden Caruso somewhere else.” He didn't mention this, but splitting up might be a risk as well. What if someone was caught and unable to tell them where they were taken to? He suddenly frowned. Perhaps splitting up wasn't such a good idea. Maybe it would be safer if they went in pairs. “On second thought, perhaps we should search in groups of two, just to be on the safe side. Rodger, you and Buzz look around Paramount Theatre to see if you can find Raptor Dyne or any signs of Caruso. Fiona and I will look on the other side of town to see if we can find any clues there.”

The others nodded, and followed his instructions without question. As they came to an intersection, they parted ways. Buzz and Rodger took off in the direction where they believed Paramount Theatre was located and hopefully locate Raptor Dyne or useful clues. Fiona and Max headed out towards the other side of the city to see if they could find any place that was big enough to hold a Stegosaurus but inconspicuous enough to avoid wandering eyes.

* * *

Within about ten minutes later, Buzz and Rodger had arrived at Paramount Theatre. They now stood in front of a huge building with a large white board with lights shining around it. The bright white board displayed movie information. Above this structure was a tall teal-colored sign with the name PARAMOUNT written downward. The two teens stood for a few seconds, looking up and staring at the building. They had never been to Paramount Theatre before. They took note of how huge this place was, and wondered if Victor could have stationed Caruso here.

But the thought was quickly shaken from their thoughts. There was no way Victor could have hidden Caruso here. The building was huge, sure, but many people visited here everyday. There was no way a Stegosaurus would have gone unnoticed. And it didn't seem there was any entrance large enough for Caruso anyway, provided he stayed in dino mode. Buzz and Rodger knew they had to focus on the mission. They tore their gaze from Paramount Theatre and began to look at the environment surrounding the building. They started to look for anything that could help them find Caruso. They tried to find a building that had telltale signs of being Raptor Dyne. They looked carefully at the buildings next to Paramount Theatre but found nothing suspicious about them, at least in appearance.

The teens were thankful that there weren't too many in this part of town right now, so at least they won't have people staring at them so much now. There was probably some sale going on and that's why people were still up. Though a more logical explanation, Rodger thought, is simply they have to work or are going home from work. But the thought of a sale did bring back memories of not so long ago for Buzz. He had been told of how Caruso had gotten upset that he was given more time while he had to wait even longer. Buzz started to feel guilty now just thinking about it.

“Hey..Buzz? Are you listening?” He heard Rodger say. He shook his head and quickly realized where he was. He rubbed his head. He must have spaced out there for some reason. “Buzz..are you there..?”

“Oh what?” Buzz responded.

“Where were you?” Rodger asked. “I've been trying to talk to you for the past couple minutes. Did you fall asleep or something?”

“I guess I'm...a little worried.” Buzz smiled sheepishly. “I'm sorry.”

Buzz hadn't realized that he had been standing on the sidewalk almost perfectly still for several minutes. He had been unresponsive to Rodger's calls, and his eyes had a faraway look in them. Buzz had become lost in his thoughts and his own guilt. This wasn't like him, and it worried Rodger. Buzz just didn't seem like the type to just zone out like that. At least he doesn't recall ever seeing it himself. But then again there was that camping incident. Buzz had gotten totally freaked out there. So maybe he shouldn't be too surprised.

Rodger felt himself become a little angry at the memory of that camp trip. He could recall vividly how Caruso just stormed into camp, seemingly running away from something dangerous. He had been foolish enough to follow Caruso and run for what seemed to be hours. He nearly ran over a cliff running away from something that wasn't even there. He'd nearly gotten himself killed because of Caruso. And he had later found out that it was Caruso who started the whole thing. Buzz had explained that it was Caruso who began saying things about what could be out in the forest. So in the end it seemed to be all Caruso's fault.

But could he really put the whole blame on the boy? Caruso was just frightened. And Rodger himself would be lying if he said he wasn't scared too. Rodger had been scared, even before Caruso had panicked in the night. They were all scared, although not largely because of the mutantsaurs they had gone there to find. It was because they were literally blind. Rodger, Caruso, and Buzz had been so eager to set up camp and get everything plugged in that they had caused a short circuit and lost all their equipment that they had brought with them. And because of that, they had been completely unaware that Victor was still in the vicinity.

And they had nearly been spotted by Victor. Rodger suddenly felt a little grateful that he and Caruso nearly went over that cliff. The plan to lure Victor there had worked, and they had trapped him in his own vehicle. As they had took off, they could hear Victor's Velociraptor screeches and hisses, and eventually his bittered order for his men to free him. Rodger didn't know just how long he was stuck there, but it would have been a good long while because Max had knocked over the Raptor Dyne SUV and bit off the tail section of the helicopter, which pretty much stranded the two men where they were. And they were probably still shaken up by Max being so close to them to even notice the distress call from Victor.

Rodger started to feel a little guilty for becoming mad at Caruso. And right now wasn't a really good time to start thinking negatively about the boy. Right now Caruso was in trouble. His life was in danger, Rodger could sense that, as well as everyone else. And the camping trip had occurred a couple years ago. There was no sense in worrying about what has passed, and he should concern himself with what was going on right now. He attempted to smile at Buzz, trying to get him to cheer up a little. He didn't want him to feel bad.

“Oh, don't be sorry, Buzz.” Rodger said, trying to console the punk teenager. He didn't like to see any of his friends like this. “I know you're worried about Caruso. So am I.” He hoped this would provide some consolance to the green-haired teen.

Buzz sighed. “What if we arrive too late?”

“We won't.” Rodger said with as much confidence in his voice as he could muster. He wasn't really sure if he would end up being right or wrong, but he couldn't show doubt in front of Buzz. He didn't want to make him feel even worse.

Buzz turned his back to Rodger as he began to walk a few steps along the sidewalk. Even though Rodger had tried his best to sound like he was so sure of them rescuing their fame-crazed friend, Buzz didn't feel so convinced. He had seen horror movies, and knew that the good guys do not always win. This was no fairy tale. It was reality. “How can you be so certain?” He asked the african-american as he stopped in his tracks, still standing in front of the Paramount Theatre. He slowly turned his head to glance over his shoulder. Rodger was coming towards him, a look of sympathy on his face. The green-haired teen narrowed his eyes slightly. “You have been wrong before. What if this is one of those times?”

“Buzz..I...” Rodger started to say before getting interrupted by Buzz.

“The worst of it has got to be the time when you had alerted us to a report of mutantsaurs that were in the football field, but when we had actually gone there, we found out it was a trap! Do you remember that?” Buzz asked Rodger insistently.

“I...yes...” Rodger said, lowering his head and closing his eyes. He had made mistakes in the past. What human wouldn't make a mistake? But this one, he would never stop feeling horrible about. They usually had Caruso to blame for such incidents. But this time..this time it was Rodger's fault. He should have seen it coming. He should have been more skeptical. But he head lead his team mates into a trap.

Rodger had been working in Moynihan's lighthouse overtime to do some make-up work he had missed because he had been sick for a few days. The others had already said goodbye to Moynihan and had already left to go home. The old woman had gone downstairs, although Rodger was not sure where she disappeared to. When he tried to continue his work, he was constantly interrupted by a loud beeping sound. He tried to ignore it at first, but the beeping was persistent and wouldn't stop. It took him a few seconds later to realize it was the mutantsaur alert. Immediately dropping what he was doing, he quickly ran over to the computer to find out what the computer had picked up.

There were several small red dots flashing in one location. Rodger moved the cursor over the zoom option and enlargened the map so that it was big enough for him to see where the dots were originating from. His eyes had widened when he realized the mutantsaurs were located in Kittery Point, right in the football field. From the look of things, it seemed there were at least five mutantsaurs in that location. He knew the others were probably relaxing in their homes after another day of training with Moynihan, but he couldn't just let this mutantsaurs get captured by Victor.

So he called up the others and informed them what was going on. Although a couple sounded a little groggy, probably because they were taking a short nap, they didn't waste much time getting over to the lighthouse to meet up with Rodger. He and the others got on their motorbikes and headed out to the school. They had arrived in the football field, and cautiously headed out. Sure enough, there were five mutantsaurs in the field. They were rather large in size, and appeared to be some type of mutant beaver. They growled and snapped at the children, but made no movement towards them.

Since they were not in one place, Max suggested they try to force the mutant beavers closer together. Rodger had suggested they all go dino and circle the beavers and force them into a small area. Usually Max would not like this idea. They had nearly lose a few mutantsaurs in the past by using this tactic. But the football field was in an enclosed area. The mutant beavers would have had a hard time getting out, despite their new size and strength. So they all transformed, and began to circle the mutated creatures. Quickly it became obvious that something was very wrong. The beavers hadn't moved, not even to look at them as they were circled. There was no eye contact, no change in position, no nothing.

Caruso had become a little agitated by the fact that they weren't moving. So he had tried a more physical approach. He charged towards one of the giant beavers in an attempt to knock them down. But when he swung at them with his spiked tail, he was shocked to see that the tail had gone straight through. He tried again to attack, but only met air. The others became confused, and they each started to attack one of the mutantsaurs. All of their attacks merely went through the beavers. They quickly realized the terrible truth. The beavers were holograms! They had walked straight into a trap!

The beavers quickly went static and faded from view, like an old television set losing power. No sooner had they disappeared, a large sticky net made of tough rope and covered in tar had been dropped onto them. They started to bellow in fright as they felt themselves being pulled onto the ground, and become entangled in the large net. They started to bite and claw at the netting that entrapped them, but no matter how hard they tried, the rope just wouldn't break. And the more they struggled, the more net became stuck to their skin, and they became even more entangled in the tar-covered trap.

They heard the sound of a helicopter approaching, and looked up to see Victor's copter heading down towards them. As the machine drew to a stop on the ground, they started to panic more, and tried desperately to get freed. But it was all in vain, it seemed. As Victor stepped out and headed toward his 'perfect dinosaurs', it seemed they had lost. The only reason they got away was because Moynihan had found out, somehow, that they were in distress and distracted Veloci by using the same technology she used before to disguise herself and telling Veloci that there were a lot more dinosaurs somewhere else.

The lie had worked, and Victor did in fact leave the 'perfect dinosaurs' where they were. He was confident that they would not escape, that they would still be there when he returned. When the coast was clear, Moynihan had rushed over from where she was hiding and freed her students from the net. She had scolded Rodger for falling for such an obvious trap, though she wasn't too harsh on him. However the others were quite upset with him, and didn't let him forget it. For a while after that, they would only go on a mission if they had received instructions directly from Moynihan.

“It was your fault we were in that mess!” Buzz said bitterly. “And if you were wrong about that mission, you could easily be wrong about this!”

“Buzz!” Rodger spoke up, getting annoyed with Buzz's accusations. “You and I both know I never intended for that to happen. And why are you even bringing this up? It happened a year ago! Let it go, will ya?” He could feel the anger inside growing, but he knew he had to suppress it or risk losing his temper with Buzz. And that was the last thing he wanted to happen. Before Buzz could think of a response, Rodger calmed himself down through long soft breaths. “Let's just..drop it okay?”

Buzz's glare softened, and he started to feel guilty. “I..I'm sorry Rodger. I don't know what came over me.” Buzz was feeling so angry and upset about everything that was going on that he had just snapped. He needed an outlet, and he took it out on Rodger by bringing up the incident from a year ago. “I'm sorry.” He apologized again.

Rodger smiled. “It's all right Buzz.”

Wanting to change the subject, Buzz used his eyes to scan the area around the building, trying to find which place to start looking first. “So..which way should we go?”

Rodger looked around as well, and looked towards the building on the left side of Paramount Theatre. “Maybe we should start looking around that area for clues.”

They still weren't sure just exactly what it is they were looking for. They weren't sure of what kind of clues they could possibly find around here that would lead them to Caruso. Perhaps they should have listened to Moynihan and stayed put until they could come up with a better plan. Why had they rushed to Boston, and especially during the night? Well perhaps night was a better option than broad daylight. They'd have the cover of darkness. But they still had no idea on where to go, and the only thing they could do was explore around. And who knows what they would find here?

They decided they would just have to look around until they found something that they think would be connected to Raptor Dyne or even to their missing friend. A footprint, a scale, anything that could help them find Caruso. But where would Raptor Dyne keep Caruso anyway? Where would Victor hide him?

Rodger took another look at Paramount Theatre and began to wonder if Victor would hide him in there. The doors would have been a problem, but if he had gotten Caruso there in human form... No. They already agreed that Caruso was most likely not in Paramount Theatre because someone would surely spotted him, with how many people visit a day. Victor would not choose such a popular location to hide Caruso. None of the buildings surrounding Paramount Theatre seemed to be empty nor abandoned. Some of the lights were still on, and there were still people coming in and out of the buildings.

Rodger stopped in his tracks, and looked up to the sky. “You know what Buzz?”

Buzz stopped walking. “What?”

Rodger gave a sigh. “I don't think Caruso is in this area...or anywhere in the city.”

Buzz arched an eyebrow. “But..I thought you said...”

“Yes I know what I said.” Rodger replied, rubbing his forehead with his hand. “But think about it. The buildings in the city are just too active. Victor wouldn't want to hide someone like Caruso near the city where someone was likely to find him...” He turned his head to look behind the Paramount Theatre, where Boston Common was. “He would choose a location that was away from the city, and most of the activity, a place where humans would be generally sparse and less likely to find anything he wanted to hide.”

“Any idea on where such a place might be?” Buzz looked around the city, seeing building after building. “I don't see any place that looks like it's...well..sparsely populated.”

“Maybe the Boston Common?” Rodger suggested. “It is a really big park, and there could be hidden buildings we don't know about somewhere in it.”

“Hmm..I dunno...” Buzz thought, sounding a little skeptical.

“Think about it, Buzz. There's a lot of areas in the Boston Common that is shielded by trees. And within these wooded areas, someone could make a building, perhaps large enough to hold a Stegosaurus, and keep it hidden for a good amount of time.” Rodger explained. “I don't think many people would go into these small forested areas, so it may be the perfect place for Victor to hide Caruso.”

The more Buzz thought about it, the more sense it started to make. True, Boston Common is not exactly unpopulated, but who would want to go into those spooky mini-forests anyway? Well Buzz wouldn't that's for sure. They remind him too much of the camping trip. The trees did look densely populated enough in some areas to conceal a building of sorts.

Something else then started to nag at the back of the punk's mind, something he had forgotten about until now and his mind was trying to remember. There was something about Boston Common that was so familiar, something he heard about the place. He gripped his head, digging his fingernails into his scalp as he tried hard to remember. He gritted his teeth both from frustration and pain as he felt his nails scratch across the skin. Rodger saw this and placed his hand on Buzz's shoulder.

“Yo..what's wrong, Buzz?” Rodger asked, his eyes a little wide at Buzz's frustration.

“The Boston Common..there's something about it.” Buzz replied, his eyes closed tightly as he tried to remember. “I heard something about it..something important.”

“Well don't strain yourself, buddy.” Rodger pulled one of Buzz's hands away from his head. He could have sworn he could see a little red on the tip of the green-haired boy's fingers. “It'll come back to you in time.”

“Yeah...” Buzz relaxed, letting out a long exhale. “You're right.”

“So shall we go to the Boston Common and look for clues there?” He asked Buzz as he made his way to the alley between Paramount Theatre and another large building standing next to it. The alley lead straight into the Boston Common. This wasn't the right way to go, and Rodger would not be surprised if it would be illegal going into the park this way. But right now he didn't care too much. It was dark anyway, so who was going to see them?

“Sure...” Buzz said slowly as he began to follow Rodger. He tried to keep his mind focused on the mission, but something continued to gnaw at the back of his mind. And he couldn't stop asking the same question in his mind over and over again: just what had he forgotten about the Boston Common...?

* * *

“Well do you see any building that you think Victor might use?” Max asked, standing next to Fiona. They were on the other side of the city, approximately parallel to where Rodger and Buzz were. They were standing near Green Dragon Tavern, a historical building just like Paramount Theatre was. They were looking out in the direction opposite of where the other two were looking. Their view was filled with rows and rows of small buildings. Behind them were the larger skyscrapers that big cities were known for. They were looking towards the outskirts of the city, however, because they believed that this would be a more likely place for Victor to hide Caruso. Not as many people around, so it would be less likely for suspicion to be aroused.

“Not really.” Fiona responded, scanning the horizon. “None of these buildings look big enough.” Most of the buildings before them were houses where people lived, obviously. And behind that there appeared to be a river of sorts cutting through the land. But they couldn't stop any buildings large enough to hide a Stegosaurus in.

“Hmm...” Max turned so that his left side was facing the city and his right side facing the suburban homes. He gazed over at the homes for a few seconds, and then looked over at the city. He wasn't sure now which place would be the best to look at. The city had buildings large enough for Victor to use. But most, if not all, were accessible to the public. Not a smart place to be to perform private experimentations. The suburban area, or at least areas just outside it, seemed to be a better place. They were quieter, and people were more sparse here. But he couldn't see any buildings that Victor could use for his plans with Irwin. “I...” He started to say, struggling to make a decision. But his mind just kept drawing a blank. “I'm not sure where to look...”

Fiona shared his frustration and let out a sigh of irritation. “That makes two of us.” She gripped her head tightly, pulling at her hair. “Ooooh! This is so unfair! At this rate we'll never get there on time!” Fiona snapped, releasing some of the pent up anger she had inside.

“Fiona!” Max cried, gripping her arms and held her, trying to calm her down. “Settle down! Don't let your emotions gain control of you!” He said urgently, bringing his face close to hers to make her look at him in the eyes. Fiona struggled briefly in Max's grip, but she quickly settled down as he spoke to her softly, “Listen, Fiona. If we continue to believe we won't find Caruso in time, we won't. Try to be more optimist. Believe that we'll find him soon, and we will. And we will find him, that I can promise you.”

Max didn't know if he was telling the truth or not, but it seemed to calm Fiona down. The young female teen settled down completely, and released the tension in her arms. She pulled a strand of hair from her face, and said in an apologetic tone of voice, “I'm sorry, Max. You're right. I shouldn't be so pessimistic.”

“Come on...” Max spoke softly again. “Let's go for a ride.” He made his way towards his Tyranno-Cycle. His and Fiona's motorbikes were sitting nearby.

“But..shouldn't we be looking for places where Caruso might be?” Fiona asked. “I mean this isn't the time for...”

“We are.” Max said. He put on his helmet and pointed in the direction his bike was now facing. “We're going to ride down there and see if we can find anything.”

“Oh..okay.” Fiona responded as she got on her motorbike to follow Max.

The two set off in the direction Max had been pointing in. Buildings moved by on both their sides. Many houses went by, as well as many corporate buildings, and restaurants. The lights on many buildings were still on despite the time of night. As they road along the black-top road, they remained quiet. Their eyes were focused on the visual information being fed to them, and they tried to keep their ears on alert in case they hear something urgent, like danger approaching. It did seem unlikely that they would get in trouble out here, but while they were close to Victor's turf, they couldn't take the chances.

They quickly took notice on how quiet this part of the city was. It felt kind of odd to them. It wasn't this quiet in the other parts of the city. There were the sounds of people chatting, cars zooming by, and among other things. But this place was completely quiet. Something just didn't feel right about this place. As they continued to ride along, they began to feel an eerie sensation, as if they were being watched. But that was absurd. They had been in this area for a good amount of time already and they didn't have this sensation before nor did they actually see anybody. They quickly glanced behind them to be sure, and sure enough, they didn't see anyone.

But something about this part of town gave them the creeps. Something just felt so unnatural about this place. While the lights on the buildings remained on, it felt like this part of town was getting darker and darker the further they went through. And the atmosphere wasn't letting up with the dead silence that hung in the air around them. All they could here was the sound of their rubber tires scraping along the concrete road. Overhead, they could see dark clouds starting to roll in. It didn't look like it was going to storm though as these didn't look like rain clouds. They just looked rather dark, and spooky too.

Fiona clenched her teeth in uneasiness. She started to feel her heart beat a little faster. Her brain felt like it was working at a quicker pace. She quickly realized that this is how Caruso and Buzz must have felt while at the campsite. No wonder they had panicked so easily...

“Maybe we should go back...” Fiona spoke up, keeping her head low as she looked at their surroundings. “I don't like this place.”

“Oh come on.” Max said in a light-hearted tone, in an almost teasing sort of way. “Don't tell me you're scared.”

But Max couldn't blame the girl. He was feeling uneasy about this place as well. It was just too quiet. There had to be something going on in this place that they didn't know about. Something terrible... Max could feel his body prepare to fight or flee, the prehistoric reaction that humans had since the Stone Age. His hands were becoming so sweaty it was becoming a challenge to keep his hands on the handle bars. Max wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

“I know you're scared too!” Fiona yelled.

“I-I am not!” Max said, lying through his teeth. “But if it makes you feel better, let's drive our motorbikes faster so we'll be out of this part of town quicker.”

Although a little irritated that Max apparently lied to her about not being scared, it didn't surprise her that much. He was the leader, and he probably felt like he shouldn't let anything bother him, and if something did, he thought he shouldn't show it and pretend that everything was all right. Just too bad he didn't follow this belief when he had lost his temper with Caruso. “That sounds like a smart idea.” She said, liking the idea of leaving this foreboding place faster.

They tightened their grips on their handle bars and gave a twist, revving the engines in their bikes. Their bikes started to move at a faster rate now, going about twenty percent faster than they were before. They didn't want to waste too much energy as they had already used up a lot for the trip here. They hadn't traveled this far before on just their motorcycles. And they were starting to wonder if it was smarter to take the SUV instead. They could have packed some equipment from the trip in case they were faced with danger.

As they passed by another alleyway, movement suddenly flashed in the corner of Fiona's eyes. She quickly snapped her head in its direction, her eyes widened because the movement had startled her. The thing she saw was gone, but whatever it was, it looked a little big. It didn't feel like it was as big as her in dino mode, though, but still she didn't want to underestimate it. “Max, did you see that?”


	8. Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Max was confused. “What?” The jock asked as he kept his eyes on the road.

Fiona lowered her front body over her motorcycle, leaning forward as she did so. “I thought I saw something just run by us a few seconds ago.” She slowly eyed the alleyways that were still ahead of them nervously.

“I didn't see anything.” Max said somewhat suspiciously. “Are you sure you weren't just seeing things?”

“I'm telling you, I saw something...!” Fiona snapped. It wasn't Max that was making her feel on edge right now. It was the atmosphere of this place combined with the fact that she was certain that someone was now following them. And with the design of their bikes, it might not be too difficult.

Just as Max opened up his mouth to try to settle Fiona down, he too saw a figure flash by, but unlike Fiona his was directly in his field of vision. He stopped his bike, slamming on the brakes and smelling hot rubber as the tires skidded to a halt. Surprised, Fiona slammed on her brakes too, and her bike came to a halt next to Maxwell's motorbike. The figure Max had just seen was about human-sized it seemed. It looked black but that might have been because it was nighttime. It looked to be two-legged, and it just zipped by, from one side of the road to the other. It quickly disappeared in an alleyway.

“I guess you weren't kidding...” Max said as he eyed the alleyway. “I'm sorry for doubting you.” He apologized.

“So you saw it too?” Fiona asked. Max gave a nod. “What do you suppose it is?”

“I don't know.” Max said, his eyes narrowing. “But we're about to find out.”

He and Fiona approached the alleyway. As they got close to it, they hopped off their bikes. They leaned them against the side of the building only inches away from where the space between the two buildings began. They took off their helmets and placed them on the small vehicles. They soon stood in front of the dark alleyway. Shadows obscured most of the space, save for a little light that was shining on the concrete. The familiar smell of trash cans mixed in the air, and so did another scent. It seemed familiar to the pair, but they couldn't quite put their fingers on it.

They hesitated for a second, and then stepped into the alleyway. They kept their guard up, glancing around for any sign of life and prepared themselves for an ambush. They felt vulnerable in this alleyway. It was a dead end. In front of them was a tall brick wall, and the alleyway wasn't too large. It looked to be a little too small for them to go dino. If they got into trouble here, they would not be able to completely transform, but they did have another defense: claws and teeth. They didn't have to fully transform to fight off an enemy.

As they ventured further into the small alleyway, the darkness soon made it hard for them to see. As their visibility vaporized, their other senses started to kick in. They kept their sense of hearing on full alert, listening for any sound like footprints or growling, anything. They looked around their surroundings again, even though they couldn't see anything in this dark place.

“I'm beginning to wonder if we were both seeing things...” Max finally said after they had looked around the alleyway for a few minutes without seeing anything. The thing that they believed they saw looked too large to hide in one of the trash cans, and the alleyway, although dark, didn't offer a lot of places to hide.

“Both of us?” Fiona found that hard to believe. “How could we both imagine the same thing?”

“Well if we did see something, it looks like it disappeared.” Max said, placing his hand on his head and scratched his scalp. “Maybe it was scared of us.”

They nearly jumped several feet when they heard a cold laughter behind them. Their bodies tensed up and their eyes widened in shock. They quickly realized the truth. They had been followed! They slowly turned around towards the entrance of the alleyway. The figure was back, although this time it looked more human than before. They couldn't tell who it was at first because of the darkness. But the figure wasn't very tall. It appeared to be about the same height as they were, if not a little shorter. The figure appeared to have long hair that was flowing slightly in the mild breeze that swept through the area.

Fiona and Max stood their ground, both adopting a fighting stance to battle whoever was threatening them. The figure hadn't made a move towards them, but their cackle had continued. The voice was definitely feminine. She was taunting them as she stood there in a relaxed composure. Her laughter was grating on Max and Fiona's nerves. After a few more seconds of silence from the two Dino Squad members, the figure finally decided to speak.

“My my, aren't you two up passed your bedtime?” The figure asked as she chuckled darkly again. “But then again, I suppose I should not blame you. After all, I know the reason you are here..and I am sure you know why I am here.”

That voice! Max's eyes narrowed dangerously. He knew who this was. One of Victor's followers, one of the reasons they couldn't save Caruso. “You...!” Suddenly all sorts of bad memories of what happened not so long ago returned to his mind.

Fiona hadn't forgotten that voice either. She took a step forward, looking just as angry as Max did. “What do you want, Troodon?!”

Oscura took a couple steps forward. “What? I can't say hello to a couple of old friends?” She asked sarcastically.

“We are not friends!” Fiona snapped, giving Oscura a glare that could kill.

Oscura laughed as she began to circle the pair like a wolf pack circling a downed moose. She sneered as she saw that the two teenagers didn't take their eyes off of her. She continued to circle them, preventing them from running away from her and forcing them to face her. She suspected that they would rather ran than fight her because of their concern for Caruso. Their other two friends were somewhere in the city, she knew that. Michelle would take care of them.

“What are you doing here?” Max asked angrily. “Haven't you caused enough trouble?”

Oscura didn't stop circling, but she did look at Max with an almost horrified look on her face. “Me? Not cause enough trouble?” She stared at him for several seconds before breaking out into an almost maniacal laughter. “That's rich! I could never cause enough trouble!” She declared through laughs.

Max's eyes started to glow. “Get out of our way..or I'll...!”

Oscura chuckled. “Or you'll what? Lose your temper like you did with your precious friend?”

“How did you know what...” Max's eyes stopped glowing. He was shocked that Oscura would even know about that. How could she have found out? She wasn't even there when the argument took place!

“Oh I overheard your friend Caruso mentioning it.” Oscura responded as she shrugged her shoulders. “He sounded upset.”

Upon the mention of their missing friend, Fiona's eyes got a yellow glow to them like they would if she were to go dino. “Where are you hiding Caruso?!”

Oscura burst into laughter once more. Was this girl joking?! Was she really stupid enough to believe that she would give out such information so easily? Oscura grinned evilly. This girl was going to be fun to mess with. She could tell that already. “Why should I tell you anything?” She asked as she took a step forward.

Fiona growled, her Spinosaurus teeth starting to show up as she pulled her lips back in a snarl. The glow in her eyes intensified and Max was starting to become a little scared of her right now. “If you don't want to find out how easily my teeth can tear into your skin...” She said in a low, almost menacing voice.

Oscura's hand glowed and turned into the familiar pink-skinned hand of her Troodon form. She reached out with her dinosaur hand, and pressed a claw under Fiona's chin gently. “Such strong words coming from a weak girl like yourself.” She said as she lightly scratched Fiona's chin in a mocking manner. “I suggest you be careful of who you try to threaten.” She chuckled. Fiona jerked her head away and attempted to bite Oscura, but the raven-haired female was prepared. She reached out again with her dinosaur paw and gripped the red-haired teen's lower jaw tightly, her talons digging into her skin. As Fiona struggled in her vice grip, Oscura sneered. “I told you to be careful.”

“Let her go!” Oscura heard Max say. Before she had time to react, she felt a fist against the side of her cheekbone. She squealed as she felt herself being knocked away, and ended up slamming her back against the wall of one of the buildings. Max turned his attention to Fiona. When he saw a little blood on her chin, he asked her gently, “Fiona...are you all right?”

“Yes.” Fiona rubbed her chin lightly. Aside from a mild pain and a little blood, she felt fine. “I'm fine.” Even though she was in human form, Oscura still appeared to be such a formidable opponent. She could only imagine who she would be in battle.

Max nodded before turning back to Oscura, who still had her back to the wall. “And as for you..” He said dangerously, stalking towards the girl like he was the predator and she was the prey. “Nobody threatens my friends, you hear me? Nobody...”

“Nobody except me.” Oscura said, grinning broadly.

“Why you little...!” Max started to say before stopping himself.

“What? Big macho man afraid of a little bad word?” Oscura said in a teasing manner. She loved messing with people, especially when they seemed to show a sign of cowardice like this boy was displaying. Afraid of cursing? That's a good one!

Max felt his blood boil at that remark, but if he were to release his anger on Oscura now, they may never have a chance to find Caruso. Now that Oscura knows they are here, she could slip away and inform Veloci. They couldn't let her get away. She may be able to provide some useful information, but how to go about getting it from her? He and Fiona did easily outnumber Oscura, but the girl did have her Troodon spit. One bite and they were down. And Troodons were very agile, and could easily dodge most of their attacks. While their forms were larger, they were slower.

Then something else came to mind, something he had nearly forgotten about. Oscura was not alone. There was another person who had been with her the last time they had fought. Max hadn't seen Michelle anywhere, or any sign of her. He remained cautious when he took a step towards Oscura. He feared any second Michelle would turn up and turn the tides in this possible battle. But the combined tension of Oscura being here, Caruso still missing, and the possibility of an ambush from Michelle made it difficult for Max to suppress his anger for long.

“Oh shut up!” He snapped, trying his best to control his temper. “You're in no position to talk!”

Oscura eyed him casually, tilting her head as if she was confused by his statement. Is he really serious? She is in no position to talk? It took most of her will to keep herself from cracking up. The poor fool doesn't seem to acknowledge who's really in control here. Even as they stood there, staring at each other, she knew that the Dino Squad had already lost.

“You're such a fool...” She cooed mockingly as her hand shifted back to normal. She gave her hand a swift shake a couple times as she continued to speak. “You have no idea what kind of situation you and your other friends are currently in...”

Upon mentioning their other friends, Fiona took a step forward. Her eyes were narrowed, and she looked as if she was about to tear Oscura apart. She knew it probably wasn't the best strategy to take such an approach with this particular girl. After all, despite her small size, she could still beat them. Fiona had a hard time keeping her anger from rising however. She just couldn't forget what happened the last time they faced off with her and her deceptive partner, Michelle. Thoughts began to run through Fiona's mind. Why had Oscura brought up the others? If she did anything to hurt the others...!

“What about our other friends?” Fiona asked, clearly looking like she was struggling to restrain herself from lunging at Oscura. “What have you done to them?!”

Max joined in. “If you harmed them, I'll...!” He threatened, clenching his fists. He didn't know how long it would be before he just has to release his tension and use physical force on the girl. It may happen sooner than he thinks. He doubted Oscura would tell them what they needed to know right away, and she would most likely just continue teasing them. Why had he thought it was a good idea to get information from her anyway? There was little reason to think it was 'reliable'.

Oscura grinned menacingly as she pulled out what appeared to be a communication device. “Oh it's not me that they should worry about...” She said as she brought the device closer to her mouth. She pressed a button and gave a single command. “NOW!”

As soon as she uttered the command, she felt Max's hands grip her shirt and she was quickly lifted into the air. Max brought his face close to hers, looking directly into her eyes. “What have you done?!”

Oscura snarled as she looked at Max's hands gripping her. She couldn't believe the boy would be foolish enough to do that. How dare he! To show her displeasure, she transformed her head and neck into their Troodon forms. Glowing yellow eyes glaring deep into Max's own eyes, she opened her jaws, bacteria-infested saliva dripping along her fangs, and let out a rattlesnake-like sound. As Max's eyes widened, Oscura snapped her head forward, slamming her jaws shut just inches in front of his face. Startled, Max released her.

Oscura shifted back, and brushed off her shirt. “That is no way to treat a girl.” She said as she straightened her top.

“You deserved it!” Fiona snapped, although there was a slight tinge of fear in her voice. She was scared for Max because he'd nearly been bitten. And she was worried about Buzz and Rodger. What did Oscura do?

Although clearly agitated by the presence of one of Victor's loyal followers, Max and Fiona had to be careful nonetheless. Their injuries still haven't healed all the way, and they could still feel pain. Fiona still had a cut on her nose where Oscura had bitten her and Max had a bite mark on his calf. The blood had already dried up and they weren't bleeding. Max was able to get a bandage wound around the leg to protect it from further infection while Fiona had a band aide. While it looked weird and she didn't like it, there was no other option.

“...what did I do?” Oscura taunted as she let her anger with Max fade away. “Why isn't it obvious...?” As she asked this, she smiled as Fiona and Max widened their eyes. They seemed to understand what she was talking about. The girl grinned. “Michelle will take care of them...” She said callously.

* * *

Michelle kept herself in the shadows as she watched the two boys nearby. She recognized them immediately. Rodger and Buzz, they were two members of the Dino Squad that she had met just the other day. She knew they would recognize her on the spot, in both human and dinosaur form. She grimaced a little. She felt a little uneasy about this whole plan. And she wondered, once again, what would happen to Caruso. She didn't know why she cared so much. Oscura was frustrated with her, and she understood that. But not even Michelle herself could explain this behavior.

Victor had called them over for a new mission. He had gotten word from Peter that the Dino Squad had found another tracking device, one that she had missed. She was scared Victor would do something, since he did not tolerate failure. But considering it was a good distance away from the lighthouse, he had let it slide. Since Victor knew the Dino Squad would surely come to Boston to find their friend, he had assigned them to intercept the group and catch them before they could succeed.

But when Michelle had asked Victor what he had planned for Caruso, he wouldn't say anything specific other than Caruso would submit to him. She grew a little suspicious on just what he was doing. And she was starting to have some more second thoughts. Was it really worth it? Was doing all this really going to do any good? She didn't want to defy Victor, as she knew what happened when people go against him. But she didn't know how much longer she could continue allowing whatever was happening to Caruso to occur. It was bothering her deeply that she wasn't sure what was going on. But when it comes to Victor, she could assume it was nothing good. Did Caruso really deserve this? He was simply a teenager and nothing more. He may have the form of a Stegosaurus, but by mind and heart, he was still just a teenager.

From her spot in the tree, she watched as Buzz and Rodger started to walk underneath it. They hadn't seen her, thank goodness. But when she receives the signal from Oscura, she would have to attack them. She felt reluctant to do this, but if she failed in her part, who knew what Victor would do to her? The least intimidating thing he could do was fire her. But he has heard threats of being devoured in the past. And several times, she has noticed men and women working for Victor just disappear without a trace. She'd never see them again, not even in another town. She gulped, suspecting she knew what happened to them.

She saw her communicator glow and held it up to her head. She was about to receive a transmission from Oscura. As the device was now next to her ear, she heard a voice utter the command she had been waiting to hear. As soon as Oscura had given the word, Michelle hesitated a second, tensing up as she watched the unsuspecting boys below. This was it. There was no turning back now. Preparing herself for a battle, she leaped out of the tree. She landed on her feet right in front of Buzz and Rodger.

The two teens were, at first, startled by this. They hadn't seen anyone up in the tree, and they didn't know they were being followed by anyone. About three seconds later, they recognized who this person was, and were immediately on their guard, preparing for a fight. The one least happy about this situation was Buzz. He still felt sick to his stomach that he had trusted Michelle, and had even defended her. And then she goes and does this to them! She was nothing more than a deceptive brat. The only thing positive about her that Buzz could think of was that she was at least less aggressive than Oscura.

“What are you doing here?!” Buzz asked, the first one of the three teens to speak up.

“What am I doing here?” Michelle asked innocently, doing her best to hide her fear. “Why..nothing, nothing at all.”

“Don't lie to us!” Buzz shouted.

Rodger chimed in. “We know you are up to something!”

“You aren't going to fool us!” Buzz yelled.

Michelle chuckled at this. The boys were certainly smart, now weren't they? Smiling darkly, she did just as Oscura had with the other two teenagers. She began to circle Rodger and Buzz, almost like a vulture. As she smirked evilly at the boys, they returned the smile with a glare that looked fierce enough to kill. She was a little shaken, but remained calm. It was almost as if she wasn't even slightly fazed by that look.

Then Michelle said something that she immediately regretted. “I bet you two young boys are worried about your precious little friend, Caruso...” She stifled a gasp and put a hand over her mouth in shock. It was too late to take it back now. While Victor hadn't said anything about not doing this, Michelle knew it was a mistake to bring it up. As she looked to see the boys' reactions, she flinched a little, and took a step back. They had scowls plastered on their face, their teeth were gritted and showing, and their eyes were glowing yellow, a warning sign they were on the verge of transforming.

“What have you done to Caruso?!” Buzz demanded, raising his arm to punch Michelle.

Michelle took another step back, feeling her heart start to beat a little faster. “I did nothing to him!” She said quickly, trying desperately to shift the blame to keep herself from being accused. The only thing she had done to Caruso was plant the tracker onto his hand. She hadn't really hurt him. “I-It was Victor!” She said before she could stop. “He kept saying how he would force Caruso to surrender!” She immediately shut her mouth when she realized what she had just said. Oh why doesn't she just tell them everything already!

Realizing they could get a little information from this girl, Rodger took a step forward, trying to use his size to intimidate Michelle. “What else did he say...?” He asked dangerously, clearly indicating that if he felt she was lying, he was going to take action.

“...something about breaking his spirit...” Michelle replied nervously, looking up slightly as she was a tad shorter than Rodger.

For a brief second, the two boys tensed up. They recalled what Peter had told them earlier. The man had told them something about breaking Caruso's will if he continued to oppose Victor. But from what they were hearing now, it seemed Victor may have gone forth with that plan, to make the boy submit to his will. Both of them knew that Caruso did have a strong spirit that was hard to break. He would sometimes have brief anger problems like the time when he got upset with them because they disapproved of his bringing O'Ryan to the same place they were having a mission. But that only meant he had a strong mind, and was not the type to submit to another easily. This was definitely obvious on that mission.

Peter had mentioned Victor had a plan, a method that would either make Caruso surrender, or kill him. Just what did Victor have in mind? What could possibly make someone as hard-headed as Caruso surrender, or kill him in the process? Buzz and Rodger had all kind of disturbing thoughts running through their minds. They couldn't think of what could be worse: whatever Victor had in mind to break Caruso's will or the experiments he wanted to force the boy to endure.

But this girl could be their key in getting their friend back. If they used force, they could make her reveal his location, perhaps even make her lead them to him. And they couldn't shake off the feeling of anger and hatred they had for this girl. She helped lead Victor to the lighthouse. And she had helped capture Caruso in the first place. And to top it all off, she had nearly killed Rump and Moynihan, and destroyed all their monitoring equipment. She was the reason they are not able to get a lock on Caruso's location.

But of the two young teens, it was Buzz who was the most effected when the truth about Michelle was revealed. When he had first met her on that online computer game, he had thought he found someone whom he could try being friends with. When she first appeared in the classroom, he was the one most willing to help her fit in. He didn't suspect anything was wrong with her. She just seemed like everyone else. She had seemed like a friendly girl, someone whom he thought he could trust.

And when she pretended to be in danger, he and the others believed her, and had 'saved' her from the Troodon. They took her into the lighthouse, and had treated her wounds. She'd been bitten, and was getting sick from the poison in the saliva from the Troodon's bite. Even if her devious plan had not worked, she still was in real danger after Oscura had bitten her. She still owed them. They saved her life after all. Michelle hadn't shown any suspicious behaviors while in the lighthouse. She had made no attempt to wander around. She had stayed on the couch the entire time until she had to leave. Buzz had thought that, since Michelle didn't do anything they didn't want her to, she could be trusted. But he had made a terrible mistake.

It hurt him. It really hit him hard knowing that this girl, even though he didn't know her for long, had deceived them all. Everything she'd told them in the beginning was a lie. That whole thing with becoming a new classmate, that was probably just a charade to get into the class. Buzz narrowed his eyes as he continued thinking about Michelle. She probably just wanted to get into the class in order to get to know the Dino Squad more, perhaps learn their secrets. The more he thought about her, the angrier he became as he recalled all the times he had been betrayed by those he thought were friends. The very memories of these events made him start to shake visibly with anger.

Rodger had noticed this and turned away from Michelle to place his hand on Buzz's shoulder. He looked at his green-haired friend with a concerned look on his face. “Yo, are you all right?” He asked, nearly forgetting about the brunette standing nearby. “Why are you shaking?”

“I'd...” Buzz started to say before letting out a sigh. “I'd rather not talk about it right now.” He said, briefly glancing a glare at Michelle, who took a step back.

Michelle gulped and felt her uneasiness grow and her courage diminish. She watched as the african-american tried his best to comfort his friend. She felt a tinge of jealousy. Why couldn't she and Oscura get along like that? Because Oscura was such a brat, that's why. Oh how Michelle was starting to hate her more and more everyday. And she was sure the feeling was mutual. She hoped the dominance fight would straighten her out, but since they were interrupted, Oscura declared there was no winner and continued to act as if she were her own boss. It sickened Michelle.

Michelle decided to take this moment between friends as a way for her to get out of here. But as she started to walk away, something was stopping her. A wave of fear came over her as she recalled what would happen to her if she disobeyed. Veloci had made it very clear to her he would hurt her if she did not carry out the task. He didn't sound threatening as he told her this. He probably believed she would listen to him anyway just as she always had in the past.

She groaned as she struggled to take another step, but her fears prevented her from getting any further. She felt a strange tingling in her fingers, a sick feeling in her stomach. It was like her fear had become her will, and was forcing her to carry out the mission. She took a glance behind her. The two boys still hadn't noticed she was starting to leave. She then turned and looked to where their bikes were, leaning against the side of a building. She'd seen these before, yesterday when they had taken her into the lighthouse to treat her wounds. They had taken her right into the lighthouse to treat her injuries because they thought she was genuinely in danger.

The young girl couldn't help but feel a little guilty as she remembered how she had tricked them like that. She had only been following orders though. She hadn't gone there on her own will. She hadn't destroyed the equipment because she wanted to. It was because she had to. They should understand that, right? They had a Velociraptor leading them. From what she had seen in her confrontation with the old woman, she quickly assumed that she was probably like Victor in some ways, perhaps just as aggressive, if not more. Surely the Dino Squad were subjected to the same kind of terror she herself has to go through everyday: the fear of getting eaten...

“Hey you!” Michelle winced as she heard Buzz's harsh voice calling from behind her. “Just where do you think you're going?!” She turned to see Buzz stalking towards her, his hands clenched into fists, and it looked as if he was shaking again. His brown eyes, narrowed dangerously, bore into her own as he stopped a couple feet away from her.

Michelle looked at Buzz fearfully before turning around to make a run for it, but she quickly found that she could not take that path. Rodger had gotten around the two and was now standing on the opposite of Michelle, attempting to box Michelle in and keep her from running away. Rodger folded up his arms tightly. “You are not leaving here.” He told her. “If you want to escape, you will have to fight us first, but I'm warning you. It's not going to be much of a fight. Two big dinosaurs and one small dinosaur aren't exactly an even match.”

Without thinking, a sly smile slowly appeared on Michelle's face. “You mean like the fight at the lighthouse?” She chuckled darkly. “Yeah you were so beating up Oscura and I!” She said in a taunting, sarcastic voice.

“Shut up!” Buzz snapped, his eyes glowing once more. But he knew that Michelle was right about this. They were sourly beaten by two human-sized dinosaurs back at the lighthouse. Five large dinosaurs, definitely bigger than these two dwarf dinosaurs, and they still didn't stand much of a chance against them. They were still beaten. The smaller forms were more agile than they were, and a lot quicker. Would he and Rodger really be able to defeat Michelle? She might be outnumbered, but only by one. Would they stand more of a chance if they had Fiona and Max with them?

Buzz wasn't the only one thinking about those two. Rodger suddenly realized that if Oscura and Michelle were partners, if Michelle was here, where was Oscura? There's only one logical place he could think of. The raven-haired teen must have gone after the other two to apprehend them! Rodger groaned. Splitting up wasn't such a great idea anymore. They have let themselves become more vulnerable by doing so. He began to worry about Max and Fiona. Were they all right? Has Oscura found them yet? And if she had, did she harm them?

“Oscura...” Rodger said. “She's after Max and Fiona, isn't she?”

Trying to sound brave once more, Michelle chortled and said in a mocking tone, “Oh you mean those two incompetent leaders?” She had heard that Max was the leader and Fiona was second-in-command, a co-leader sort-of-speak. “Oh yes she is. But I think she won't have much trouble. With the kind of luck those two idiots have, they won't last a few minutes against Oscura.”

Michelle gagged a little as she felt someone yank her from behind. Her shirt collar pressed against her throat, making it a little difficult to breathe. She heard Buzz's harsh voice speak to her. “How dare you!” Buzz growled as he pulled on the collar tighter, attempting to strangle Michelle for what she said.

“Let...me...go....!” Michelle demanded as she yanked free of Buzz's grasp. She took in a few breaths and rubbed her throat a little to make sure there were no scratches there.

“What's the matter?” Buzz said somewhat mockingly. “I didn't know someone with a cold heart could feel anything!”

“Buzz...” Rodger said in a disapproving tone. He shared the same dislike for Michelle, but he knew that accusing her like this was not going to get them anywhere. And mocking her just as she mocked them, he didn't want to stoop to that level. “Don't. We aren't going to get anywhere with that kind of attitude.”

Buzz growled softly at this statement. For a brief moment, he was wondering why Rodger was saying this. He felt that Rodger would have wanted to say something like that to Michelle, especially all that she's put them through. But slowly he realized the computer geek's point. To mock Michelle in the same manner as she had just mocked them would make them just as bad as she was. “I'm sorry.” He said to Rodger after a few seconds of silence.

Rodger nodded before turning his attention on Michelle. He took in a deep breath and said, “I will ask this only once. Are you willing to just give us the information we need and be on your way unharmed... or do you want to fight?”

Michelle turned her head this way and that in a bird-like manner as she thought about the question. She would much rather just give the information if it meant getting away without having to fight. It was late and she was starting to get a little tired. She hadn't taken any kind of medicine to help her stay awake. She might not be able to perform at her best, and she suspected that these two boys would. They were going to be searching all night for their friend, so they probably did take sometime before they came here.

But she knew that if she returned to Oscura, or even Victor, without looking like she was in a fight, she would get into trouble. She knew that much. With Victor's sense of smell, he would be able to tell if she had made contact with this group or not. She couldn't lie about that. As much as she didn't want to right now, she would have to choose to fight. She had to follow Victor's orders. Was there really any other choice? Well there was, but she did not like the result of the other choices, to either betray him or to fail him. She didn't wish to have those claws and teeth in her...

“I choose to fight.” She told them, closing her eyes and opening them up to reveal the reptilian eyes of a dinosaur. “I was sent here to capture you as Oscura was sent to capture your other two friends. We will take you to a confinement area where Victor will assess you after he is through with Caruso.”

Giving an almost sadistic grin, a behavior that was so unlike himself, Buzz said, “Then you are going to be disappointed...” His eyes changed as well and he held up an arm, the hand now having hooked claws and green skin. “We won't let you win.”

Both Rodger and Michelle seemed surprised at this new behavior coming from Buzz. Rodger hadn't seen that kind of smile from Buzz before, and it seemed a little scary for him to see the guy look like he's actually going to enjoy inflicting pain on someone, even if it was a follower of Victor. Michelle was a bit startled, but tried to look as unfazed as possible. She knew Buzz was trying to intimidate her. She wasn't going to let him or his friend scare her, although it was probably too late for this newfound bravery for she could still feel her heart racing.

Laughing with a somewhat evil disposition, attempting to slow down her heart rate and calm down her breathing, Michelle flexed her fingers in a dinosaur-like way and stared directly into Buzz's eyes. He was the one she was going to attack first, and she knew he knew that. “Well then...” She started to say. “I suggest you fight better than you did the last time, you flying bat.”

A growl uttered from Buzz's voice as he responded threateningly, “You little...”

“Bring it.” Michelle said as she watched Buzz seethe from the insult she'd just given him.

* * *

The alleyway had become a scene filled with blurs of reds, greens, and yellows. The air was mixed with the growls and hisses from three beasts that were clashing with each other. The sounds of slashes and claws clanging against each other also filled the night atmosphere. The trash cans had been knocked down, their contents strewn across the floor. At least one window was smashed, although no one had seemed to wake up to investigate. And the side of the walls were covered in long claw marks.

SSPLAAAARSHHH!

A cry of yelp followed as blood splattered against the wall of the alleyway. A large green Tyrannosaurus Rex, his mouth wide open and panting heavily, briefly lowered himself to the ground. Blood was trinkling down a wound on his thigh. Max didn't how how he let Oscura get close enough to do that. He should have been more focused. He mentally scolded himself as he lowered his head to lick the wound as best as he could.

'Max!' He looked up to see Fiona rushing towards him. 'Are you all right?' She lowered her head and sniffed at the wound he was cleaning with his tongue. The scent of blood mixed into her nostrils, and she jerked her head back. 'That's one nasty scratch.'

'No kidding...' Max grumbled before opening his mouth in horror. Fiona had turned her back onto Oscura. And now the Troodon was coming up behind her for a sneak attack! 'Fiona! Look out!' He shouted.

The golden Spinosaurus quickly turned her head to the side. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a flash of crimson. And then a second later, a sharp pain enveloped her, originating from the neck. Oscura had latched onto her and was now digging her claws into her vulnerable neck! Fiona lifted her head up and let out a roar of pain as she stumbled across the floor, trying her best to knock the Troodon off of her. But there was so little room in this alleyway. Why had she and Max taken the risk of going dino here? They were lucky they didn't squash each other.

It was clear Oscura had the advantage. She was small enough to still be able to maneuver around even with two large dinosaurs taking up almost all the space in the alleyway. And she was so agile they couldn't get a claw or tooth on her, and yet she could easily inflict wounds on them. She has already cut up Max pretty well. In addition to the injury on his thigh, he had a few more on his back and side. Fiona had a few cuts on her face, forearms, and tail.

'Let go of me, you urchin!' Fiona shouted angrily, snapping towards Oscura. But the little dinosaur was just out of her ranch. All her jaws were snapping on was air, no matter how many times she tried.

Oscura chuckled at Fiona's pathetic attempt to get her off of her neck. 'Oh poor Fiona. What's the matter? You don't like a friendly hug?' She asked mockingly.

Fiona hissed. 'Wait until I get my jaws on you...'

'Oh I'd like to see you try...' Oscura replied sinisterly, opening her jaws to deliver a bite. '..before I deliver the bite, and then it'll be all over.' She saw Fiona's eyes widen and couldn't help but chuckle to herself. 'I went easy on you and your friends before. I only gave a mild dose that made you sick. But I can easily give you more, with deadlier consequences...'

'No!' Max rose up from the ground. 'Don't you dare do it, Troodon! If you do, I'll...' His voice trailed off as he struggled to find some sort of threat to give to the Troodon. But she seemed so unfazed by anything they tell her. He doubt he could find something to scare her with. She was probably not even afraid of threats of death.

'Or you'll what?' Oscura asked tauntingly. She lowered her head closer, her teeth just barely touching Fiona's dinosaur skin. Fiona had frozen in place, afraid that if she tried anything now, she could slip and feel the fangs sink into her body, delivering the cocktail of bacteria. 'Now doesn't this remind you of something, hmm?' She asked in a scary tone of voice, even for her. It would have scared her too if she even cared that much.

'What are you talking about?' Max asked.

Oscura let out a hissing laugh. 'You mean you don't remember? How could you have forgotten?'

Max narrowed his eyes angrily. 'If you're going to pull a mind game...!'

'Your friend here is helpless to defend herself from my bite.' Oscura explained, setting her jaws on Fiona's neck once more. 'And you are powerless to stop it. Isn't this the same situation that happened when we took your precious friend?' As Max let out a gasp, Oscura slightly tightened her grip on Fiona's neck. 'You were right there, and you could not save him. You let him down.'

'I...' Max attempted to defend himself, but only drew a blank. A sickening feeling overcame him as he realized that Oscura was correct. He had let Caruso down. He could have saved him, but he let himself be overtaken by the poison and collapsed, doing nothing more but watching the truck drive away and disappear from sight.

'Don't listen to her!' Max heard Fiona say. 'She's just trying to psyche you out! Don't let it get to you!'

'Quiet you!' Oscura hissed, pressing a little harder, the teeth nearly breaking the skin.

'Fiona!' Max moved his head a bit closer, but froze in place as he saw Oscura threatening to bite harder. He was close enough to attack, and yet he was being held back. Why? He had no restraints on. There was no rope tying him to a building of some kind. He probably could move fast enough to grab Oscura. Even if he didn't move quick enough, if he got his jaws on her, it was all over. So why was he hesitating?

'So..it looks like we understand each other.' Oscura slowly loosened her grip on Fiona's neck. But she still had her jaws set on the skin, making it very clear she wouldn't be afraid to pull that stunt again. And she wasn't through having her little fun. 'Perhaps I should just kill her now...'

'Why?!' Fiona's jaws gaped open in shock. She did not know why she asked that one word question. She already knew what the answer was going to be.

'Why...?' Oscura's eyes turned towards her. The golden glow nearly made the Spinosaurus flinch. 'Because it's fun.' She grinned. 'Your death scream will be music to my ears.'

Max roared in anger. He was getting tired of this darn Troodon! He could feel his blood become hot with hatred, feeling as though his skin were burning. His entire body was shaking with rage. Oscura had long since crossed the line. She had threatened Fiona and had tried to psyche him out by making him feel guilty all over again about Caruso's capture. She had poisoned his team mates, and probably taunted Caruso while he was being taken away. She was nothing but a monster who enjoyed seeing pain and suffering from others. How could anyone believe it is fun to take the life of another? Only those with a cold heart would think that.

But as much as Max wanted to attack Oscura, he just couldn't. Fear was holding him back, making him hesitate. That is what he started to believe. He feared that if he missed, he could hit Fiona instead. She was very close, Oscura was within range, but he could still easily miss. Oscura was not a very large dinosaur. He would have to be very precise with his bite, or he risked hurting Fiona. Max groaned in frustration. What should he do...?

Suddenly, without warning, a loud shriek emitted from Oscura's throat. A second later, she was tossed to the ground, stumbling as she rolled across the floor. Fiona and Max were completely taken off by this. Just what had happened? They hadn't seen anyone else show up. They couldn't see any of the others around them. And it wouldn't have made much sense, considering the fact that they took up most of the room in the alleyway. There did not appear to be enough room for anyone else to show up. And yet that was exactly what happened. How else could they explain the sudden attack that knocked the red Troodon off of Fiona?

A deep cut snaked across Oscura's back, not deep enough to kill but allowed the blood to flow freely. She struggled to her feet, moaning briefly in pain and from disorientation. Just who attacked her? She took a good look at the wound on her back, near where her tail began. This wound did not seem like it could have been inflicted by a Tyrannosaurus Rex or Spinosaurus. Her eyes widened a little. This kind of wound could only have been inflicted by Victor, or...

'Moynihan?!' Max and Fiona said in unison, their voice clearly filled with shock. Standing there, across from where Oscura was, was Moynihan. She was in her Velociraptor form, her yellow eyes glaring angrily at the Troodon.

'You...' Oscura seethed. 'How dare you...' Drool dripped from the sides of her jaws in a beast-like manner.

'You brought this on yourself.' Moynihan replied, raising up her claws threateningly. It had been a long time since she last fought in Velociraptor form. She hoped that she hadn't gotten too rusty on her fighting skills. Max and Fiona detransformed back into their human forms to give their mentor some fighting room. They also backed away so they wouldn't be caught in the middle of the battle.

'You are going to try to face me alone?' Oscura sneered, raising her head up with self confidence. 'You're a bigger fool than I thought. An old woman who is clearly passed her fighting prime facing a younger, more skilled fighter all by herself.' While Moynihan felt a little insulted that Oscura judged her fighting skills so negatively even after she had managed to land a serious wound on her back, she couldn't help but give a raptor-like smile to the Troodon. Oscura was confused by this grin. 'What are you smiling about?'

Moynihan chuckled in a dinosaurian manner. 'You. Did you really think I came here all by myself?'

'What are you...' Oscura suddenly screamed as she felt something clamp onto her tail. She turned her head to see something white gripping on her tail, and growled as she recognized what it was. 'You stupid mutant dog!' She cried out. 'Let me go!' Michelle had told her about Rump, how the dog tried to attack her but she managed to wound him. At first Oscura laughed at the idea of a dog turning into some mutant half dinosaur half dog creature, and found it even funnier when Michelle offered her a detailed description. But now, with Rump biting her with those powerful jaws, she is finding the mutant to be far less funny.

“Rump?!” Fiona gasped. What was the dog doing here? He still hadn't fully recovered from Michelle's assault. She could still see the bandages that were wrapped around him. And yet, despite the pain he must be in, he was attacking Oscura without hesitation. It was as if the pain he was feeling didn't mean anything to him anymore.

“Why is Rump here?” Max asked, just as confused as Fiona.

'What?' Moynihan asked, briefly glancing over her shoulder to look at the two teens. 'You didn't expect me to come alone, did you?' She sounded a bit surprised, as if she expected them to know she would not come here alone. But then again, they didn't know she was coming at all.

“Well...” Max started, but was interrupted by a high pitched yelp.

ARRROOOOO!

'RUMP!' Moynihan cried as she watched the dog slamming into the ground after getting hit by Oscura's tail. Rump managed to struggle to his feet. He wobbled a bit as he took a couple steps forward, but other than a bit of redness appearing where he was struck, he didn't appear to have any new injuries on him.

'You stupid mutt..' Oscura snarled as she glared at the dog mutant. She glanced back at her tail, now having some blood covering it, and said, 'I should skin you alive for that!'

'You will do no such thing!' Moynihan got into a fighting position, rosing her tail straight in the air and lowering herself, jaws wide open, claws held forward menacingly. She was challenging Oscura to a one-on-one fight.

'Hahahaha! You really think you can take me on, you old woman?' Oscura sneered confidently. She was having trouble comprehending what would possess an elder to take on a youth. 'You don't stand a chance.'

Moynihan growled softly. 'Don't act so smart, you idiot!' Hearing Moynihan say this surprised both Max and Fiona. Rump sensed what was about to happen and limped towards Fiona, detransformed, who knelt down and picked him up. 'Take a good look at your opponent before talking like such a fool!' To emphasize her words, she slowly rose straight up, her tail still raised, her jaws still open, and she let out a soft, warning growl.

'I'm not the fool.' Oscura simply said, unaffected by Moynihan's threatening growl. 'You are, you thick-headed, pathetic excuse for a Velociraptor!' She shouted at the green raptor, not once hesitating as she continued to insult her. 'I could easily defeat you, you old hag! So why don't you do yourself a favor and just give up before we even begin? Trust me, it'll be a lot less painful.'

Moynihan's sharp teeth glinted in the little light available as she seethed a bit at the insult. Usually she wouldn't let such insults get to her. But the way Oscura was saying them was reminding her all too well of Victor Veloci, the way he had started to treat her ever since she expressed doubts of reclaiming the planet for the dinosaurs. She did understand, somewhat, why he had gotten upset. She had usually been there for him to support him and to help him. It probably helped him feel better knowing that there was another one just like him who had shared his dream. It must have hurt him when she went against him, and abandoned him. She had considered changing her mind, but when Veloci attacked her for the first time...well that hurt her just as much.

Why had he attacked her with such ferocity not long after she decided to quit? She hadn't even planned on trying to stop him in the beginning. She didn't think she could anyway. She had never threatened him when she first left. She just simply couldn't take it anymore. All these experimentations, they were wearing her down. There had been too many broken promises and too many let downs. But when Victor attacked her in an attempt to force her to rejoin him, she had no choice but to defend herself. Victor was not always like this. She secretly wished for the Victor she once knew to return, but she believed that had long since passed.

She'd given him chance after chance after chance, but he never changed. She wasn't sure if that was because he didn't understand, or if he just simply didn't want to change back to how he was before. Victor didn't always hate the humans. There was a time when he, like her, was curious about them and wanted to learn more. What she found funny, in a bitter way, is that it was actually the result of one incident that led Victor to his long-standing hatred of the primates. And she had never told the Dino Squad.

But Moynihan knew that this was not the time or place to be thinking such thoughts, especially when there was an enemy standing before her, ready to strike. She mentally shook her head to get those thoughts out of her mind and said, 'I do not need to take orders from you.'

'Such a lame response.' Oscura sneered, chuckling to herself. 'I would have expected more from the trainer of the Dino Squad. But then, why was I expecting that from such a weak person like yourself?'

“Why you...” Max started, but was held back by Fiona. “Fiona, let go!”

“No!” Fiona hissed. “Professor Moynihan can take care of herself! We have to find the others!”

“Fiona...” Max began.

Fiona was not in the mood to argue. “Max, what if Michelle gets the others?”

Max still was not agreeing to going along with Fiona's request of leaving Moynihan to find Buzz and Rodger. It's not that he didn't care about their safety. It's just that..Oscura had a more dangerous bite than Michelle did. What if something happened to Moynihan? “I'm sorry, Fiona, but I still don't think we should just leave Moynihan.”

This hadn't gone unnoticed by the opposing villainess. Raising her long, slender neck upwards a bit and opening up her mouth slightly to partially expose her teeth, Oscura was becoming even more amused by these two teenagers. Their loyalty to their loved ones, it amused Oscura, as she saw this as a sign of weakness. And it seems she was right, with the way these two were bickering a bit on who they should help first. 'You Dino Squad idiots never cease to amaze me.' She jeered.

“You stay out of this!” Fiona barked. “This doesn't concern you!”

Giving a laugh that sounded more like a rattlesnake hiss than an actual laugh, Oscura turned her head to the side. She gazed at the feisty tomboy at a sideways glance. 'On the contrary, my dear,' She said evilly. 'I believe it does. You want to find your other friends? You'd have to get through me first.' She held out her red-skinned arms, the hooked claws on both hands facing towards each other.

“We're not afraid of you!” Max declared. He then felt someone pulling him back. Even though he couldn't see her face, he knew it was Fiona. “Fiona, stop!”

“But Max...” Fiona started to say. Before either of them could continue, they noticed Moynihan shifting her raptor head towards them, her yellow eyes gleaming at them. It reminded them so much of Victor they almost forgot that Joanne was on their side. Instinctively, they both took a step back.

'Fiona is right.' Moynihan finally said. She tried her best not to focus too much on the children, unless she wants to let her guard down and risk getting attacked by Oscura. Before Max could try to argue with her, the green Velociraptor made her point clear. 'I can handle this Troodon on my own. Two small dinosaurs would be harder to notice.'

“I...” But Max couldn't think of anything to say. Moynihan was right. He was surprised that no one had heard them fighting. He was a T-Rex and she was a Spinosaurus. They aren't exactly hard to miss, given their huge size. “I understand.”

'You and Fiona must go find the others and make sure they are all right.' Moynihan said as she turned her head to face Oscura. 'I will join up with you after I take care of this Troodon.'

“Come on.” Fiona said after Moynihan had given the order. She started to race towards her Spino-Cycle. “Let's go!” She quickly hopped on, and waited for Max. She didn't want to take off and having him not knowing where she was. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rump changing back into his mutant form. He jumped onto her lap and held onto her with his strong mutant paws.

“Coming!” Max raced towards his Tyranno-Cycle, and was about to hop on. But he hesitated briefly. He turned his head towards Moynihan, who was now facing off with the red Troodon. “Good luck.” He whispered before getting on his bike. He nodded to Fiona, and they soon took off to the other side of town, leaving Moynihan alone with Oscura.

When they were alone, the two dinosaurs began to circle around each other in the alleyway, eyes locked onto one another. Both were calculating the strength of their opposition, and figuring out, mentally, what they should do to defeat the other. Neither made a move, however, expecting the other one to do so. They both remained on alert, awaiting for the first strike to be executed. The dark clouds in the sky shielded the moon, reducing the amount of light available in the alleyway. Moynihan narrowed her eyes, realizing she was at a slight disadvantage. She hadn't used her raptor night vision in years, and she was having some problems adjusting her eyes to the darkness.

Oscura, on the other hand, was unaffected. The Troodons were a race of mostly nocturnal dinosaurs with large eyes well designed for lack of light. She noticed Moynihan's temporary vulnerability, and considered attacking her. But she reconsidered, and decided not to. She had her reasons. She wanted to fight Joanne first. She wanted to defeat her, to crush her hopes and her spirit. Oscura felt it would be a lot more fun this way. She could already envision Moynihan's dying scream and her cold laughter. It would be music to her ears.

'You are quite brave, I'll give you that.' Oscura said as she scratched the ground with her talons as if she were about to charge. 'And for the record, my name isn't Troodon. It's Oscura.'

'I never asked you.' Moynihan hissed. 'So are you just going to stand there all day or are we going to fight? Or are you too afraid?'

'Ooo.. touchy touchy. I will give you this warning only once. You better watch what you say, old woman.' Oscura chuckled. 'You just might get hurt.'

Moynihan bared her teeth. 'Thanks for the warning.' She said in a sarcastic tone. 'But I can take care of myself, as Fiona said.' She knew that Oscura was probably going to try to psyche her out somehow.

'Oh so that's what her name is.' Oscura cooed as she smiled darkly with her dinosaurian jaws and lips. 'I admit she is a cute kid. And rather feisty and brave too.' She scratched her jaws as she said this. She was deliberately trying to make Moynihan angry to hinder her thinking skills during the fight. She had a feeling that the old woman would not appreciate having her students taunted and threatened. 'But she is still a rather weak individual. She could not even break free of my grasp. Her grabbing me back at the lighthouse was a simple fluke.' She scoffed. 'I have fun toying with people like her. Their resistance is amusing, and it's entertaining to make them suffer.' Oscura stopped briefly to glance at Moynihan more carefully. She felt a little disappointed that Moynihan was not reacting to what she was saying, and hissed softly to express her frustration.

'What's the matter?' Moynihan said, feeling a sense of satisfaction that she wasn't doing what Oscura was hoping she would do. Oh Oscura's words had angered her, but Moynihan knew that if she reacted, that would be just what Oscura was waiting for. She could see through Oscura's clever plan. And she wasn't going to fall for it. 'You can't win a fight without putting your opponents at a disadvantage? Are you that pathetic, Oscura?'

The Troodon snapped her head up and let out a loud hiss as her dinosaur lips curled back into a snarl. She didn't give an answer. Instead, she suddenly bolted forward, readying herself to lung at the green raptor and attack her. She had given Moynihan no warning, no sign that she was on the verge of attacking. She just bolted, and within seconds she was in range. When she was, she jumped and opened up her jaws to try to bite her. While she had a short amount of time to react. Joanne quickly jolted out of the way, allowing Oscura to bite the air.

As the Troodon slammed into the ground, Joanne quickly turned around and made her move. She lunged towards the smaller dinosaur and landed on her back before Oscura could get back up off the ground. Moynihan held Oscura on the ground with one strong leg, the foot pressed on the Troodon's long slender neck just behind the head. Oscura started to struggle frantically, but was having a difficult time swiping at Ms. Moynihan because of the way she was positioned on the ground and where Moynihan was standing. Oscura couldn't bite her either because she was not able to turn her head with the raptor's foot on her.

'How are you able to fight?' Oscura said as she finally started to settle down, realizing she wouldn't be able to free herself just yet. She decided she could not afford wasting too much energy. 'I thought you were hurt.'

Moynihan narrowed her yellow eyes. She knew someone was going to ask her about that, but she thought it would be one of her own students. She did not expect someone like Oscura to question her about it. 'That is none of your business, Troodon.' She hissed, pressing her foot slightly harder. 'Now are you going to tell me where Caruso is, or am I going to have to force the information from you?'

Oscura's eyes widened slightly, but not at Moynihan's foot applying more pressure. From what Victor had told her about Moynihan, the old woman was a coward, and nothing more. She wouldn't have the guts to threaten anyone. But now, she had just said something that sounded very close to an actual threat. Moynihan seems willing to actually hurt her to get information. This doesn't sound like the Moynihan she had been told about. Certainly not the Moynihan Victor knew either. What has gotten in this old woman?

'I never thought a coward like you would threaten to hurt anyone.' Oscura said.

'I never said I was going to hurt you.' Moynihan said, smiling although Oscura could tell it was not a genuinely happy smile. 'I have another way of getting information from you.' Moynihan was not really surprised that Oscura thought she was going to hurt her for information. She probably got that idea from Victor. No doubt he would do such a thing. She didn't put it past him. But Moynihan had another idea of how to get information from this feisty Troodon. And she wouldn't have to harm a scale on Oscura's body.

'And that is...?' Oscura inquired. But she got no reply from Moynihan, just an almost creepy smile.

* * *

“Rodger and Buzz have to be around here somewhere!” Fiona shouted, trying her bed to hold Rump with one arm and steer with the other. They were on the same road that Paramount Theatre was on, but so far they had seen no signs of Buzz or Rodger anywhere. She and Max knew that the two were assigned to look for clues around this spot, so they probably went to look somewhere else. But where exactly should they start looking? And they weren't gone that long, where they? Unless the two went dino, they couldn't have gotten that far.

“Keep looking!” Max responded, gripping the handles on his bike tightly as he looked around the block nervously. If Buzz and Rodger had gone dino out in the open, they would have a higher chance of getting spotted then he and Fiona did back in the alleyway. He was expecting a Pteranodon or a Styracosaurus to appear out of nowhere any second.

They continued their search, staying on the sidewalk along the same road. Eventually they could see the huge Paramount Theatre's sign. As it came closer to their view, not surprisingly, they couldn't see Buzz or Rodger anywhere. Now that they were at the location, they could start their search on foot. In case Michelle was anywhere nearby, they would be better off without the bikes. They'd make less noise that way. They hopped off their bikes and leaned them against a building close to the Paramount Theatre. As they did so, they quickly spotted two other strange-looking bikes. Upon inspecting them, they discovered they were Rodger and Buzz's motorcycles.

“Their motorcycles.” Max said softly, turning his head to Fiona. “They must be close by.”

“Yes.” Fiona said, nodding her head. “But where?”

As if to answer their question, there was a loud crashing sound followed by a bellow of pain. Fiona and Max quickly turned in the direction of the sound and noticed smoke pillowing out from another alleyway, slightly larger than the one they were in. They nodded to each other and raced towards the space between the two large buildings. When they came to it, it became obvious, very fast, that the smoke was actually coming from behind the building. They raced through the thick smoke, covering their mouths and coughing as they attempted to wave the smoke away and get fresh air.

Once they reached the other side, they quickly noticed what caused the dusty smoke to begin with. On the back of Paramount Theatre, there was a large dent in it, the brick wall all around cracking and breaking. Inside the partial hole in the thick wall was a large green body, Buzz in dino mode. He had bite marks in his leg, and his head looked as though it were embedded in the dent in the building. Standing in front of him was Michelle in dino mode. Her mouth was lined with a little bit of blood, and she was making her way towards Buzz.

Not too far away, there was Rodger. He was laying down on his side. There appeared to be some kind of large beam laying on him, heavy enough to hold him down, but not kill him. He had a few cuts on his face and along his back, probably where Michelle attacked him, just as Victor had. The Styracosaurus saw Fiona and Max arrive on the scene and tried to get up. He let out a moan of pain as his feet slipped from underneath him and he hit the ground with a thud.

Max and Fiona stood there, horrified. Michelle hadn't spotted them yet, but they knew that wouldn't last much longer. They stood there, frozen, staring at the scene before them. How could Michelle so easily take down both Rodger and Buzz in dino mode? Well sure, Michelle was also in dino mode. But she wasn't very big, smaller than Moynihan and Victor were in dino mode. And she lacked the venomous bite that Oscura had. Rodger and Buzz should have had the advantage. Apprehending Michelle shouldn't have been too difficult. And yet, there they were, helpless as Michelle made her advancements. Max and Fiona ran in different directions. Max went towards Rodger while Fiona went towards Michelle.

“Rodger!” Max shouted as he transformed into his Tyrannosaurus Rex form. He stomped towards his injured comrade and lowered his head down. He gripped the beam with his strong jaws and lifted it up into the air. With a single thrust, he tossed it towards nearby foliage, followed by a loud crashing sound. He winced briefly, and then turned his head towards Rodger. He lowered his head once again. 'Rodger, are you all right?'

'I'll be..fine..' Rodger managed to say through his pain. Although shaky and a little weak, he managed to get to his feet since he no longer head the heavy beam pushing him down.

'How could someone that small beat you and Buzz?' Max said, sounding confused. 'You and him are bigger than she is.'

'She..she was too fast for us.' Rodger explained. 'She wore us out...'

“Leave him alone!” Fiona shouted to Michelle, getting her attention as she ran towards her.

The Guanlong Wucaii stopped in her tracks, only a few feet away from Buzz, and turned her head towards Fiona. The tomboy had stopped running, and stood about a yard or so away from Michelle. The black dinosaur remained unfazed as the girl stared at her hatefully. Michelle turned her entire body in the direction where Fiona was standing. She found it a little amusing that she was going to attempt to defend her friend. What chance would she have anyway? If these two couldn't defeat her, what made her think she could?

But perhaps she should just humor the girl, let her try to fight her. Why not? It wouldn't hurt anything, well except maybe her or Fiona. It wouldn't necessarily be a waste of time. And since she's fighting the Dino Squad, she couldn't get in trouble with Victor, even if she failed in the mission, now could she? Of course she could easily be wrong. She felt a tinge of fear as she quickly thought of what the consequences would be if she were wrong. She shook her head mentally. She couldn't think those things at this moment. If she spaced out too long, Fiona could use that to her advantage and attack her without warning.

Clenching a fist, Fiona pointed to where Buzz was laying. He was unconscious, his eyes closed and mouth open with his tongue hanging out. “What did you do to him?!” Fiona demanded.

Michelle tilted her head in a bird-like manner as she thought about an answer to give the tomboy. She casted a glance at Buzz before she turned her head towards the girl. She opened her mouth in a dinosaurian smile. 'Oh why nothing...' She said slyly. '...that he didn't deserve.'

“What right did you have to do that to him?!” Fiona shouted, her eyes glowing yellow.

Unlike Oscura, Michelle did look genuinely afraid upon seeing the eye glow. She took a step back and did not give a smart retort like Oscura would have. She was growing more and more nervous the longer that Fiona and Max were there. It was tough enough for her to handle these two idiots. It would be nearly impossible for her to handle four dinosaurs, even if two of them were already injured. Michelle couldn't come up with a response for Fiona's question. She just stared at the girl in the eyes, hesitating, unmoving. Michelle was finally jolted into moving when she heard a roar from behind her. She could see the looming form of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the leader of this group, that she knew. Next to him was the Styracosaurus. He still limped, but judging from how he was lowering his horns at her, he seemed more than ready to charge her.

Michelle then heard a squawking sound, and whirled her head around to find that Buzz had not only woken up, but was now standing, although with some difficulty with his injuries. He opened up his wing span as wide as he could and puffed up his chest to make himself look more intimidating. His long beak was open, exposing his sharp teeth. Michelle took a step back, and almost immediately she heard the deafening roar of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Gulping silently, she turned yet again and quickly found she was surrounded by four larger dinosaurs. She scanned the area quickly, looking at each of her opponents. She growled softly. She couldn't fight all four of them by herself. She needed Oscura.

A thought crossed her mind. Just where was that Troodon? She was supposed to take care of Max and Fiona, yet they are here and she is not. What had happened back there? What was her partner up to? She glared softly at the T-Rex and Spinosaurus. There was only one thing that could have happened. Oscura must have been defeated, or perhaps even preoccupied with something else. Maybe the Dino Squad had brought back up. If that is the case, then capturing them was going to be harder than she had anticipated. Michelle felt a strange and uncomfortable feeling overwhelm her as she quickly realized she was subdued. She could not fight back, not against all these dinosaurs. She had no choice but to run.

Run...that was one choice she was not overly fond of. Oscura also hated running, but that was because she'd rather have fun with her opponents. Michelle hated to run because she believed it made her look like a coward. But even Victor had once said that sometimes running is the only option. Michelle took another step back, followed by a challenging bellow emitted from Rodger. She jumped a bit, startled, and stared in his direction, and then shifted her gaze to Max and Fiona, and then Buzz. Each one took a step closer to her, attempting to trap her in a circle. If Michelle were to escape, she'd have to run very soon.

Her thoughts returned to Caruso back at the hideout. She started to wonder how he was doing and what Victor was doing with him. At first, she didn't know why she was concerned about him. To her, all he was to her was the enemy. He was part of the Dino Squad and a threat to Victor's plan. If she helped him, she would be regarded as a traitor and perhaps Victor would kill her as the ultimate punishment. Victor was never tolerant of traitors as she learned the hard way in the past.

And Caruso did deserve this, did he not? His massive ego reminded herself, as well as Victor and Oscura, all too well of the ego that the human race had displayed over the past few hundreds of years. Caruso had believed he could use his dinosaur form for fame, from what she was told from when she was guarding Caruso on the way to Raptor Dyne. He didn't seem to know his own limitations and probably had endangered his group so many times. Perhaps taking him away was doing them a huge favor. They would be a lot safer without him.

And yet..why are they here? If they truly were better off without Caruso, why were they trying so hard to save him? Because they were friends, that's why, she thought. His friends must care about him a lot to risk everything to try to save him from her boss's clutches. Even if she was able to stop them this time, they would keep trying until either they died, succeeded, or they found out Caruso died.

Upon thinking of death, Michelle suddenly had a pang of guilt. Could she really go through with it? Could she really just let Caruso die? Victor had never mentioned anything about killing, but she wouldn't put it past him. And whatever method he was using to try to break Caruso..it would have to be something terrible, almost inhumane. Could she really just stand by and allow that to happen? No! She shouldn't think that like! Caruso was none of her concern! She shouldn't care at all what happens to him. Her main priority was to help capture the remainder of his stupid friends. They had it coming! They asked for it!

But she still couldn't help but feel guilty. Perhaps Oscura was right. Perhaps she had gotten attached to Caruso. It was the only explanation. She kept on telling herself otherwise, kept on emphasizing her hatred for him. But deep down, she did truly care about him and his well-being. She couldn't lie to herself any longer. She couldn't stand doing this anymore. She should never have gone along with doing all this. She should have refused to put the tracker on the poor kid. But because of her, now he's in her boss's hands and who knows what he was doing to him.

Was a paycheck really worth all this...?

Getting tired of the silence, Fiona spoke up. 'Well? Aren't you going to answer me?' Her mouth opened up to reveal her line of sharp teeth. 'Or are you thinking of another plan?'

'Let's just get her!' Buzz said, hissing loudly through his long beak. He was eager to get back at Michelle for slamming him into the wall like that. And he felt a tinge of satisfaction knowing that now she was outnumbered and couldn't fight back. Now she knows what it feels like to be helpless.

'No!' Max snorted, giving Buzz a T-Rex glare. 'We need information from her!'

'She isn't as cocky as Oscura. Getting information from her would probably be easier.' Fiona explained.

'You can't trust her!' Rodger shouted, angrily pointing his horns towards Michelle, indicating he wanted to run her through. Michelle reacted by jumping back and lowering her head in fear.

Buzz chimed in. 'Yeah! She'll just lie to us and send us into a trap!'

'But what choice do we have?' Max asked calmly, trying to settle down the Styracosaurus and Pteranodon before they frightened away the only source in finding their friend, Caruso. 'If we chase her away, how will we find Caruso?'

'Max is right, you two.' Fiona explained. Although she would love to get Michelle for what she's done, she knew that if they did that, they may never see Caruso again. 'Even if Michelle lies to us, isn't any information better than none? Don't you guys want to save Caruso?'

'Yes..but..' Rodger started.

'No buts, Rodger.' Fiona interrupted him. 'This may be our last chance.'

'Fiona is right you guys.' Max said. He turned his head towards Michelle. The smaller dinosaur seemed to be trying to find a way out. He narrowed his eyes. He couldn't let that happen, not when they were so close to finding out the exact location of their missing comrade. He took it upon himself to do the questioning. He would be the most willing to listen to her, and perhaps the most tolerant as well. He wouldn't dare let Buzz or Rodger do the questioning. They would rather attack her first and ask questions later. Fiona was a little better, but she probably wouldn't be able to tolerant Michelle for too long. So he knew it was up to him.

He moved forward as he saw Michelle running for an opening. He lowered his massive head down right in her way. Screeching in shock, Michelle scrambled to stop herself from slamming against the large animal's head. Michelle turned around and bolted towards another opening, one smaller than the previous one. Growling softly, Max quickly moved in her way yet again, blocking her path. Snorting in frustration, Michelle turned and tried for yet another opening. But it ended up the same as before. The large green T-Rex got in her way, preventing her from leaving. She backed up a little in fear.

'I just want to ask you a few questions.' Max explained calmly, hoping that the softness of his voice would settle the Guanlong Wucaii long enough to get some answers out of her. 'Why don't you just make it easier on yourself and answer them?'

'I'm not allowed to tell you anything!' Michelle shouted quickly. The tone of her voice revealed to Max that she didn't seem too happy about having to keep secrets from them. This surprised him a bit. Why would she feel unwilling to hide things from her enemy? But he shrugged it off.

'Do you really want to make this harder on yourself?' Max questioned. 'Tell you what, we'll let you go if you tell us where Caruso is.' He attempted to negotiate with the small black dinosaur, hoping that his offer would make her feel more comfortable in answering.

'I won't tell you anything!' Michelle said defiantly.

'I'll make you answer.' Rodger said as he started to charge towards her. He was abruptly stopped by a roar from Max and the snapping of his jaws so close to him.

'Stop!' Max shouted angrily. Rodger's eyes widened. He had never seen Max fake an attack like that against one of his own friends. While he felt disappointed and a little angry with their leader, he had to back down. He backed up a little, head lowered a little still. Max turned his head back towards Michelle. But before he could get a word out, he realized something was wrong. She was gone! 'She took off!' He shouted, eyes wide. He turned his head back towards Rodger. 'Thanks a lot, Rodger! You created a distraction for her to escape! And we were this close in getting information from her!'

'Don't be so hard on him.' Fiona said, trying to calm their leader down. 'He was only trying to...'

'I see her!' Buzz shouted, hovering above them. With his keen eyesight, he spotted Michelle, still in dino mode, racing off along the streets of Boston, staying mostly in the alleyways. 'She's running over there!'

'Then what are we waiting for?' Rodger said, forgetting about his anger towards Max. 'Let's get her!' Without hesitation, the four dinosaurs took off after Michelle. They knew they had to catch up to her. Maybe she was running back towards the hideout, where Caruso was. As they raced after the Guanlong Wucaii, one thought remained in their minds: Would they get there in time?

* * *

“Aaaaahhh!” Caruso slammed against the wall, a series of small yellowish sparks pulsing across his body, giving him a slight glow for several seconds. He managed to keep on his feet despite the pain and the spasms he was experiencing. He managed to open up his eyes just a crack to stare at the man standing before him. Victor stared back at him with a face of stone. In his hands he held some kind of weapon. Just like the others before it, the weapon had a dinosaur-like look to it. In his other hand he held the rope that was attached to the bridle Caruso was still wearing.

“Come over here.” Victor demanded calmly, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Caruso glared at Victor, but obliged, although reluctantly, and began to, very slowly, walk towards the man-in-disguise. This was the fifth experiment he had to endure, or maybe it was the sixth. He had lost count. It was hard to really concentrate on how many times he endured an experiment due to the excruciating pain he had to suffer through. They've been all weapon-based experiments. Victor had told him he'd only shoot him once with each weapon he wanted to test, that all he wanted to do was see what kind of damage they'd do. He had assured the boy that none of the weapons would kill him. While, so far, Caruso only suffered minor injuries and short-lived intense pain, he didn't really trust Victor's word and believed that the next weapon would do far more serious damage.

So far, Caruso didn't have to endure any experiments involving one or more of Victor's mutants. But Victor had mentioned that he wanted Caruso to fight at least one of his mutants before the sun would rise over the horizon. When Caruso asked him why, Victor told him it was because he wanted to find the weaknesses in his mutants, but he didn't really explain to Caruso why, although the boy had a hunch why Victor would be interested in the weaknesses that his mutants exhibited instead of their strengths. It didn't take Caruso long to realize that Victor was looking to improve his mutants so they could be used to apprehend his other friends. Silently he wished he could do something to sabotage that experiment, but from within this room, he could do nothing, nothing except try to attack Victor when he was given a chance.

He had decided to switch back into human form after the second weapon test, despite Victor's warning that doing so would only make the pain around his head even worse. Caruso had never explained to Victor why he decided to change back, nor did he listen to Victor's commands, telling him to change back into Stegosaurus form. Victor was tempted to punish Caruso for not listening to him, but he declined, thinking the increased pain would be punishment enough. He thought that, eventually, Caruso would have had enough and change back into dino mode. But about four or so experiments later, Caruso still didn't change back. Victor was somewhat impressed with Caruso's tolerance of the bridle, but had begun to worry a bit.

What if Caruso became too tolerant of the bridle? If Caruso became too resistant to the pain from the bridle, Victor could eventually lose the ability to control him. He narrowed his eyes. He'd have to do something about that. But at the same time he would have to be careful. He didn't want to kill him, at least not yet. He had contemplated about possibly having to finish the boy off if he found a reason to. But maybe he would be able to get done with the experiments and, in the end, being able to let the boy live. He narrowed his eyes further as he thought of this. He believed the only way to, in the end, allow the boy to live without him putting his plans in danger was to get the boy to join him. He stifled a laugh. From what he's seen of the teenager, Caruso would probably rather die than join him.

“W-What do... you want...?” Caruso managed to say, being very careful as he spoke with the bit in his mouth. He could still taste the weird and uncomfortable mix of the metal of the bit and the blood that was continuing to seep from cuts on his tongue, gums, and the roof of his mouth. He gingerly lifted his tongue to lick one of the cuts that was right behind his top incisor teeth, but immediately winced in pain because the motion had caused the bit's spikes to scrape across the top of his tongue.

“Aren't you tired of feeling extra pain yet, hairless monkey?” Victor asked in a tone that was a mixture of surprise and confusion.

Caruso narrowed his eyes and said carefully, “No....I..am fine.”

Victor chuckled softly in a way that let Caruso know that he didn't fully believe his statement. Victor motioned his hand towards Caruso, towards his bridle. The boy stifled a shudder as he felt Victor's pointer finger stroked along one of the spiked bands that made up the bridle and stopped at the edge of the bit sticking out of Caruso's mouth. “Are you sure?” He asked softly. “That bit has dug in pretty deep.”

Caruso knew Victor was right. The jagged bit had cut in deeply at both corners of his mouth. And he knew the longer he wore the bridle in human form, the further the bit might go. But he didn't want to give into Victor. Growling softly, he swatted Victor's hand away and took a step back. “Leave me alone, scaly freak!”

Victor's eyes glowed and he gave a quick pull on the rope. “What did you say?!” He said angrily.

With tears of pain, Caruso let out a yelp of pain and cringed in a submissive way. “Nothing! Nothing!”

“Don't lie to me!” Veloci growled, giving the bridle another pull, this time hard enough to allow the electricity to flow through the young teen's body. “Tell me the truth now.”

“Okay! Okay!” Caruso cried out, trying his best to ignore the pain in his head and mouth. He tried to pull away from the pain, away from Victor, but that only made the pain he was experiencing even worse. Wanting the pain to stop, he gave into Victor's demand and answered his question. “I said... scaly freak..”

Victor gave a scary smile that sent chills down Caruso's spine. He reached out towards the boy again and this time gently rubbed his throat. “Was that so hard..?” He said calmly. Then suddenly, claws grew out of his fingertips and slightly grazed the boy, producing three shallow cuts with very little, if any, blood coming out. He didn't think it could have hurt the boy too much, but Caruso still let out a yelp of pain. “Just consider yourself lucky I didn't press harder.” He scolded him. He then released his grip from the boy's neck.

Almost instinctively, Caruso brought his head to where Veloci had grabbed him and gently rubbed the small cuts and looked at his fingers, trying to check for any blood, inspecting the damage Victor might have inflicted on him. He looked up at Victor and opened up his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and shut his mouth and turned his head away. Veloci was right; he was lucky that he didn't press harder. As if he didn't suffer enough injuries as it is...

Victor smirked softly. “Why did you turn your head from me?” He asked as if he didn't know the answer to that question. But he did, in fact, understand the reason why, and it was exactly what he was hoping for. The boy was afraid of him now, although this was already apparent when he slashed his arm earlier with his sickle claw. But sometime after that, the boy continued to try to resist him, but, much to Victor's satisfaction, he did show signs of fear. Victor intended on using that fear to keep Caruso under control. When Caruso didn't answer Victor's question, his eyes narrowed very slightly. “You're afraid of me, aren't you?” He felt the corner of his mouth move upward in a dark smile.

Caruso bared his teeth, biting as hard as he could into the bit without causing himself too much pain. He swerved his head towards Victor, eyes bright with defiance. His right hand was clenched in a fist as he stared into Victor's cold eyes. Victor just stood there watching, waiting. He knew the boy wanted to say something, that he wanted to let it all out. But he also could tell the young human was holding back, knowing the consequence of angering him. He knew the pain he would endure if he dare try something else. Finally, Caruso let out a sigh, and lowered his head. “..yes.” It was true he was afraid of Victor, but he still had one final move left. But he wasn't about to let Victor know that. He mustn't allow him to realize he still had a sense of hope.

Victor smiled in satisfaction. “And you should be.” He turned around and began to walk towards the door. He lightly pulled on the rope, signaling for Caruso to follow him.

Caruso resisted for only a second or two before quickly giving in and following Victor. When he saw where they were headed, he was a little confused. He had thought that Victor wanted to keep him in this room for the experiments. Why were they leaving? “I thought you wanted to test the experiments on me in this room.”

“I do.” Victor responded without looking back. “I told one of my men to come over to drop off one of the mutants, restrained of course.” He heard Caruso gulp behind him. Chuckling lightly a couple of times, he cast a sideways glance at the teen. “I told you I intended on having you fight one of my mutants.”

“And just which mutantsaur do you plan on me fighting?” Caruso asked, sounding more arrogant than he had intended.

“Oh you'll see in due time, human.” Victor said, chuckling. “Are you that anxious to fight, little Caruso?” Caruso wanted to respond. He wanted to tell the man to shut up, but he stopped himself. Victor wasn't expecting a response anyway, so he turned back towards the door and opened it up. In the doorway lay a large box. At first, one would believe it was some package filled with a lot of books or other heavy items. But both Victor and Caruso knew better. They could hear the hissing and scratching sounds coming from within the box. Something was in there, and it wanted out.

Caruso stared as Victor moved towards the box to examine the creature inside. The insane billionaire's back was turned towards him, and right in front of him, there was a way out. Caruso clenched a fist, trying to calculate his escape. He could change back into a Stegosaurus and knock Victor down onto the ground. Then, with the little, but precious, time he'd be given, he could bolt, and try to smash his way through the building and escape. He knew it was risky, but he probably wouldn't get another opportunity like this one. He knew it was now or never.

Victor was unaware of what Caruso was planning. His focus was now on the mutantsaur that was in the box. The box was too dark, so he had changed his eyes so he could see better. The mutantsaur wasn't as big as a Stegosaurus, but it seemed it could put up a good fight. Judging from the markings and the anatomy, Victor guessed it was a mutant mole, although it looked different than the other mutant moles he had seen. This one lacked a club tail, had more prominent fangs, and had no eyes. This didn't faze Victor though. All it meant to him was that the mole's other senses were probably heightened, more accute.

The mutantsaur seemed to scent Victor and turned its head towards him. It let out a hiss and charged, but instantly stopped when Victor let out a loud hiss. The mutantsaur backed away a little and seemed to wonder just what it was up against. It paced around the ground, confused at first, and then went back to hissing and snapping towards Victor, although this time keeping its distance. Victor mentally noted that the mole mutant was acting differently than the others had. This was because he had done something different with the primordial ooze. And he was satisfied with how it was working. Now to expose the boy and test it on him...

Caruso continued to feel the urge to attack Victor right then and there tugging away at his body. This action was too much like a double-edged sword for him. He could win his freedom, but if it failed, he could be severely punished. He knew, even before Victor told him, that this raptor was nothing like Moynihan. If he decided to punish him, it wouldn't be something simple like cleaning out a room or washing an animal. Victor could tear out an eye or break one of his legs, or even worse. Caruso shuddered as he thought about it. He knew the chances of him having an open opportunity like this again later on were slim, and if he wanted to be free, he should take the chance. But would it really be worth it?

He began to think about his friends and his family. What were they doing at this moment? Maybe they were looking for him. Maybe they were in the city, trying to find him. Maybe they would get here in time. Maybe they would be able to free him from this nightmare. But quickly Caruso let his hopes die down. He had been thinking that since he was captured, and no rescuer came to aide him. And the trackers were all destroyed. How were they going to find him? What were the odds of that? Caruso frowned softly, scolding himself silently for allowing himself to get worked up over nothing.

Victor glanced over his shoulder to look at Caruso, checking to make sure the boy hadn't attempted to escape. Although he had his doubts the boy would try anything, not with that nasty bridle on him. He turned his head back towards the mutant mole. “Are you prepared, human?”

Caruso nearly felt his heart skip a beat when Victor turned towards him. He thought he had lost his opportunity to escape. But he felt relieved when Victor once again turned his back towards him. And he knew that wouldn't last too long. He would have to act now. As he started his transformation, he responded to Victor's question. “Why yes I am..very prepared.”

“You are?” Victor asked, sounding a little surprised. “Good then.” Victor kept his back towards the boy, and lifted his hand to open up the mutantsaur's door. But he was caught off guard when he felt something slam painfully at his side. The villain grunted in pain and hit the ground roughly. While he was on the ground, he felt a shadow overcast him and he looked up. Caruso was now in his huge dinosaur form. Victor hissed angrily as he realized what happened. The little brat had pulled a sneak attack on him! Oh he'll pay for that!

After managing to knock Victor down with a light tail swipe, Caruso charged towards the door, preparing to knock the box over and get away. But he had seemed to forget about the bridle he was wearing, despite the pain it was bringing him. His mind was too focused on escaping. The only obstacle that remained was this box. And the mutantsaur inside couldn't have been that big. It wouldn't stop him.

AAAAARRRRAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!

Caruso's eyes widened and he halted in front of the box. That roar, it was so hideous, so horrifying it had stopped him in his tracks. He had never heard such a sound in his life. He stood frozen, staring in shock at the box and the sound it had just gave out. What was wrong with him? Why wasn't he moving? Caruso kept scolding himself, trying to get himself to move. But his feet remained planted on the ground, and his eyes remained fixated on the box in front of him. He was instantly brought out of his trance when he felt a searing pain overwhelm him, culminating around his head and mouth.

Victor's face was contorted into a scowl. “Filthy little scoundrel! You still think you have a chance of escaping here?!” He pulled the rope attached to the bridle forcefully, driving the spikes deeper into Caruso's head. As Caruso let out a bellow of pain, Victor said coldly, “I told you I knew how to break humans. Now it's your turn...” With that he gave another sharp tug on the bridle, resulting in another Stegosaur scream from Caruso.

Caruso shook his head, trying to pull it away from the pain. But the more he pulled, the more pain he was in. He felt himself being pulled towards Victor. His eyes widened, and he tried again to pull back. But his attempt was met with sharp spikes starting to dig into the skin around his eyes. With tears of pain, he cried out. He was learning the hard way that the most sensitive spot of a Stegosaur's head was around the eyes. Wanting desperately to get away, Caruso blindly slammed his tail into the ground, trying to hard to hit Victor, but kept missing because his eyes were shut tightly, and couldn't see what he was hitting.

Victor continued to pull the Stegosaurus towards him. His sharp teeth were bared again, and he was resisting the urge to sink them into this foolish boy. His face had turned into a reddish shade of rage. The muscles in his arm were bulked up a bit, giving him more strength as he pulled on the rope, forcing Caruso to get closer to him. “Stop trying to resist me!” Victor shouted. “I've had enough of you, boy! You will submit to me!”

'N-No...! I won't..!' Caruso said bravely, trying his best to take his mind off the pain. He felt himself getting closer and closer to Victor. Finally he felt the tension from the bridle be released. He opened up his eyes, and found himself staring into Victor's enraged eyes. Victor was holding onto the headpiece, and pulling in such a way that Caruso wouldn't be able to pull away without causing some serious damage.

“I must admit, you have managed to keep up your resistance longer than others under my command have.” Victor said in a strangely calm voice. “But like them, you will eventually give in.”

'M-M-Make..me...' Caruso said boldly.

“Oh believe me, I intend to, you hairless monkey.” Victor said darkly, and, without any warning, tugged on the headpiece with all his strength and activated the electricity inside the bridle. He was holding a safe part of the bridle where the electricity wouldn't harm him.

Caruso let out another bellow of anguish, feeling the spikes cutting around his eyes and head, the bit cutting against the corners of his mouth, the electricity mercilessly wreaking havoc on his body, and the blood dripping from the freshly open wounds on his head. Caruso was becoming overwhelmed in agony. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. The electricity was extremely painful. It felt like his nerves were going to be ripped right out of him. And the spikes on his head and in his mouth, they were just as bad. He was becoming frightened that he may end up blind or mute, or maybe even worse...

He opened up an eye and looked at Victor. Silently he was begging for mercy, hoping Victor would let up and release him. Victor saw this, and slowly smiled. But instead of stopping, he continued to pull on the bridle, allowing more electricity to course through the boy's body, and allowed the spikes to dig in deeper. “A human bridle you will never forget.” He said coldly. “If you want me to stop, submit to me.”

'N-No..I...' Caruso started to say but stopped and closed his eyes tightly. He tried his best to stifle a scream, but his will failed him. As he screamed, the bridle cut in further into his mouth, and the bit had cut into the top of his tongue deeply, almost slicing a chunk off. Unable to take the pain anymore, Caruso looked at Victor with watery eyes. 'I..I give up...please..stop..'

Victor narrowed his eyes, wondering briefly if this was another trap. But he obliged, not wanting to damage Caruso too much. He released the tension on the headpiece. Caruso changed back into his human form, but remained on the ground. He was on his knees, supporting himself with shaky arms. His eyes were wide with pain, and tears flowed from his eyes. He was trying hard not to cry, but the pain was too much. He tried to lift his tongue, but it stung mercilessly every time. He quickly realized that he wasn't going to be able to talk in human form. He closed his eyes tightly as he realized this, and stifled a sob. He could feel his dreams of becoming a celebrity slip through his fingers as he felt the pain in his mouth as well as on his face. Victor watched this sight and shook his head. “Such a weak thing you are.” Caruso looked up at Victor. “You're no different than any other human I've..tamed so-to-speak.”

Caruso tried to respond, but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, he was quickly subdued by the pain on his mouth corners and tongue. He yelped, and brought a hand to his mouth, but wouldn't dare touch it for fear it would only make the pain worse.

“And you can forget about your friends rescuing you.” Victor said as he knelt down in front of the boy. “I've told you this already. They'll never find you. I've sent Oscura and Michelle to take care of them.” When Caruso looked at him in shock, Victor said, “Oh don't worry, I won't kill them. In fact, they might be joining you soon...” Caruso didn't respond. He simply turned his head away, his eyes downcast, having lost the fighting spirit they once had. Victor reached out and gripped the boy's lower jaw firmly and forced him to look at him in the eyes. “And don't think Moynihan will be able to help you either. That little traitor is no different than I am.”

Caruso's eyes widened, and he attempted to jerk his head away. But Victor responded by gripping him tighter and pulling him roughly closer. As he looked at Victor with tear-filled eyes, the raptor said, “It's true, weakling. You told me yourself she trains you and your friends, didn't you? Why do you think she does that? Because she cares about you?” Victor chuckled coldly, half-heartedly. “I'm afraid you're mistaken. She's only doing it because she thinks you humans are weak too. She knows that mere humans would never be able to defeat me. So she trains you to become stronger. And why do you think she scolds you when you do something wrong? Just like me, she wants to control you. She wants you to submit to her will. She has her own way of doing it, I admit, but it's still the same thing.”

Caruso started to tremble as Victor was telling him this. He felt a strange feeling well up inside of him. He couldn't bring himself to refuse to believe what Victor was telling him. He was allowing the information to digest in him. He could feel his will to resist weaken as the Velociraptor continued to speak harshly to him. 

Victor moved his head closer to the boy so that his mouth was close to the side of his face. Victor then whispered into the boy's ear. “Do you deny it? You cannot deny it can you? You know it's true.” He released his grip on the boy.

As much as Caruso would have loved to shout that he would deny it, he couldn't bring himself to disbelieve Victor. Everything he was telling him, it was making sense. Maybe Moynihan really wasn't any better than Victor was. She used more humane methods, but perhaps she was just like Victor. He could feel his will to fight back diminish as he accepted this new information, and let his body relax, no longer trying to move away from Victor or resist him. What was the point anymore? Even if Victor was wrong, his friends would never find him. He would never leave this place. He just had to accept that fact. He slowly closed his eyes and sighed softly, lowering his head in a sign of submission.

Smiling in satisfaction, Victor placed his hand on Caruso's head, stroking his dark bluish hair gently in a mocking sort of way. Caruso shuddered as Victor did this, but didn't resist. “There's a good lad.” He said calmly, showing his sharp teeth as he grinned.

Caruso whimpered softly as Victor made that statement. A chill was spreading throughout his body as he came to the realization that he had lost. He had admitted defeat, and accepted his loss. He lost the will to fight back. He stared at his hands on the ground, and clenched them. A few tears streamed down his face and dripped onto the cold hard ground. He nearly gasped when he saw a slight tinge of red in them. He trembled again as he started to wonder if he would ever heal, both physically...and mentally. He began to worry about his loved ones. If they found him, were they going to find nothing but his corpse rotting on the ground? Caruso swallowed hard, trying so hard not to sob.

So this was how it was going to end, Caruso thought. He had, at one time, predicted that he would be kidnapped, but he never realized it would have been like this, for this reason. He thought he would be kidnapped for ransom because he thought he would become a great and popular celebrity. He felt he had the looks and the talent. He had never known a time in his life when he didn't want to be rich and famous. But now he may not ever get a chance. No matter what he could do, who'd want to see him now, with these cuts on his face? He gingerly placed a hand on his face, and winced as he felt the bridle's cold material.

“This is hard for you, isn't it?” Victor asked callously. “I wouldn't be surprised. Celebrity wannabes like yourself are so sensitive to criticism and the cold hard truth. Someone says one thing negative about you and you let them walk all over you.” Caruso looked up at Victor again, eyes wide with a mixture of fear and mild shock. But he didn't try to talk back and prove Victor wrong. “And if they aren't lacking confidence, they're too arrogant. I've seen celebrity wannabes who are so cocky that, even if everyone else disagrees with them, they believe they have talent and can make something of themselves.” He gave the teen a cold glance. “And you, my little prisoner, are both.”

Caruso's body shook once as he took notice of one of the words Victor had used: prisoner. It gave him a sense of entrapment, never to be free again. He glanced at the ceiling above him and wondered if he was never going to see daylight again.

“In the time you have been here, you've proven to be a rather arrogant and yet insecure individual. You think you had what it takes to defeat me, but in the end, you're just a coward, a weakling.” Veloci said coldly. “You will never amount up to anything, do you realize that, Irwin? You can't deny it. You know I speak the truth. I bet you drove your friends insane with your pathetic visions of fame and fortune. I'm probably doing them a favor keeping you here.”

Caruso couldn't hold back any longer and let out an audible cry, shuddering and breathing in sharply as tears flowed uncontrollably on his face, stinging him a little. He knew succumbing this way would only prove Victor's point even further, but he didn't care anymore. Victor's statement made him realize that his friends probably had abandoned him on purpose. Maybe they did sacrifice him to Victor just to save themselves. Perhaps they had grown tired of him and his fame-seeking ways.


	9. Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Victor narrowed his eyes as he watched the little boy sobbing on the ground. It was such a pathetic sight. But he had grown used to seeing things like this since he became in charge of Raptor Dyne. Some of his other minions reacted in this manner due to extreme fear. Humans were so weak, he thought. All he would have to do is show his teeth and they cower like frightened vermin. But could he really blame them? After all, a human had no natural defenses against a large predator like a Velociraptor.

Growing tired of watching Caruso cry, Victor took a step forward and gently nudged him with his foot. “Stop your crying and get up, Caruso.” He demanded. Much to his delight, the boy complied without hesitation, immediately climbing to his feet and looked at him for further direction. But tears still streamed down his face. “Come with me.” Without hesitation, Caruso began to follow Victor in an obedient manner. He kept his head low, his eyes downcast. The tears slowly stopped flowing and his face started to dry up. He couldn't cry anymore. 

“You brought this on yourself you know.” Victor said as he led Caruso back towards the box with the mutantsaur inside. “You should have done this in the first place, submitted to my authority without question. Perhaps then I wouldn't have had to inflict pain on you.” Caruso winced. “It's your own fault. You had to be such a hot shot didn't you? If you hadn't tested my patience and tried to escape, this would not have happened.” Victor slowly shook his head as he placed his hand on the lock that held the creature inside. “You were lucky I didn't end up killing you.”

Victor transformed a fingernail into a talon and picked the lock on the box. After he heard it click, he pulled the lock down and then twisted it to one side. Carefully he pulled it off. Slowly the door creaked open, and the mole mutant slowly approached, growling and hissing softly. Victor turned to Caruso. “Transform and fight.” He commanded.

* * *

'She's getting away!' Rodger shouted angrily as he made a sharp turn to where he briefly spotted Michelle.

They had been chasing Michelle for about five minutes now. While in reality it wasn't a very long time, to them it seemed like an eternity. Several times already they lost Michelle only to have her reappear, much to their luck, briefly and they gave chase again. They had left the city now and were in a park. Just which one they weren't sure of. They were in a more open area now but Michelle's dark skin helped her blend in to the shadows more easily, and there were still bushes and trees for her to hide in.

They didn't understand fully why she would run out here. She didn't have as many hiding places as she did before, and it was a little easier for Buzz to maneuver in the skies without the skyscrapers and narrow alleyways in his path. And what confused them a bit more was the fact that not once during the chase had Michelle attempted to attack. This didn't seem like the Michelle they had become acquainted with back at the lighthouse, where she didn't really hesitate to attack. Something has frightened Michelle, they could tell.

But the Dino Squad didn't really care, at this point, what had frightened Michelle. A couple even believed she wasn't scared at all, and was probably just trying to trick them into thinking she was. They could not come up with a reason for Michelle to want them to believe that other than to let their guard down. But despite lack of evidence, they stuck strongly to their opinions due to their hatred for this girl. This was apparent with both Rodger and Buzz. Max thought he might have to confront these two to keep them from doing anything drastic once they caught up with Michelle. He knew they couldn't sink to her level.

From the skies, Buzz spotted Michelle running towards what appeared to be a huge building. The building was still a good distance away. Buzz narrowed his yellow eyes. Why would Michelle bother running to that particular building? There was really nothing overly special about it, looking all run down and such. Probably just a hiding spot, he thought. He made a sharp turn in the air and dove down to get closer to his friends.

'She's heading over there.' Buzz said, pointing his heard towards the run down building. 'To that large building over there.'

Max took one look at the distant building and blinked a few times. It didn't seem to make sense to him. In appearance, the building didn't seem to be anything special. There was no indication of Victor anywhere in this vicinity. He couldn't even scent Victor. And the building didn't seem like it could easily withstand a T-Rex attack. Why would Michelle hide in there? 'In there? Why?'

'Who cares why? Let's just go after her!' Rodger yelled.

'But what if it's a trap?' Fiona asked softly, her voice sounding a little bit cautious. 'I don't know if we should...'

'But if we let her escape, we may never have another chance to find Caruso!' Rodger turned his head to Fiona, eyes narrowed dangerously. 'I don't know about you, but I'm not about to risk losing this chance!'

'I don't want to lose this chance either, but...' Fiona trailed off, unsure with how to continue her sentence.

'But what?' Rodger asked bitterly.

Fiona sighed. '..I don't want to lose anymore of my friends.' She said softly, slowing her pace slightly.

'How are you...' Rodger's voice trailed off.

Fiona narrowed her eyes slightly. 'What if Veloci catches one of you guys? What if he catches all of us?' She turned her head away. 'I..I don't know how I'll be able to handle losing another one of you guys to those..monsters.'

Upon hearing that, Rodger's expression softened. He started to feel guilty about how he had acted towards her. 'I..I'm sorry.'

* * *

Straight ahead, Michelle continued her relatively slow pace, well slow for a Guanlong Wucaii that is. Leading the Dino Squad to the hideout and making it look like an accident was more difficult than she had thought. She wondered if it was her black skin and all the foliage around. But it seemed to take more effort to keep the Dino Squad seeing her than it was to hide from them. She was thankful that Oscura wasn't around. She would have seen through this plan almost right away and report her to Victor. Taking a quick glance behind her to see the distant forms of the other dinosaurs, she started to wonder where Oscura was. She was supposed to be trying to capture the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Spinosaurus. Perhaps they had won the fight against her.

Michelle mentally shrugged it off. It wasn't really of her concern. If she didn't show up back at Raptor Dyne and Dr. Veloci asks her about her partner, she could just say that she lost contact with Oscura. Victor wouldn't be happy, but what was he to do? He can always send out a search party, look for her himself, or she'll show up eventually. This wasn't the first time she had disappeared on a mission. It happened once before and she returned with no apparent injury. While Oscura did claim she didn't disappear on purpose, she never did state the reason for her absence. This made Michelle a bit suspicious of her, and it was pretty much downhill ever since.

Michelle gritted her teeth. She knew Oscura has it out for her. She knew Oscura would do whatever she could to get her into trouble and fired, or even killed. Keeping this little trick from Oscura was not going to be easy. She was very observant and was not easily fooled. She had attempted to lie to Oscura a few times. She just laughed it off and told her she wasn't fooling anyone. She began to wonder how she was going to fool her this time. Because now if Oscura sees through her lies, she'll get into trouble with Victor, big trouble.

Suddenly her foot got caught in something. She cried out as she slammed against the ground, hitting her dinosaur chin pretty hard. She hissed and looked behind her. There was a tree root that had grown out of the ground. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and had got her foot caught in it. She narrowed her eyes and started to pull her leg out. But it was stuck in there pretty good. She quickly changed back into a human and grabbed on the branch and pulled even harder. But the root wouldn't give way. She started to feel her heart race when she saw the Dino Squad gaining up to her and fast.

“Oh no...” Michelle said to herself. “Not now...”

She pressed her free foot against the tree root and started to push while trying to pull her leg in the opposite direction. But it was almost like someone had tied a rope around her ankle and it was one or two sizes too small. She pushed on the root as she could with her hands, but they slipped. She yelped as she felt the bark scrape against her hands. She quickly examined them and was relieved to see no blood was drawn.

She looked back at the Dino Squad. Her eyes widened. They were close enough to see that she was stuck now and had nowhere to go. She transformed her head and bit down on the thick root. Growling and snarling, she gnawed at it the best that she could with her sharp teeth. She moved her lower jaw forward and back in a sawing motion, and she could feel the root start to snap a little. She glanced over and knew she didn't have much time before the Dino Squad would be upon her. She quickened her pace, hoping she'd get free before they came close enough to grab her.

* * *

'I see her!' Buzz shouted as he rose up a little higher in the air. 'It looks like her foot is stuck. She has nowhere to go. We got her!' Without hesitating, Buzz dove down to the ground. As his feet were about to touch the grass, he shifted back into human form and made a dash towards where he had seen Michelle. It looked like she was almost free and he wasn't about to let her get away.

'Well that is good news.' Rodger commented. After he saw Buzz change back, he looked up at their leader. 'Should we change back too?'

Max closed his eyes to think about this. He, Rodger, and Fiona had stopped in their tracks. He knew Buzz will be able to apprehend Michelle without their help for now. Max wasn't entirely sure on which course of action that they should take. He wanted to get information from Michelle, and it could probably be easier to do that in human form. If they looked too threatening, they could frighten her too much and she wouldn't tell them anything. On the other hand, if they go over in human form, Michelle could transform, break free, and attack one of them before they could have a good chance at defending themselves.

Should they remain in human form and have a better chance at getting information as well as getting attacked? Or should they stay in dino mode and be safer but have a harder time getting information? It was going to be a tough decision. But he knew he had to make the decision that would be in Caruso's best interest. He had to keep in mind that Caruso was the reason they were here. If he made the wrong decision, they could lose him..forever. Max winced mentally at that thought. He wondered if he would ever get a chance to speak to Caruso about how harshly he had acted.

Why had he snapped like that? Was he under too much pressure? Had he really meant what he said, about getting tired of his behavior in general? It was heart-wrenching for Max to think about what he had told Caruso just the previous day. It was uncalled for and he wouldn't blame Caruso if he hated him for it. He could only hope that, if..no..when they rescue Caruso, that he would forgive him.

Unable to come up with a decision himself, Max turned to Rodger and Fiona. 'What do you guys think would be best?' He felt a little weird doing this. He had grown too used to giving the orders himself. But then again, in the other times, none of them were captured by Veloci.

It didn't take much thought for Rodger to decide what he wanted to do. 'Stay in dino mode. If we let our guard down, she could get away!'

Fiona turned her gaze towards the Styracosaurus. 'But if we stay in dino mode, wouldn't that more easily scare her off?'

'So what?' Rodger rolled his eyes. 'She deserves it after what she did!'

'But what about Caruso?' Fiona growled. 'I thought we were here to rescue him, not capture Michelle.'

'I know that, Fiona.' Rodger pawed the Earth with his foot, looking like he was ready to charge towards where Buzz ran off to. 'And Caruso is exactly the reason why we should remain in dino mode. If Michelle tries to get away, we'll have an easier time catching her.'

'Good point, but I still don't know...' Fiona began to explain.

Max shifted his gaze from Fiona to Rodger multiple times as he listened to them debate on what to do. He let out a soft sigh. He knew he would be given the burden of a final decision once again, something that he normally wasn't too bothered by. But the other times it wasn't a life and death situation. He knew all it would take is one wrong decision and they're finished. So which decision would increase their chances of catching Michelle and making her talk? The only other choice that they could make that would give them any progress is to allow Fiona and Rodger to remain in dino mode or change back into a human rather than all three of them doing it. Max narrowed his eyes. It was the only choice that could bring forth some progress.

'Well excuse me, princess!' Rodger retorted, breaking Max's concentration.

Max snorted through his nostrils. 'That's enough you two!' He snapped, taking a few massive steps forward and getting in between Rodger and Fiona. What had gotten into these two today? They had never fought like this before. 'Anyway, you two, if it makes you feel better, why don't we go over there in whichever form we feel most comfortable in. Would that satisfy you two?'

Fiona and Rodger stared at each other for several seconds before sharply turning away from one another and saying in unison, 'Fine.'

Max sighed. 'Okay then. Stop acting like children and follow me.' He ordered.

'We aren't...!' Rodger started to stay but quickly stopped himself. He looked up at Fiona, trying to forget his anger, and gave her a nod. Rodger started to run up ahead of Max and Fiona, but was forced to slow down when he nearly ran into Max. The Tyrannosaurus Rex gave a disapproving shake of the head, and shifted back into human form. Rodger stared down at the jock, eyes narrowed. 'Why aren't you letting me go first? If anything, I should be the first one there to make sure she doesn't do anything to...'

“Rodger, Buzz is there.” Rolf Maxwell tried to explain. “I don't think she'll be going anywhere for a while.”

'How can you be so certain?' Rodger asked, lowering his head a little to be more eye level with the leader.

“I'm not.” Max admitted, rubbing the back of his head nervously. “What I am certain of is if you just rush in while in dino mode, you could make Michelle struggle faster and then she'll get free and get away. We don't want that to happen now do we?”

'Well I...' Rodger started.

'Let's just go.' Fiona said, interrupting the two boys. She was getting tired of debating on what they should do. Without hesitation, she changed back into a human and rushed passed Max and Rodger towards where Michelle was still trapped. She didn't know, herself, why she and Rodger spent a good amount of precious time arguing. They should have known better. She could only hope their stupid argument hadn't delayed them too much.

Despite not being part of any sports related extracurricular activities at school, Fiona was a good distance in front of Max. She had a longer stride, something she acquired from using the Spinosaurus form so many times. The T-Rex might be a powerful predator, but it wasn't very fast compared to a Spinosaurus. Fiona looked behind her and could see Max trying his best to catch up with her. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn't help but smirk in an almost playful tone.

“Aww..am I moving too fast for you, Maxwell?” She asked him.

“Just focus on getting to Michelle before she gets her foot free!” Max ordered, huffing and puffing as he tried to move faster. It didn't take him long to gain enough speed to be almost side by side with Fiona.

“Yeah yeah, I know.” Fiona told him and turned her head. She squinted her eyes. She could make out Buzz's form standing over another one. She smiled a little. They still had time. As she got closer, she could see that Buzz had grabbed onto Michelle's arm and held a firm grip on her. Michelle was clearly trying to pull away, but suddenly winced and stopped. Fiona didn't know why at first, but when she squinted her eyes further, she could see a little red. Her eyes widened a bit. Was that blood she saw?

Max saw this as well and flinched a little. He wondered why Buzz felt the need to hurt her. It wasn't like she had anywhere to do. It wasn't like he couldn't blame Buzz though. Yet he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Michelle. Pteranodon claws were no laughing matter. Next to the Velociraptor claws, they were the most merciless set of talons he'd never come across. Although it was an accident, he had suffered under Buzz's claws once before, when they were dealing with some mutated skunks. He had accidentally got in Buzz's path when he went to slash them. Buzz ended up hitting Max on the face. Luckily the gashes healed with no signs of scarring, but it did give Max a healthy respect for flying reptiles.

His thoughts were interrupted by the pounding of Rodger's monstrous feet behind them. Many times Max had forgotten just how heavy the Styracosaurs really were. Every footfall felt like a massive tremor to a human such as himself. He glanced behind him. Rodger was, sure enough, still in dino mode. He understood why Rodger wanted to remain in dino mode, but he wondered if Rodger understood the consequences that might occur due to that choice. But then again, there were consequences for choosing to turn back into human form, so he wasn't the one to talk.

* * *

Michelle stared at the claws digging into her arm and looked up at her captor in fear. Buzz returned the glance with a cold stare. Michelle started to pull on her leg to try to get free, but her effort was met with a tightening grip on the arm. She stifled a yelp and immediately stopped pulling her leg. She stared at the remaining Dino Squad heading her way. Two of them had also changed back into human form while the final one remained in dino mode. Michelle hung her head as she thought about what might happen to her now.

She started to feel angry. She wasn't sure if it was at herself or at the Dino Squad. She was so close to getting her foot free. If it weren't for Buzz, she would have gotten away in time and be able to lead them to the warehouse. But he had tackled her and pinned her down. He had threatened her, frightened her to the point where she tried to jerk back only to get her foot even more stuck than it was before. To ensure she wouldn't run away, Buzz had gripped her arm in a rather rough manner. He had made it clear to her that she wasn't going to get away this time and that he was going to make sure of that. When she tried to talk to him, he snapped at her, explaining to her why he should listen to her after she'd hurt him with her lies and deception.

Michelle flinched as he had told her that. Buzz had regarded her as a monster because of what she had helped put them through. While she felt hurt by what he had said, she knew he was right. It was her fault they were in this situation in the first place. And nothing she could say would justify her actions. Caruso had helped her realize that.

As the Dino Squad drew nearer, Buzz gave Michelle an almost evil smile. “You have no where to go now.” He told her. He felt a mixture of joy, satisfaction, and eagerness well up inside of him. Finally, after all this time, they were going to rescue Caruso. “As soon as my friends get here, you're in for it.”

Michelle's eyes widened as she looked from Buzz to the advancing Dino Squad ahead. “Please! I..I'm just trying to help! I..” She tried to beg, feeling desperate. She didn't think it was going to work but it was worth a try anyway.

Buzz snarled and jerked her arm roughly, pulling her a little closer to him as he replied to her. “Liar!” He said coldly to her, talking through clenched teeth. “All you ever did was lie! Why should I believe you now?”

“Because I'm being serious this time!” Michelle tried to explain to him. “I want to help you find Caruso!”

Buzz bared his Pteranodon teeth. “Do you take me for a fool?”

Michelle opened up her mouth to reply, but words failed her. What exactly could she say to him? Anything she had to say he would misinterpret as a trap. She truly did want to help them, but not like this. It would be too apparent for Victor, she knew. It wouldn't take him long to realize that she had helped them. Even if it was unwilling, Victor would probably still go haywire on her. He would question her competence and possibly have her fired. No..in this case, it was probably going to be death.

After witnessing Michelle's inability to answer back, he narrowed his eyes further. “I thought so.” He then heard the sound of a twig snap and immediately turned his head. He smiled a little as he saw Max and Fiona only a few yards away. He lifted up his arm and waved at them, signaling them to come closer.

While Buzz was temporarily distracted, Michelle narrowed her eyes, realizing it was now or never. If she wanted her plan to succeed, she must get away. She glanced down at her foot, wondering just how she was going to break free. She then took notice of something she hadn't seen before about this root. One part of it was thinner and weaker than the rest. She wondered if this was due to the strain she had put on it through her struggles. Nevertheless, if she could only break that weak point, she would be free. During the precious seconds she had left, she bit down onto the root. Almost immediately, she heard shouts from the Dino Squad.

“Oh no! Stop her!” Fiona shouted, quickening her pace.

“Buzz!” Max warned the punk teen. “She's almost free!”

Buzz immediately turned towards Michelle. “Oh no you don't..!” He lowered his free hand to try to stop Michelle, but he reacted too late. He heard the sound of the vine snapping. As soon as her leg was free, Michelle roughly shoved Buzz into the ground. She transformed back into a Guanlong Wucaii and leaped over him and dashed in a new direction. “No!” He shouted angrily as he picked himself off the ground.

“Hurry!” Max ordered the others. “Before she gets too far!” Frustration quickly set in. How many more times were they going to suffer close calls like this? How long will they have to endure the pain of broken hope before they actually get to Caruso?

'Buzz!' Rodger scolded as he got closer and realized Michelle had gotten away. The others had already left, chasing after Michelle. They didn't notice that Rodger and Buzz had stopped in their tracks and were yelling at each other. Rodger was infuriated that Buzz didn't grab Michelle when he had the chance. Sure he was on the ground, but he could have grabbed her by the ankle or something. And now they had yet another chase on their hands. 'Why didn't you grab her?!' He bellowed angrily, glaring down at Buzz.

Buzz growled and gripped the nose horn on Rodger's head. Why was Rodger blaming him for this? It wasn't like he hadn't tried! “Well excuse me for being knocked on the ground! And what exactly did you do? Hung out in the back until she would get free?!”

'I was running as fast as I could!' Rodger cried. 'And you could have still grabbed her! She was right there!'

Buzz pressed his head between Rodger's eyes. “Don't be putting the blame on me! I tried my best!”

Rodger snarled, eyes narrowed. 'And your best wasn't good enough!'

“Stop this ridiculous bickering, you two!” They heard someone shout behind them. They immediately took a few steps away from each other and turned their heads. Standing there, with her arms folded, was Ms. Moynihan. At her feet stood Rump. While he was not human, he seemed to almost understand the gravity of the situation and had his ears lowered as he stared up at Buzz and Rodger. Moynihan shook her head disapprovingly at her two students. She had expected better behavior from them, especially during a crisis such as this. “Why are you wasting time putting the blame on one another? How is that going to solve anything?”

As she awaited for her answer, Ms. Moynihan started to wonder where Oscura had run off too. She had managed to get the better of the Troodon and had forced her to talk through tickling. She didn't know how she managed to pull that off without actually causing harm, but it worked. She got Oscura to tell her what she wanted to know. When she went to find the others, Rump had ran in her direction. He must have ran from the others at some point. He was barking at her, trying to get her attention. When she had followed him, she ended up here, where Rodger and Buzz were arguing. Needless to say, she was disappointed in them. She had briefly caught a glimpse of Fiona and Max running after a third figure, Michelle no doubt.

'Well, Ms. M...we...I...' Rodger tried to say, but he couldn't come up with an excuse for his and Buzz's behavior. Feeling ashamed, he lowered his head. 'I'm sorry.' He didn't know what was wrong with him today. Maybe he was just edgy because they are so close to finding Caruso and he was worried they will fail yet again.

“Yeah...I'm sorry too.” Buzz said, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous manner. “I don't know what came over me.” He then took notice of something. “Hey..how are you walking again?”

“Never mind that now.” Moynihan said, holding up a hand. They didn't have much time to waste. “I'll tell you later. Right now we have more important things to discuss.” She took a few steps closer. “I just spoke to Oscura.”

“Who?” Buzz asked, confused.

“Michelle's partner.” Moynihan explained. Rodger and Buzz scowled as she told them that. They remembered Oscura now, all too well. “I got her to tell me where Caruso is being hidden.”

'What?! How?' Rodger was shocked. He didn't think anything could make that Troodon talk. He thought she would be too stubborn to say anything.

“I have my..ways.” Joanne replied in an almost sly voice, smiling softly. But that quickly changed into a frown. “She wouldn't tell me exactly which room, but she says there's a warehouse nearby.”

“Yeah I saw!” Buzz said, pointing where Max and Fiona had taken off to. “I saw a warehouse over there! That's where Michelle was going!” Then memories started to flood back to him. His eyes widened sharply as he finally remembered what he forgot about the Boston Common. “That's what I forgot! Out here, they were going to build a Super Walmart, but the project was canceled. The building was never taken down though. It would be large enough to hold a Stegosaurus!”

'Why didn't you say something before?' Rodger asked urgently at this new information. 'If we had known earlier, we could have...'

“I just forgot. I'm sorry!” Buzz shouted apologetically, holding up his hands.

'How could you have forgotten?! I...' Rodger started to scold Buzz, but immediately stepped down when he saw Moynihan glaring at him.

“We have to catch up with the others.” Moynihan told them. Time was of the essence. She knew that well, and she knew the others understood too. But even if they got there in time, would they be able to find Caruso and free him before Victor found them?

“Come back here!” Fiona shouted as Michelle was within earshot. The black dinosaur looked back at her, but ignored the command. Instead she just started to run faster. Fiona let out a groan of frustration. Why was she even bothering to try? Michelle would never listen to her. And why should she? She wasn't under their orders. She was under Victor's. Upon thinking of that name, Fiona's stomach tensed in emotional pain. What had he done to Caruso?

“Look, if you slow down and just tell us what we need to know,” Max tried to negotiate with Michelle, “we promise we won't hurt you!”

Michelle gave him a sideways glance, staring at him with her golden eyes. 'Yeah right. Do you take me for a fool?' She asked in an almost cold voice. 'If you want me to talk, you have to catch me first!' She turned away from him and made another turn, nearly slipping on the ground as she did so. She was still heading towards the warehouse, but had made plenty of turns to try to lead Max and Fiona towards a weak point in the building. There was one section that didn't have a security monitor. She knew that's where the Dino Squad would have to enter if they wanted a better chance at rescuing their friend with the least amount of initial resistance.

“You're only making this harder on yourself!” Max shouted at her.

'If you're so interested in me, why don't you just go dino already and attack me?' Michelle asked darkly as she leaped forward to gain more distance between her and the pursuing teenagers.

Panting heavily, Fiona managed to say, “Do you really want to tempt us?” Her eyes narrowed slightly.

'Umm..yes.' Michelle chuckled in a dinosaurian way to disguise her nervousness. She was starting to feel relieved when they came within yards of the building. She increased her speed, making her way towards the unsecured door. 'And besides, you slowpokes don't stand a chance at saving you weak little friend.'

Fiona's eyes glowed. “You've asked for it.”

“Fiona, don't..!” Max tried to warn her, but it was too late.

Fiona's legs started to lengthen a little, changing from their human flesh color into a more yellowish shade. The muscles started to increase in size and bulked up. There was a dramatic increase in her speed, and within seconds she had covered the same amount of distance that would normally take her about twice as long. She was now only a few feet behind Michelle. She held out her arms to prepare to grab her as she tensed up her legs to jump.

Sensing the impending danger, Michelle, who had finally reached the door into the large warehouse, shifted back into her human form. As she looked behind her, Fiona had started to leap at her. She could make out the sharp Spinosaurus claws on the ends of her fingertips. Michelle's eyes widened and she quickly opened up the door as fast as she could and stepped inside. Quickly and without thinking, she slammed the door shut. There was a loud thud as Fiona slammed against it, hitting her head pretty hard on the cold metal. She fell to the ground.

Michelle placed her hand on her chest, feeling her racing heart pump heavily. She took in a few breaths, taking a mental note on how close of a call that was. She then tried to calm herself down as much as she could and made her way down the dirty hallway that lay before her. She had done her job. All she had to do was wait. But before she got that far, she nearly bumped into another figure. She growled softly. “Why hello Oscura...”

“Hello, Michelle...” Oscura said back. Her arms were folded and she was learning against the wall. “What brings you here? Didn't you catch those two pesky teenagers?” She asked, looking behind Michelle as if she expected her to be bringing prisoners. She was a little disappointed that Michelle was alone.

Michelle shook her head, looking behind her. “No, but they're right behind me.” She said without realizing it. “They must've followed me.” When she realized her mistake, it was too late. She had spilled the beans. She glanced back at Oscura for a reaction. She could feel her heartbeat speeding up a little. She hoped that Oscura wouldn't catch on.

“Oh did they now?” Oscura said, cocking an eyebrow. “I wouldn't be surprised. They would have gotten here anyway with or without your help.” She was still annoyed at how easily Moynihan had gotten the information from her. Who would have guessed that tickling could be such a persuasive tool? She thought about using that method one of these days, even though it didn't suit her personality.

“What are you talking about?” Michelle asked, worrying that Oscura was going to turn her over to Victor. Had she seen her deliberately lead them to the warehouse? Had she followed her and witnessed her actions?

Oscura turned her back to Michelle and began to walk away. But she did answer Michelle's question. “That darn Moynihan forced me to reveal the location. I was just about to relay the information to Victor.” She turned her head a little to give Michelle a sideways glance. “Did you want to accompany me?”

Gulping, but not wanting to give herself away, Michelle nodded once. “Okay.” With that, the two girls disappeared down the corridor to find Victor and tell him of the news. They both knew that Victor wasn't going to like it. Michelle was the only one worried though. Oscura wouldn't really care how the man reacted. She would just comment, behind his back, that he looked cute. She sometimes wished she were a little older. She thought she and Victor would make a cute couple.

The warehouse looked a lot bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. There were so many paths. It was hard to believe this was to be a Super Walmart at one point. But then again, Victor had purchased the building. Perhaps he had put up the walls and such. No, he wouldn't do that. He would hire people to do it for him. There many different signs put up everywhere. They were mostly warning signs about trespassing and the penalties of doing such a thing. There would be warnings of weaponry, but Victor had known that putting up such signs would get him unwanted attention.

It took about five minutes for Michelle and Oscura to reach another hallway that would lead to where Victor had Caruso. Throughout it all, neither of them had spoken a word. There was an eerie silence that hung in the air. The only sounds they could really hear were the faint screams that were obviously coming from Caruso in Stegosaurus mode. They could also hear the sound of him slamming against the ground. Michelle winced as she heard this, but hid it from Oscura. She decided to try to start up a conversation.

“So what happened to you?” Michelle asked, wanting to break the silence. She needed something to distract herself from the screaming. It was making her grow uneasy with every step. “Just how did Moynihan defeat you? And how come you weren't able to take down the other two Dino Squad members?” Losing wasn't something Oscura liked, and she knew this was going to be a touchy subject. She mentally prepared herself for what Oscura was going to tell her.

Oscura clenched a fist and gritted her teeth. But she stopped herself from slapping Michelle for asking such a question. “I'd rather not discuss it.” She hissed through clenched teeth as the two teens continued to walk forward. It wasn't just because she was angry she lost. It was also very embarrassed about the whole ordeal. To be defeated by tickling of all things? Michelle would never let her live it down.

“Well gee, sorry.” Michelle growled softly, rolling her eyes. “You don't need to get all nippy about it. You're such a...” She stopped when Oscura gripped her neck tightly. She gagged a little at how tight the other girl was gripping her. She stopped struggling and looked at Oscura, eyes slightly wide but showing no real signs of fear. The two had immediately stopped walking.

“Watch your tongue.” The black-haired teen warned. Her fingernails grew into sharp talons. Michelle could feel the prickling sensation of the claws against her skin. “Or I just might...slip.” As she said that, she dug her claws a little more into her neck, nearly breaking the skin and drawing blood.

“My my...aren't you the grouchy one.” Michelle said half heartedly as she tried to assert a more dominant position by gripping Oscura's hand tightly and pulling her hand away. She stifled a yelp as she felt the claws scratch her a little. She gripped Oscura's other hand and held it together with the other hand. Oscura pulled to try to get free. But Michelle held the hands firmly together, not letting Oscura to break free. “Calm down already!”

“I'll calm down when you let me go!” Oscura hissed, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Stop struggling and I will!” Michelle demanded. “As your leader, I..”

“Leader?!” Oscura spat venomously. “Since when were you my leader?! I told this before and I shall tell you again. You have no control over me! I listen to no one!” With one strong pull, she freed herself from Michelle's grip. She walked a few steps forward, glanced at Michelle with an icy glare, and continued on her way.

The brown-haired girl frowned. “And what of Victor? Don't you listen to him?” Michelle asked.

Without hesitation, Oscura whirled around to face the brunette. “That's different!”

“And now?” Michelle asked, folding her arms. “How is it any different? Is it because he's the leader of this entire organization.” Oscura gave a single nod. “I don't think that is the reason you listen to him. Oh no. I can see it in your eyes. You could care less if he was the leader. You'd listen to him anyway. And you want to know why?” She walked forward and stood next to Oscura. The black-haired girl waited for her to respond. “It's because you have a crush on him.”

“W-What?!” Oscura stammered a little, as if she were surprised.

“Why are you so surprised?” Michelle glanced over at the younger teenager. “It's very obvious. You've shown signs in the past that you like Victor. You cannot deny it, now can you?” When Oscura couldn't think of a response, Michelle gave a single nod. “I thought so.”

Finally, after a few more seconds of silence, Oscura brought herself to say something. “Just shut up and let us warn Victor of the Dino Squad.”

* * *

“Fiona!” Max rushed to his friend's side and knelt down. He grabbed her hand gently and helped her up off the ground. He could see a little blood on her mouth but other than that he couldn't see any real damage. But nonetheless he wanted to make sure she was all right. “You okay?”

As Fiona stumbled onto her feet, she shot a glare at Max, who flinched and took a step back. “I just slammed into a door of steel, Max!” She shouted angrily. “Of course I'm not okay!” She raised a hand to gingerly rub her nose and mouth where she could feel the most pain. She started to wonder if she was going to have a nosebleed soon. When she looked back at Max, she noticed he had a shamed look on his face and he had turned from her to absentmindedly look through the tiny window that was on the door. Giving off a small sigh, Fiona let her sudden anger melt away. “I'm sorry I yelled at you, Max.”

Max gave a nod to signal that he forgave her, but he was still troubled. He lowered his gaze. “I don't know what's happening to us, Fiona. Some of us have gotten..bitter. Why? Is it because of what happened to Caruso?” He didn't wait for Fiona to answer before he continued. “Maybe it's fear. The fear of failure. Maybe that's why we're so edgy lately.”

Fiona blinked in surprise at what Max just said. Well it wasn't what he said that surprised her. It was the way he said it. Max didn't normally talk in this manner. It sounded more like how a psychiatric would talk, not how a leader would sound. But she understood what he meant and agreed with him. “Yeah, it's probably that. I mean after the past failures of finding Caruso...” Her voice trailed off before she could finish. She couldn't bring herself to finish.

“You don't need to say it.” Max assured her, sensing her hesitation.

Fiona nodded, and didn't say anymore. She went over to the door and, just as Max had before, looked inside it. It was very dark inside. The lights were probably out. She couldn't make out anything. She tried to find Michelle, but she had disappeared. Probably wandered further into the building, she assumed. It wouldn't do her any good though. She and Max would search this entire building until she'd have no choice but run back out into the open. There were only so many hiding places a one level building could provide before she'd quickly run out of options.

Max turned around as he heard faint voices in the distance. He placed his broad hand over his eyes to try to get a better look. He quickly recognized the approaching figures of the rest of the Dino Squad, minus Caruso of course. He could see Buzz and Rodger running towards them, panting quite heavily. Max smiled and walked towards them, along with Fiona, to greet them. Once they were close enough to each other, Buzz and Rodger stopped to take a breather. They placed their hands on their thighs and bent over, their heads lowered as they breathed heavily to try to catch their breath. It seemed they had run a good distance. This confused Max at first until he remembered that they were already running beforehand. Buzz and Rodger probably hadn't regained their strength yet from the earlier chase.

Before Max and Fiona could say anything, they saw someone else approaching. Using her cane to aide her, Moynihan walked up the hill. There was a slight limp, but it was not very apparent and it didn't slow her down much. Right beside her was Rump. The small white dog ran around her playfully, panting. He noticed the other children and bolted towards Max and Fiona. He circled around them happily before finally calming down in Fiona's arms, who had picked him up.

“Ms. Moynihan!” Max asked as he approached her. “Are you okay? Did that Troodon hurt you?” He felt guilty about having to leave her alone with that monster. If anything happened to her, he wouldn't forgive himself.

Ms. Moynihan shook her head. “No, I handled her quite all right by myself. I may be old, but I'm no pushover, dear boy.” She said gently, smiling.

Having finally found his voice, Buzz said, “Ms. M got that Troodon to talk. She found out Caruso's being held in that warehouse!” He lifted a shaky finger to point at the large building where Max and Fiona had seen Michelle run inside.

Rodger nodded, finally catching his breath. “Ms. Moynihan says we should look inside.”

“What?” Max asked as he turned to face the building. “He's in there? Are you sure?”

“Well,” Moynihan said softly, “not entirely...”

“You're not sure?” Max asked, sounding a little bit surprised. “Then why do you want us to...” He tried to say, but was cut off.

“Dear, do you want to pass up the chance of possibly locating Caruso at last?” Joanne asked softly, making Max grow silent. “I know you children have been met with harsh disappointments recently, but what if we pass up this chance just because we think it might lead to another disappointment, we may never see Caruso again. Life is full of risks, Max.”

“And didn't you teach us to avoid risks if at all possible?” Max asked.

Joanne nodded solemnly. “Yes. But I also taught you was that sometimes you must take a risk to get a worthwhile result. Sometimes you have to face the danger to save yourself and those that you love and care about.”

As Moynihan told him this, a strange feeling started to well up inside of him. Max slowly realized that Moynihan was right. He glanced back at the warehouse, his eyes narrowed. What if that Troodon was speaking the truth? Could Caruso really be in there? But if they were wrong, the consequences could be huge. He frowned further as he thought about that. Oh the risks were enormous. He acknowledged that. They could lose their freedom, or even their very lives, if the Troodon's statement of Caruso being held in there was just a trick and the whole thing was a trap. But the only way they were going to find out was to go inside and have a look for themselves.

His thoughts were interrupted by Fiona, who had been just as skeptical as Max was a few moments ago. “But what if it's a trap?” This is what Max had feared as well. “If we get caught, then how will we save Caruso?”

Moynihan walked over to Fiona and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Rump lifted up his head and sniffed the hand a couple times before giving it a big wet lick. Moynihan chuckled and pulled her hand away. “Dear Fiona, it's worth a look, isn't it?”

“I suppose, but..” But Fiona was suddenly interrupted by a horrible sound that jolted everyone else into alertness.

OOOOOOAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAA!!

It was a scream, no a bellow, no wait, a mixture of the two. And they seemed to come from both the same place, and yet two different places. But how was this possible? As another scream and bellow rang out, it slowly dawned on Fiona what it was. The bellow was a vocalization, but the scream was through the thoughts. Both were filled with pain and agony. It didn't take her and the others long to realize just who it was.

“CARUSO!” They shouted in unison.

* * *

Another scream emitted from Caruso's mouth as he crashed into the ground, having been knocked back by the mutantsaur. He shook his head, quite surprised that the blind mole was that powerful. He bared his teeth weakly at it and, upon Victor's orders, charged at the mutantsaur again. The mutantsaur took a few sniffs and growled softly. It turned to its side and struck Caruso with its tail. Despite having no club, it was still strong enough to knock a full grown Stegosaurus back a few feet. Once again climbing up onto his feet, Caruso wondered how this creature could be strong enough to do that. Just what had Victor put into it?

Shrugging it off, he went in for another attack. This time he grew wise to the mole's turning behavior and immediately veered off to the left when it did that. Now face to face with the mole, Caruso managed to bite down onto the mole's neck. Despite the searing pain surging through his gums and tongue, he lifted up the mole mutant and, with a jerk of the neck, he tossed the mutantsaur away. The mole mutant crashed into the ground, but quickly regained its footing. It snarled viciously at Caruso and charged towards him.

Just how much more abuse could this mole get? Caruso was sure it would have been deterred by now. They've been going at it for what felt like hours, though in reality it was just about twenty to thirty minutes. This wasn't the first time he'd grabbed the creature by the neck. Caruso didn't really know why he even did that at first. He had never done something that violent to another living creature. He licked his teeth carefully, tasting the blood on them. But it wasn't his blood. It was the creature's. He closed his eyes for a brief moment. What was he becoming? Since this battle started, he had started to become more and more aggressive. It wasn't anything dramatic. It was a steady increase. The longer he fought, the more apparent the changes were becoming.

He eyed the mole mutant as it started to circle at him, staring at him with that eyeless face. Was it this mole that was making him start to act so strangely, so differently? He narrowed his eyes and growled softly, feeling the adrenaline rise up inside of him. The mole seemed ready to fight. It lunged at Caruso. Bellowing loudly, Caruso reared up onto his hind legs and slammed back down. He caught the mole by its back. The heavy dinosaur slammed the mole into the ground. There was a few cracks where Caruso's weigh broke the ribs of the mole. The mole screeched loudly in pain and tried to get back up only to fall back down.

A strange urge started to overcome him. He could feel it burning inside, coursing through his veins. It was like his human mind was being sucked away and only a bloodthirsty monster remained behind. He shook his head several times, trying to snap back to his senses. But each jerk of the head only increased this feeling. His eyes opened wide as his vision seemed to change. He stopped registering certain information as if his brain stopped caring about them. And his eyes started to focus more on the creature that stood before him. He was starting to feel more like a predator, and no matter how hard his human mind tried to regain control, he just wasn't able to stop this urge that was growing inside of him.

Caruso's eyes glowed. He didn't notice it, but they were now of a different shade. They started to take on a more orange color rather than the gold-yellow that they usually were. He stared at the mole in a rather strange way. It was almost as if he was hungry and this was his meal even though he was an herbivore. He took a step towards the injured mole and then hesitated. He turned his head towards Victor as if he was looking for direction. Victor gave a single nod. Caruso turned his attention back towards the mole. Without hesitation, he bit down onto the mole's neck. The creature struggled frantically as Caruso twisted the neck. There was a loud snap, and the creature become limp. It was over.

Victor folded his arms as he watched this. He was both impressed and disappointed at the same time. The mole wasn't strong enough to withstand attacks from a Stegosaurus, although it did prove to be a determined fighter and didn't back down despite being constantly knocked away. But this experiment did yield some interesting results. After exposing Caruso to the chemical, he had noticed what he was hoping for: an increased aggression. He still need to perfect this formula though. Or maybe he just need to add larger doses for a more desired effect.

Caruso's eyes suddenly changed back into the normal gold-yellow. He tasted fur, blood, and flesh in his mouth. He slowly gazed down and saw that he was holding a dead mutant in his jaws. Eyes widening in horror, he quickly let go and took several steps back. He gazed at the dead animal that lay before him. The head and neck were bent too far in an odd angle. The jaws were wide open as if it were screaming in pain. If it had eyes, they would be bulging wide with pain. Caruso started to shake a little. 'What did I just do..?' He asked himself, taking one more step back, trying to settle himself down.

“You've made your first kill.” Victor said callously. When he noticed Caruso shaking, he frowned slightly. “Oh get over it! It's just one dead body! I've seen hundreds of them. They're hardly something to get worked up over.” He said as if it were nothing. Of course he wouldn't be affected by it. He was a Velociraptor.

'But..but I'm not a carnivore..' Caruso stammered, feeling sick as he could taste the animal's blood in his mouth. He would try to spit it out, but the bridle made it too painful. As much as it sickened him, he had no choice but to swallow the blood. He shuddered as he did so, and silently wished for some water to get rid of the horrible taste in his mouth.

“What's the matter, little Caruso?” Victor sneered as he walked over to Caruso and placed his hand on the boy's dinosaur head. “Can't handle a little blood?” He chuckled as he patted the boy's head a few times. He turned and walked away.

Caruso whirled his head to face Victor. 'My mouth is full of my own blood, you...!' Caruso had suddenly felt that same urge he had previously. It was short lived though, and when it went away, he stopped his sentence before he could finish the last few words. It was lucky for him that he did. Otherwise, Victor would hurt him again. He immediately averted eye contact from Victor and lowered his head in submission.

Victor turned his head, the faintest hint of a smile on his face. “You were lucky you stopped yourself when you did. Because one more disrespectful word out of you, and I would have..”

'What?' Caruso asked in an emotionless way. 'Shock me?'

Victor chuckled, holding up a finger. “Oh no. I had something else in mind.” He turned around so his back was facing Caruso. He held his hands together, tapping each fingertip with another in a scheming way. “It would be a shame if something happened to your friends.”

Caruso's eyes widened in horror. 'What do you plan on doing to them?'

“It's not what I'm going to do to them.” Victor turned to face Caruso. He pointed an accusing finger at the blue-purple Stegosaurus. “It's what YOU are going to to do to them.”

'What?!' Caruso took a step back, shaking his head in denial. 'Why would I want to hurt them?'

Victor opened up his mouth to respond, but was abruptly cut short from a shout from behind him. “VICTOR!!” Victor tensed up at the volume of the scream. Caruso tried to his best not to smirk or chuckle. Victor rubbed one of his ears before turning towards the door, which had been closed when Victor released the mole mutantsaur for Caruso to do battle with. He could hear someone pounding on the other side. No, there were two people. Only one was pounding on the door. He groaned. He knew who it had to be. Only one of his minions acted like this.

Placing a hand on the door and leaning forward slightly, Victor said in an annoyed voice, “What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?!”

“But Victor!” Came the voice. “I need to talk to you! It's urgent! It's about the Dino Squad! They're here!”

Both Victor and Caruso widened their eyes, but for completely different reasons. For Caruso, it gave him a newfound reason to hope. A smile started to stretch across his cut up mouth. So they really were searching for him after all. He didn't know how they did it, but he felt relieved that his friends were finally able to find him. Now maybe the nightmare was going to be over. 'My friends...' He said softly. 'They've come for me...'

But Victor on the other hand wasn't quite as pleased. Even though he was silent at first, it was obvious he was angry. He was starting to shake, furiously clenching a fist and pounding it on the door. The Dino Squad weren't supposed to find this hideout! While Caruso's statement only increased his anger, he decided not to take it out on him. After all, he couldn't see why it would be Caruso's fault the Dino Squad found this particular hideout. He pushed the door open furiously, slamming it against the wall of the hallway. Oscura and Michelle, who were on the other side, both yelped in surprise and took a step back. “HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!” He screamed at them. “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO CAPTURE THEM!”

“Yes I know!” Oscura was the first to recover from the initial shock. “I tried my best!”

“And so did I!” Michelle interjected. “They were more formidable than I thought!”

“What are you talking about?! They're only humans!” Victor hissed. He couldn't believe these two could mess up this task. The Dino Squad were separated were they not? That's what his scouts had told him. “And they were apart! How could you have lost?!”

Oscura wrinkled her nose in a disgusted way. “Well it wasn't my fault!” She yelled back. “I almost had two of them! They weren't so tough! I would have had them too if it weren't for Moynihan!”

“MOYNIHAN?!” Victor roared, causing the two girls before him to back away. Michelle cringed but Oscura remained standing up straight. “MOYNIHAN IS HERE?!” The room became silent.

While Victor was hoping to get an encounter with Moynihan, this is not how he had envisioned it. This is not how he wanted it to happen. He was hoping to catch her alone and do what he wanted with her. He never would have expected her to come here, and with the remaining Dino Squad at that. The last he checked, Moynihan's ankle was too hurt to walk on, let alone travel all the way over here. Come to think of it, just how did she get here at all? She wasn't spotted by any of his scouts. Humans... He hissed softly. They never were all that reliable. They were so irresponsible. He would need to get better scouts. Dinosaurs would do a much better job than humans. Heck, they can do anything better than a human.

He glanced at Caruso and narrowed his eyes. It seemed he probably wouldn't get a chance to finish his experiments with him. He wanted to say something to the boy, but he stopped himself. He once again reminded himself that getting angry at Caruso would be fruitless. Caruso had nothing to do with this. He turned back to Michelle and Oscura. He was very disappointed in their performance. They were able to handle the Dino Squad just fine in their last fight. So what went wrong now?

Oh well, he thought. There was no use crying over spilled milk. There was nothing he could do to change it. The question was how can he make use of this new turn of events? He frowned a little more as he went into deep thought. He already had the boy, and now he had Moynihan and the four other 'perfect dinosaurs' possibly inside the building at this very moment. He would have to come up with a new plan and fast. It was highly unlikely he could do anything to Moynihan without the others protecting her and ruining that plan. And he had his doubts he'll be able to use Caruso. It takes a while for the chemical to take effect. There wouldn't be enough time. By the time the chemical would take effect, it would be too late. The Dino Squad would have prepared themselves.

What was he going to do now? He was becoming a bit frustrated. But he had to remain calm. He was a clever Velociraptor. He'd come up with the solution sooner or later. He glanced back at Caruso. He wondered if he should allow the Dino Squad to find him and then ambush them then. No..that wouldn't work. None of his men are competent enough to handle five dinosaurs, and he doubt Michelle and Oscura would be able to handle the job, not after how they failed with their initial objective. Should he send out some of his men to drive the dinosaurs into a single location? No. If they couldn't handle a simple task like infecting domestic animals with ooze, then how could they possibly carry out a more extreme task like this? Victor closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead as he tried his best to calm down.

Sensing Victor's frustration, Oscura took a step towards him. “What are you so worried about?” She asked without thinking about it. “So they're all here. What's the big deal?”

Michelle elbowed her harshly. “Shh! Do you want to aggravate him further?” She whispered to Oscura.

“So what?” Oscura shrugged her shoulders. “It's not like this can't be easily worked into his favor...” She stopped when she felt a strong, scaly hand grip her throat. She grunted in pain and struggled a little as she felt herself being lifted off the ground and towards Victor.

“It can be worked into my favor?” Victor asked.

“..Y-Yes..” Oscura managed to say.

Victor released his grip on her and folded his arms. “Explain.” He demanded. He wondered what Oscura had in mind. Despite the way he was acting, he was feeling rather enthusiastic about hearing one of her plans. He admitted that, at times, Oscura could be more cunning than he was. That was an attribute he rarely saw in humans.

Oscura didn't respond right away. She rubbed her throat gently in the area Victor had squeezed her. She didn't understand why he felt the need to do that. But still, why should she care? She'd do the same thing to someone else if given the chance. She eyed Michelle for a brief second, silently wishing she could do something to her. If it weren't for these fighting restraints...

“Certainly.” Oscura said when she heard Victor growl at her to get her to talk to him. “Well you got Caruso, right?” A nod from Victor. “And you are a predator, right?” Another nod from Victor. “Well the answer is quite obvious. Use him as bait. Knock him out and put him somewhere where the Dino Squad would find him and catch them that way. And if you're worried about doing this fast enough, I've a solution for that. Calls. Hunters use them to lure big game like deer into a certain spot. You have recorded some audio clips of Caruso haven't you?”

Victor nodded his head once. “As well as visual clips for study. Why?”

Oscura smirked. “Perfect... You could use those to lure the Dino Squad anywhere you want to. You could make them go off course, or lead them towards Caruso when you are ready for them. They're so weak-minded. They'll easily fall for it, especially since it concerns their precious little friend here.” She grinned evilly at Caruso. Caruso's eyes widened and cringed at Oscura's cold stare, and Oscura smiled as she watched him shiver.

Victor narrowed his eyes and thought about it. Oscura's idea did seem plausible, and it did entice the predator side to him. He had, after all, used a similar tactic back in the glory days of the dinosaurs. But it brought back unwanted memories of Moynihan. She'd been the one to teach him that trick after all. And yet he didn't want to completely dismiss Oscura's idea. Luring them to different parts of the warehouse with Caruso's torture clips, why hadn't he thought of that before? But there was still a problem. How was he to be sure that they wouldn't see through the trap? And if they got to Caruso, would he be ready to capture them? No, there had to be something else he could use this plan for. Then the idea struck him.

Victor glanced towards Caruso, a conniving smile on his face. The boy didn't like the way he was being looked at and started to back up. 'No... no.. please no..' He begged. But Victor continued to walk towards him, backing the Stegosaurus up in a corner. Caruso's eyes widened as Victor transformed his hands and showed him his claws.

“What do you plan on doing, sir?” Michelle asked carefully, trying to hide the fact that she felt sorry for the kid.

“Setting up a trap for Joanne...” Victor replied. He gripped the rope that attached to Caruso's bridle and raised his other hand, claws glinting in the light. It was the last thing Caruso would see before a blinding pain overwhelmed him, more intense than any he's felt before...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

* * *

The scream echoed throughout the warehouse. It reverberated through the walls and anyone who was standing on the ground could feel the vibrations. The scream snapped many of Veloci's men into alertness. They cautiously looked around, but saw nothing. They stood there confused for a while, and then went back to work. The scream went unnoticed by no one, especially the Dino Squad, who were making their way down one of the corridors.

Upon hearing the scream, the Dino Squad stopped, standing stiff and rigid as the meaning of that scream started to sink in, especially Moynihan. Could they already be too late? Moynihan frowned softly. No they couldn't be too late. She had grown accustomed to death screams in her life as a Velociraptor and that wasn't what she heard. But the situation was still dire. She heard a whine behind her. Rump was trotting behind the Dino Squad, his ears lowered as if he knew something was wrong. Moynihan looked at him sympathetically. The poor little fellow didn't understand what was going on.

“What was that..?” Buzz asked, looking around nervously as he waited for the horrible scream to come back. He had a feeling of what it was, but was too afraid to admit it. And what if that was a trap set up by Victor?

“That was Caruso!” Fiona shouted, sounding horrified. “He's in pain! We've got to find him!”

“But what if it's a trap?” Rodger asked, just as nervous as Buzz was.

“But what if it's not?” Fiona asked, sounding determined.

“What if it is?” Rodger asked again. “If it's a trap, do you really want to wander all the way over just to...”

“Enough you two.” Moynihan stepped between the two, giving them both a disapproving look. “Now isn't the time for you two to be fighting. There are more urgent things at hand, don't you know?”

Rodger and Fiona lowered their heads. “We're sorry, Ms. M.”

It was difficult for Max to watch this. This was not how they were supposed to be. In the past, they were able to work together without problem. He couldn't recall a large number of times when they continued to argue with one another when a more important objective was at hand. Now it seemed like they all had their own ideas on what to do. They didn't seem like they were all on the right page. And even the presence of Moynihan didn't help ease the tension that had formed in the group. Whatever happened to the team?

Because he was the leader, Max felt responsible. He hadn't tried hard enough to keep the remaining team together. And he couldn't help but feel this entire incident was all his fault. He had lost his temper with Caruso. And he was supposed to be the leader too! What kind of leader would allow his emotions to take over? Maybe he didn't deserve to be leader... No! He couldn't think like that! The others needed him! They still turn to him for his leadership. And wasn't it the leader's job to always keep an optimistic outlook?

But his thoughts went back to the last time he saw Caruso. He hadn't done a very good job keeping an optimistic outlook then, now had he? No, he made the situation worse. He closed his eyes tightly and strongly wished that he could undo what he'd already done.

Fiona noticed Max's distress and gently nudged him. When he opened his eyes and looked at her, she gave him a concerned look. “Hey Max? Are you okay?”

Max nodded his head and said, “Yes, I'm okay.”

Fiona narrowed her eyes slightly. She had a hard time believing him. He certainly wasn't acting like he was okay just a few moments before. Why was he lying to her? Wasn't he the one who had told Caruso, back when he wanted to audition that television show, how lying would only get him in trouble? She remembered what he had said about the tangled web. It bothered Fiona to think that Caruso would be so insecure at the time that he would lie to them. And now that same uncomfortable feeling was coming back because now Max was lying to her.

“Max...please don't lie to me.” Joanne asked him calmly.

“I'm not...” Max started to say but stopped himself as he looked around the room. Not only was Fiona staring at him suspiciously, everyone else was as well. They all either had a slight frown on their face or a sympathetic look, as if they understood why he felt the need to fib.

“We're your friends, remember?” Rodger said. “You don't need to lie to us.”

“I know.” Max said. “It's just...” But before he could finish his sentence, he was caught off guard by another loud scream. This one sounded much closer and much more urgent than the last one. Max could feel his heart start to race. “Caruso!”

Then another scream came, even closer than the last one. But what was scaring the Dino Squad the most was that the screams seem to be coming from everywhere. They couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. The screams were echoing off the walls several times, masking their general origin. They looked swiftly from left to right, trying to find some hint on where they should go, but had no luck in deciding.

“This isn't fair!” Buzz complained, glaring as he looked in several directions, trying to find a path to take. “Where are we supposed to go?”

“Victor designed this place to be like a maze, it seems.” Moynihan said thoughtfully. “I had suspected as much. He must have known that there was a slight chance that an enemy would find this place.” This didn't surprise her too much. Victor was rather cunning and had pulled this kind of thing before with prey, leading them into a twisted maze consisting of rock and trees. The prey wouldn't know where to go, but Victor had studied that area from top to bottom and knew the best places for ambush.

“So do you know which way to go?” Rodger asked hopefully.

Moynihan shook her head. “I'm afraid not. I've never been here before. Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Great, so basically we're like mice trapped in a maze, huh?” Buzz said dishearteningly. “We could wander in here for days and never...” He managed to stop himself before he depressed the others.

Moynihan nodded her head solemnly. After that, the group couldn't bring themselves to continue searching for fear they'll choose the wrong path. The hallway because silent as the group looked at each other, trying to find words to say but only drawing a blank. The path they were in now split off at two ways. Both new paths looked identical save for the one on the left that had a blinking light bulb hanging somewhere in the hallway. But only one path would lead them to Caruso. And as the screams continued, they only grew more and more confused as to where the source was coming from.

What a rather frustrating time for them, Max thought. He looked around and thought briefly why the alarms hadn't gone off. Michelle knew they were here, so why hadn't she warned Victor of their presence? That didn't make a lot of sense. She worked for Victor and was loyal to him as was Oscura. What possible reason could she have for not reporting them to Victor right away? What motivation could she have to not sound the alarm? As he thought about this, he started to feel a little panicky. Any second he expected the security system to go off, set off by Michelle, and Victor's men bursting through all the doors to get them. And this time, they couldn't pretend they weren't the 'perfect dinosaurs' anymore. Victor knew the truth about them now, and surely so would his own men. But then again, not all of them were very bright.

But perhaps there was a reason why Michelle didn't sound the alarm. Perhaps she hadn't really forgotten. Perhaps she had planned this. Max's eyes widened. If Michelle had planned this, then that meant that...

The next few seconds happened so fast it was a blur to everyone else, but for Max it felt like it lasted several minutes. He heard a warning shout from Moynihan, and then a snarl, suddenly a loud screech. He turned to see the red Troodon, Oscura, dashing towards him at high speed. Eyes widened, Max quickly dodged out of the way. The Troodon had already leaped, her jaws wide open. As she neared him while he leaped himself, she snapped her jaws shut. Her teeth snagged on the bottom of his jacket. Max quickly delivered a kick to her dinosaur shin, causing her to cry out in pain, thus releasing him from her grasp. As Oscura fell onto the ground, her mouth, dripping with drool, remained wide open. Saliva sprayed across the air, most of it landing on the ground although a few drops got onto Max's jacket. As the two regained their footing, Max noticed the saliva, grimaced, and quickly wiped it off. All this had occurred in a matter of about five to six seconds.

Oscura shifted back into human form and stared at the group standing before her. She had one hand in her pocket. The Dino Squad had their ideas on what it could be, but right now their focus was on Oscura herself. They could worry about her little toy later. The initial reaction from the Dino Squad was shock. They weren't surprised to see her. No, they were expecting her. What shocked them was how she was able to sneak up on them like that in this building. Unlike the alleyway, there wasn't a lot of places to hide. But the shock quickly melted away to anger.

“Oscura...” Moynihan said angrily.

“Moynihan...” Oscura replied coolly.

“What are you doing here?” Fiona asked, seething as she remembered how Oscura toyed with her back in the alleyway.

Oscura laughed as she replied, “Well now, I could ask you the same question, Fiona.”

Rodger took a step forward. “What do you want? Haven't you caused enough trouble already?”

Oscura grinned darkly. “No I haven't. Sorry.” She said in a sarcastic way. However, before any one else could say something, Oscura held up a hand to silence them. “With all joking set aside, I was sent here to show you something.” As she said that, she started to search her pocket for something.

“Don't bother with it.” Buzz said, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh but you'll be quite interested in seeing what I have in here for you and your friends, Mr. Mohawk.” Buzz growled at that name.

“There isn't anything you could show us that would interest us!” Max shouted, still angry with how she had treated Fiona earlier. All this monster was going to do was slow them down.

“Oh?” Oscura asked slyly as she pulled out what looked to be a small sphere. “Not even this?” She held it out to them. The sphere was black in color with a small red button that protruded from the top of the ball. She pressed the button down, and the ball hummed to life. There was a slight glow to it. “This is one of Victor's inventions, although it performs the same function as a common household item.” She laughed as the Dino Squad braced themselves for an attack. “Relax, you idiots. It's not a weapon.”

“Not unless you throw it at someone.” Buzz said, half joking and half being serious.

Oscura narrowed her eyes, looking more serious than she usually does. “Don't be so smart.”

The black sphere suddenly shot out a beam of light against the wall. It started to take the form of a rectangle. From there it grew in size. The light was radiating a golden yellow color. It continued to grow until the top and bottom of the rectangular light reached the floor and the ceiling of the hallway. Then another beam of light shot out, one that was more clear and at the same time streaming with colorful light. It overlapped the golden yellow rectangle light. Suddenly blurry images zipped past the screen. As the image slowly came into focus, it became quickly obvious what it was.

Oscura grinned, growling softly. “You still going to tell me this doesn't interest you?”

The images being displayed caused the Dino Squad's hearts to stop, filling their bodies with intense fear. Subconsciously they took a step back, wishing what they weren't seeing wasn't real. They wished it was just some sort of sick illusion in an attempt to break them. The images flashing across the wall were of their friend, Caruso. They were seeing much of the torment he had been through. They saw him being slammed back by the mole mutant. They saw him being attacked by Victor himself. They saw him suffering under the influence of the hideous human bridle. Fiona had to stifle a gasp when she saw several images of Caruso being electrocuted by the bridle. And the blood, there was so much blood, and so many injuries.

They could hear his screams of fear and pain as the scenes flashed by quickly. Watching him suffer on this was taking a toll on their hearts and minds. But they found it difficult to tear their eyes from the scenes. They saw how Caruso kept resisting Victor and paying the price for it, and how, in the end, he eventually broke. Moynihan could feel a tear try to escape as she saw the young teenager finally submit to Victor, looking so helpless on the ground. It angered her when Victor started to taunt him a little. She closed her eyes tightly. This reminded her so much of what happened about thirty years ago, when she and Victor split paths.

Max's eyes were wide with horror as he saw just what Caruso had been through while he was here with Victor. At first, his reaction was to shake his head in denial. This had to be some sort of trick. But the more he saw, the more he became convinced that it was reality. A dark voice in his head started to taunt him, telling him he got his wish. Caruso would probably never brag again. But he shook his head, telling himself this isn't what he wanted. This isn't how he wanted things to happen. He looked at the others. They were just as horrified as he was. But not just horrified. They were furious too, and so was he. They knew Victor was dangerous, that he would stoop low enough to kill. But they had no idea that he would be cruel enough to subject Caruso to excruciating pain for no reason.

“Caruso!” Fiona finally shouted, breaking the tense silence among the group. Oscura had shut off the sphere and was looking at the group smugly. Fiona locked eyes onto the raven-haired girl and growled. “What have you monsters done to him..?”

“But you've already seen what we've done to him.” Oscura said, smirking. “It wasn't anything he didn't deserve.”

“Why you...!” Fiona started to charge towards Oscura only to be held back by Max. “Let me go!” She shouted, struggling wildly in his grasp. “She was asking for it!”

“That's exactly what she wants us to do.” Max said, trying to stay calm even though he was just as angry as Fiona was. “If we stoop to her level, then we would be no better than she was.” With that, he looked up at Oscura and glared at her. Oh the things he wished he could do to her right now...

“You better listen to your leader.” Oscura mocked, folding her arms. It was clear she didn't take Max too seriously as a leader. In fact she thought he was a joke, almost. She considered Victor an example of what a true leader should be like, someone who strikes fear in the hearts of his or her workers.

Max winced. The way she had said leader, it sounded more like an insult. He decided to ignore that comment and took a step forward. Trying to look as confident as he could, he asked, “Where are you hiding Caruso?” His voice had a slight menacing tone to it, even though he didn't think Oscura could be scared to do anything.

Buzz stepped forward now. “You want to make this harder on yourself?” He warned. “If you are looking for a fight...”

“You got one with us.” Rodger finished, eyes narrowed.

“Now guys...” Max started to say, but was interrupted by Oscura's sudden outburst of laughter. It sounded so chilling it caused the group to shudder. They had never heard such a cold laugh, not even from Victor himself.

“Even if I were to tell you where your precious friend was,” Oscura said, “There's a slim chance Caruso would even want to see you.” When the group standing before her looked shocked, she grinned. “He believed you abandoned him. So he abandoned you.”

Moynihan's eyes widened a little. Something sounded suspicious about that statement. It didn't seem like Caruso to just give up on them like that. And he certainly wouldn't just abandon all hopes of being rescued, would he? He had been with the Dino Squad long enough to know that, if he was in trouble, they would do anything to help him. Moynihan began to suspect that perhaps this was a trap of sorts. What would Oscura benefit from telling the Dino Squad this? There was one thing she could think of: breaking the fighting spirits. If the Dino Squad were too shocked at the thought of their friend giving up hope in them, they might not have the will to fight back. Her eyes widened a little further. They would be easy targets for Victor and his men.

“Don't listen to her!” Moynihan spoke up, catching the attention of the kids standing near her. Oscura cocked an eyebrow, wondering what the old woman was going to say. And she knew she wasn't the only one in this area who was wondering this. “She's lying! She's just trying to get you kids to lose your fighting spirit so that she and Victor can easily capture you! Don't listen to her!” Oscura narrowed her eyes. The woman had seen through her plan. Clever Velociraptor she was, but sooner or later, Oscura would know how to break even her.

“Too smart.” Oscura said, slightly disgruntled. “Did you have to ruin the fun?”

“Fun?!” Moynihan snapped, turning her head quickly to stare at the insane teen. “You call this fun?”

Oscura chuckled and sneered. “Why, of course! What could be more fun than toying with others? Watching them suffer at my words, or even my hands. Nothing could be more joyful than that! Why do you think I joined Victor, you old woman?” Oscura transformed one of her hands and flexed the hand, looking at the way her talons hooked forward, smiling it satisfaction at their sharpness. “Compassion is such a weakness. Only the strong, brutal ones are meant to rule. Those who don't fall under this category are meant to be slaves to be used and abused, even killed. They have no place in this world other than in a cage or in chains.” She gave the group an eerie look. “Your friend had two choices. He could have submitted honorably and he would have gotten better treatment. Who knows? He might have even converted and be saved. Or he could resist and suffer the consequences. Judging from what I had shown you, you know which path he took.” She grinned evilly, her voice full of sadism and malicious intentions.

Clenching a shaking fist, Joanne Moynihan was slowly starting to lose control of her anger. The idea of anyone being like this was mind boggling to her, and it was horrific as well. She was right to believe that Oscura's rule would be even more dangerous than having Victor rule. She had been shown how cruel Victor could be, but she knew that Victor was not the type to go to the same extreme as what Oscura would be interested in.

Noticing Moynihan's anger, Oscura decided to further antagonize the old woman. “What's the matter? You can't handle the truth? Are you going to cry?” She asked in a mocking way, scratching her chin in an almost thoughtful way, yet at the same time it looked a bit threatening.

“Oh shut up, you....!” The next word that came out of Joanne's mouth shocked everyone in the room, but for different reasons. The word was foreign to human language. It was a word Moynihan had learned before the extinction event. She had been scolded in the past for using it. The Dino Squad didn't know that it meant exactly. But from the way she had used it, they knew it wouldn't have been pleasant. It felt a little scary for them to see Moynihan react this way. It just seemed so out of her character. But then, none of them had ever done anything that would have pushed her over the edge.

Oscura on the other hand jerked her head back in surprise. She knew full well what the strange word had meant. But she shook off her initial surprise and grinned from ear to ear. “Well well well... looks like the old woman still has some bite left in her.” She teased.

“Don't mock me.” Moynihan threatened. “I already defeated you once.”

Oscura placed a hand on her chest and gave a weird look at Moynihan. “Defeated? Me? That's a laugh!” Oscura closed her eyes and chuckled for a few seconds. She slowly opened them up again and glared at Moynihan. “Tickling me to death is not a real defeat, you idiotic fool. I thought a Velociraptor would know that. I guess you really are as stupid as the humans you ally yourself with.” At this remark, Moynihan snapped her head back, teeth bared slightly in an unsure manner.

Getting fed up with Oscura, Fiona slammed a fist into the palm of her hands. If this girl wanted a fight, she'd be happy to oblige. She's been hoping to get even with Oscura. And what better way than a rematch? “If it's a fight you're looking for, I'll be more than happy to volunteer.”

“Oh really? I wouldn't mind a little...match with you, sweetheart. But let's hope you do better than the last time.” Oscura laughed.

“You better hope, for your sake, that I don't do better!” Fiona threatened, trying to move forward to attack her but once again being held back by Max.

“Oooo..scary!” Oscura remarked sarcastically.

“You better be scared!” Fiona threatened, her eyes starting to glow. She wondered why Max wouldn't release her and let her go after Oscura. Was it because he was afraid she was going to get hurt? No, that couldn't be it. It didn't seem like him. He was probably hoping to get Oscura to lead them to Caruso. Fat chance, she thought. The only way she felt they were going to find Caruso was to search for him themselves. But she realized that if they did it that way, they risk running out of time. Perhaps it was best to get information straight from the horse's mouth. But then what if she lies to them?

Oscura laughed coldly. “I'm shaking in my shoes!” She wondered how long this interesting scene was going to last. How long would it take for one of them to actually strike her? She kept her eyes on Fiona. She made a silent bet in her mind that this is the girl who was going to attack first. She sneered, almost taunting Fiona to make a move against her.

“You better stop it, or I'll...!” Max threatened.

“Or you'll what, you incompetent leader?” Oscura glanced over at the jock. “You going to give me a timeout?” Max growled at her, but she just shrugged it off. “You're weak, just like Caruso.”

“Oscura, THAT'S ENOUGH!” A voice rang out before anyone could react. Oscura looked over to see who it was. When she got enough visual information, she hissed softly in anger and disappointment. The figure ignored this and simply walked forward. Most of their body was concealed in the shadows. But the voice alone revealed who it was.

“It's you...” Oscura growled angrily. Just great, she thought. She has arrived. Of all the times for her to arrive, it had to be now, didn't it?

The figure stepped out into the light and almost instantly the Dino Squad reacted, tensing up. It was Michelle. The brunette didn't make a threatening move towards them. She seemed focused on her partner, Oscura. She walked towards her without setting eyes on the other people in the hallway. Except for Moynihan and Max, they took a defensive stance. They didn't care if she wasn't making a move towards them. They knew what happened the last time when Michelle and Oscura were in the same area together. The worst affected was Buzz. He was shaking visibly with rage when he set eyes on the curly haired girl walking in front of them. It was taking all his will power to not rush forward and slash at her.

He silently wished he never participated in the online game with her. He should have just turned the game off. He should have just allowed Caruso to get on the computer after him. He shouldn't have gotten that extra time playing that game. What further aggravated him is that he had fallen for a similar trap not very long ago, when Rodger had first set up the online game. He had thought he met a new online friend, but it was only Victor Veloci. Buzz couldn't believe just how foolish he was. He couldn't see the warning signs. He eventually disregarded the safety rules and revealed what state he lived in. But how was he to know that Victor would be able to lure him out with that information?

He had been tricked into going into an empty house. He didn't know if anyone actually lived there, or even how Victor knew of it. Perhaps he had been there before. Maybe it was his private quarters or something. No, that couldn't be it. Victor's headquarters was back in Boston. Why in the world would he have a place of solitude that far away from his workplace? And on that subject, why should he even care? Buzz didn't have fond feelings of that house because Victor had nearly trapped him inside. He had managed to escape, but he was driven into a shed and eventually flushed out when Victor used his feet to destroy it. Buzz was captured not long after that point and nearly became Victor's guinea pig in his experiments. Luckily, his friends showed up and freed him.

Buzz was paranoid that Victor had seen him transform or at least sensed it. After that, he thought they were going to see increased attacks from Victor. He thought he was going to search throughout the entire state of Maine. If Victor had found out they were humans, he would have changed his strategy in trying to find his 'perfect dinosaurs'. He might have come out with a new chemical that would expose them for what they are. And if he knew they were human, he would bring out more sophisticated traps that could easily capture them. This never happened afterward, Buzz had breathed a sigh of relief.

But he couldn't do that anymore. Victor knew now they were humans. He had gone to their lighthouse with Michelle and Oscura and managed to take Caruso away from them. Even though he and his two dinosaur minions were outnumbered, they had defeated them. They had succeeded while the Dino Squad had failed. Buzz felt a pang of guilt as he remembered how he had gotten a hold of Caruso and tried to save him with the aide of the others and then Victor showed up and slashed his legs. Buzz winced, still feeling the pain from when the sickle claw made contact with his skin and flesh.

Buzz stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately stopped shaking and looked over to see who it was. “What do you want, Max?” He asked half-heartedly.

“Are you all right?” Max asked.

“Why wouldn't I be?” Buzz answered.

“You were shaking.” Max told him. “Is something wrong?”

Buzz looked away, not sure if he should answer. He hadn't really answered Rodger when he had asked him the same thing. He wondered if he should respond the same way as he had with Rodger or if he should give an answer this time. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rodger approach Max and pull Max a little aways from him.

“He had done this before.” Rodger said. “He wouldn't tell me what the problem was. I suggest not pressuring him.”

Max looked back at Buzz. “Buzz...” He started, but stopped himself. “I'm sorry.”

“It's all right.” Buzz looked up. He sighed softly. “I suppose I should tell you. You see...” He stopped, unsure of exactly how to say what he wanted to say. He was having a difficult time wording it. He groaned in frustration as he had a harder and harder time to bring himself to continue. Just how was he going to tell them?

He found relief and disappointment when Moynihan stepped in. “Buzz, you do not have to tell us now if you don't want to.” She offered a gentle smile.

Buzz smiled back. “I know. But, Ms. M, I do want to tell you guys. It's just..I can't think of how to word it.”

“Then wait. The words will come to you eventually.” Moynihan said.

“Well well well...” The moment was suddenly interrupted as Oscura spoke up. She placed her hands on her hips and gave a creepy smile. “Isn't this such a sweet moment?” She said in a disgusted manner, as if the very idea of affection was foreign and strange to her. “How pathetic.” She wrinkled her nose and snarled, partially baring her teeth. She instantly received a slap on the head. “Ow! What did you do that for?” She asked angrily, looking towards Michelle.

Michelle's arm remained raised, motioned to strike the dark-haired teeth again if she said anything else stupid or uncalled for. She was told to leave the building. Victor had told her that Oscura was going to handle things. But Michelle knew the girl would only cause trouble, so she hung back and followed Oscura as she snuck up on the group. She felt strange doing this, defending her own enemy after they had cornered her back in the alleyway and chased her here. Although the chase sequence was her idea and she had deliberately caused it to happen. “For being a fool!” She said, answering her partner's question.

“Excuse me? Foolish? They're the ones who are foolish!” Oscura pointed an accusing finger at the group. “To get worked up over nothing...” Okay so it wasn't nothing. They were worried about Caruso. She knew that. But to allow their feelings to get the better of them, she saw that as weakness. “They are getting angry just because their friend is in trouble.”

Michelle narrowed her eyes dangerously. “Do not mock the enemy.” She warned. “It will not work.”

“Why would I need mockery to work?” Oscura chuckled darkly. “They're weak enough as it is, crying over one lost little friend!”

Sensing the tension from the Dino Squad at that insult, Michelle struck Oscura again to get her to shut up before she could say anything else. “They are not weak!” She yelled at her partner. She gripped Oscura's arm and pulled the girl towards her. “Valuing life is not weakness!” She pressed her forehead against Oscura's. She was so close that Oscura looked like nothing more than a blur, her eyes no longer able to focus on a single face. “And disregarding it is not strength!” She backed up and let go of Oscura, who just looked at her as if she couldn't believe she had said those things.

Oscura gently rubbed the small reddish area on her cheek where Michelle had slapped her. “You're just as weak as they are.”

“I'll show you weak.” Michelle raised her arm again, and this time Oscura backed up. This was probably the first time Michelle could recall seeing Oscura react in what was probably genuine fear of her. She immediately lowered her arm, feeling somewhat satisfied. “Why don't you leave?” She suggested. “I'll take things from here. It is clear you are too violent for this task.”

“Oh, but can't I tease them some more?” Oscura asked in a tone that was a mix between pleading and mocking.

Michelle shook her head. “No...”

Oscura laughed. It was like she thought that statement was some funny joke. In her almost joyful laughter, she said, “You never let me have any fun!” Her laugher died down to chuckling, and then calmed down to soft chortling. When she finally stopped, she folded her arms and glared at Michelle, a look of disappointment and disapproval on her face. “Seriously...” She said. “You never do...”

Michelle rolled her eyes. Oscura was pouting like a little child. Just goes to show that some people might mature physically, but they do not mature mentally. Oscura was a prime example of that immaturity. “Oh cry me a river.” She said mockingly. “You have your fun with me all the time.” She winced as she said that. Taken out of context, that would be the most disturbing thing she ever said to Oscura.

“Hmmph!” Oscura snorted and turned her back to Michelle. “I'll comply..this time. But only because I have more important things to do anyway.” She turned her head towards Michelle. “But mark my words, Michelle. I'll get back at you for this.”

“Bring it...” Michelle threatened as she watched Oscura disappear into the darkness. When Oscura was out of sight, her expression immediately softened and she turned her head towards the Dino Squad members. She knew she wasn't a welcome sight for them, but she somewhat believed that they would feel more comfortable with her than Oscura. After all, she was the least violent of the two.

“We meet again.” Michelle said, trying to start up some sort of conversation, although she knew it was not going to be a pleasant one. “Why are you here? Don't you know it's dangerous?”

“Save your lame attempts!” Buzz was the first one to speak up. He pointed an accusing finger at Michelle. “We aren't going to fall for them!”

“Fall for what?” Michelle asked innocently, smirking softly.

“Don't give me that look! You know what I'm talking about!” Buzz growled. He started to jab the finger he was pointing at Michelle in the air aggressively, as if he felt she didn't get his point the first time around.

Michelle flinched a bit, but remained standing where she was. This was going to prove a bit more difficult than she originally thought. But she would beat herself up if she expected them to accept her help right away. She would have been such a fool. She shifted her gaze across the room, catching glances from each person in the hallway. All of them had frowns on their faces. They were all staring at her. She felt a little nervous, but didn't allow it to overtake her.“Oh I know what you're talking about.” Michelle kept a straight face, holding her head high almost to mock him. “The question is, do you really know what you are talking about? Or is your brain as narrow as your mohawk?”

“You little lying creep!” Buzz raised an arm to punch Michelle. “How dare you!”

This time, no one stepped in to stop him. Either they wanted to see her get hurt or they were afraid to step in this time. Michelle suspected it was a mixture of both. More likely, they probably just wanted to see her suffer a little for her actions. The fist came lightning fast, but she moved with ease out of the way. Buzz's fist made contact with the cold hard wall. His eyes widened and he yelped in pain, pulling his hand back. As he shook it a few times, he looked up to see another fist. Michelle punched him in the throat. He gagged as he fell back on to the ground. Immediately Max and Rodger knelt down, looking concerned as they gripped each arm.

“Buzz!” Rodger cried.

“Ooh...” Buzz groaned in pain.

“Are you all right?” Max asked. He and Rodger gently pulled Buzz up to his feet, letting him use their bodies to support his weight.

Buzz glared at him as he yanked his arms from him and Rodger. “Of course I'm fine!” He seethed deep breaths through his teeth as he shifted his gaze towards Michelle. “But I know someone who won't be for very long...” He rubbed his jaw where Michelle had punched him, which had already started to bruise up a bit and become sore.

Michelle looked at Buzz in shock, as if she hadn't meant to strike him that hard. She took one look at her fist, then back at Buzz. Slowly she lowered her arm. She turned her back to them, something that may prove a mistake very quickly, and said, “Look, I don't have time to play with you right now.” She gave them a sideways glance. “If I were you, I'd get out of here before Victor arrives. Just go back the way you came.” Michelle started to walk away.

“No! We came here to free Caruso and we won't leave until we have him!” Max exclaimed.

Michelle stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened a bit, and she looked back at Max. “So you are willing to risk getting captured all for one person?”

“Well yes! That's what friends do!” Max told her in a partially confused tone. Why should his statement have confused her?

“But you probably don't understand, do you?” She heard Buzz say coldly. “You probably don't have any friends.”

Michelle widened her eyes and gasped silently at that statement. The hallway became completely silent except for the sounds of heavy breathing from herself and the soft breathing from the others around her. She took a couple steps back as if that one statement had inflicted some physical damage to her, had weakened her. But what would Buzz know? He doesn't know anything about her social life! She narrowed her eyes dangerously. How dare he make a judgment on her like that! How dare he question her ability to know what a friendship is!


	10. Risk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Michelle's lips curled back into a snarl. “You worthless, pathetic, idiotic, foolish brat!” She hissed as she started to advance towards Buzz. She held up a hand, the talons peaking through, glinting menacingly. “You don't know anything about me!” The claws from her other hand appeared as well. If she were a cat, her hair on the back of her neck would be standing on end.

The Dino Squad took a few steps back except for Buzz, who remained where he was, the claws on his hands unsheathing as well. He growled softly as he walked towards Michelle. The two teenagers locked eyes on one another. Buzz was determined to win this fight, if a fight should come. He was not going to allow Michelle to get the upper hand. He remembered how he was able to beat her in the online game. If he could do it there, why not in the real world? Because he didn't utilize the tricks he pulled in the game, that's why. If he could utilize them now, maybe he'd have a chance.

The teenagers, teeth bared and eyes glowing, began to circle each other like two lions ready to duel with one another. The Dino Squad took a few more steps back to give them fighting room. They dare not intervene. They knew this was Buzz's fight and that he wanted to fight alone. Michelle lowered her head and hissed, trying to intimidate Buzz. But the punk kid wasn't falling for it. In response, he opened up his arms, the wing membrane quickly growing to full length. He was making himself appear larger and more menacing. Eyes widened, Michelle gasped and took a step back. But she quickly recovered and proceeded to circle Buzz like a predator, and he did likewise.

Watching this unfold nervously, Fiona looked to Moynihan for reassurance. “Do you think he'll stand a chance? He was beaten last time...”

Moynihan placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “If he believes he can win, he will.” But she, herself, was wondering the same thing. Would Buzz win the fight this time? Only time will tell. The battle was about to start.

Baring their teeth at one another, the two teens suddenly leaped at each other. Bringing their arms forward and jaws opening wide, they clashed into each other, slashing at each other, dodging the other's blows. Michelle didn't know why she was doing this. This isn't what she wanted. But what could she do? She felt provoked and her dinosaur side accepted the challenge. She felt a little jealous of these kids. They seemed to have more control over their dinosaur form while she and Oscura had all but succumbed to some of the dinosaurian instincts. Her eyes widened as Buzz attempted to bite her arm. She dodged out of the way and then shoved him in the back when she got the chance.

Buzz slammed into the ground, down but not out. He immediately jumped back onto his feat and charged at Michelle, this time making his target. He grabbed onto her and pulled her onto the ground and pinned her. Michelle kicked her legs wildly, desperately trying to kick him in the stomach. Buzz gripped both her arms and held them firmly in place. He lowered his head so that his face was very close to hers. Michelle struggled for several more seconds before pausing, the two of them breathing heavily.

“It didn't have to be like this, you know.” Michelle said, trying to get Buzz off of her, desperately kicking at the air. “If you had just submitted to us earlier, you would have been taken somewhere and you would have gotten your friend back when...”

“When what?!” Buzz grabbed Michelle by the front of her shirt and lifted her up and then slammed her into the ground. Michelle's eyes closed tightly as she grunted painfully. “When your leader is through putting him through so much pain and torture?!” He slammed her into the ground again, visibly shaking in anger.

The Dino Squad watched on in horror. They weren't horrified by what was happening to Michelle exactly. It was the way Buzz was acting. He'd never acted this violent before. But then he had never been given a reason to do so. Back when he was being taunted by the bullies, he was tempted to go dino, but he'd only wanted to scare them. They taunted him yes. They tried to get him to change yes. But they never threatened his life or the life of any of his friends.

Fiona took a step back so that Moynihan was now standing closer to the battle than she was. Her hand was to her mouth as she watched the battle unfold in front of her. “This isn't like him...” She said, not believing what she was seeing. “Not like him at all...”

Moynihan narrowed her eyes, thinking the same thing. She hadn't trained her students to behave like this. They had only wanted to get information. And this wasn't the way to do it. Frowning in disappointment, she stepped forward, placing a hand on Rodger's shoulder and gently pushing him aside. “Buzz! Stop it! We must not waste time fighting!”

Buzz lifted up his head and stared at his mentor. “But, Professor Moynihan, she...!”

“No buts, Buzz! Get off of her!” Moynihan ordered, then quickly added. “Maybe you should let me handle it. I handled her partner just fine.”

Buzz groaned in disappointment and frustration, but complied. But as soon as he loosened his grip on Michelle, she retaliated. She slashed him on the shoulder and he cried out in pain. As he slammed into the ground, Michelle quickly got back up and ran backwards a little bit to give herself some room. Buzz glanced at the blood seeping from the claw marks on his shoulders. He placed his hand gently on his shoulder, wincing at the stinging pain he felt. He pulled his hand back and saw redness on his head. He looked back at the claw marks and noticed they were very close to his neck. Eyes glowing, he snarled at Michelle.

“You scoundrel! You tried to have me killed!” Buzz clamored.

“No! I was just defending myself!” Michelle tried to explained.

“Liar!” Buzz shouted back.

Buzz got up off the ground and, forgetting what Moynihan had told him, charged at Michelle. Michelle yelped in surprise and managed to get out of the way just in time. She would have attacked him from behind again, but Buzz grew wise to her sneak attack. Buzz whirled around and grabbed Michelle's arm and threw her into the wall. Shaking her head, she fought back, dashing towards Buzz and the two interlocked their fingers as they tried to shove each other into the ground. Moynihan frowned and slowly shook her head. And all the Dino Squad could do during the fight was watch.

“I can't believe this... I just can't believe it.” Amanda paced uneasily in a constant line in front of her husband. The couple were still at the lighthouse. While the kids were gone, Jack had worked on Moynihan's ankle. Being a football player for years, he had learned a thing or two about how to treat minor injuries such as sprained ankles. Once he was finished with mending her leg, he had given her some strong pain killers. They had worked wonders for him in the past and felt she could use them too. Within a short period of time, she felt well enough to go after the kids.

Amanda and Jack had volunteered to go with, but Joanne had turned them down. She insisted that it was her responsibility to protect the kids, and promised them she'd bring them home safe and sound. When Amanda said that she shouldn't go alone, Moynihan said that Rump was going to go with her. She had asked the young couple to keep an eye on the lighthouse in case Victor decided to come back. She had also wanted them there to make sure the light was still working. It was dark and sometimes ships come by this way.

Amanda felt frustrated that Joanne wouldn't let them go with her. She might have been their mentor, but she was a parent. She felt she had every right to go. It wasn't just Joanne's responsibility. It was hers as well. Irwin was her son for crying out loud! If anyone should be risking their life to save him, it should be her! Jack frowned softly, feeling concerned for his wife. He hated seeing her like this. He felt the same frustration, though, when Moynihan wouldn't let them come with. He did think that it was for the best, but he didn't completely understand why she wouldn't want their help. But there was nothing he could do about it now except try to comfort his wife. He placed an arm around her.

“Amanda, dear?” Jack spoke softly, stopping her in her tracks. He gently pulled her close to him. “Are you all right?” He knew that was a stupid question. He'd already know the answer. But he just wanted to comfort her, to try and make her feel better.

Amanda glared at her husband and roughly shoved him away. “No, I'm not okay! Our baby's out there, going through who knows what kind of torture, and we can't even do anything about it! That stupid teacher wouldn't let us come, so all we can do is sit in this stupid lighthouse, watching the time tick by, and having no idea what's going on! All we can do is sit here and wait for them to come back!”

“Amanda, we...” Jack started to say, but was interrupted by his wife.

“Oh shut up! What have you done to help?! The only help you gave was trying to set up that computer! Oh a fine job you did on that! If it weren't for you, we would have found Irwin a lot sooner! This is all your fault!” Amanda snarled, jabbing a finger at her husband.

Jack was stunned, at a loss of words. He took a step back. “Amanda...” He spoke softly.

The woman suddenly realized what she just said, and closed her eyes. “I-I'm sorry, Jack.. I didn't mean it...” Amanda started to cry, feeling both depressed about their son's possible state and ashamed that she had put the blame on her husband. She understood that it was no one's fault, but she couldn't help but find someone to blame, someone she could direct her anger towards.

“Shhh...” Jack gently wrapped his arms around his wife's shaking body. “It's okay...”

Amanda buried her head into his shoulder. “It...It just isn't fair.. Why Irwin?” She asked him even though he'd have no answer for her. “Why our little boy?”

Jack was at a loss of words. What was he going to say? What could he possibly say that could make her feel better? He hugged her tighter, feeling her tears stain his shirt. All Amanda needed right now was comfort, someone to let her know she wasn't in this alone. He placed his chin on top of her head and sighed deeply. “Everything will be all right..you'll see...” He said, trying to sound confident. But not even he was sure in his own words. What if he was wrong?

“I-I-I sure h-hope so...” Amanda managed to choke out between sobs. “I just want our son back...” Amanda opened her eyes a little and glanced back at the door. She expected that, any second, the Dino Squad would come through the door. She was hoping that they were going to say that he was all right, that he was going to live. But part of her couldn't help but fear that they will only bring her bad news. What if they got there too late and he was already dead? She closed her eyes tightly again and turned away. Jack looked at her sympathetically.

“Yeah...” Jack replied. “Me too.”

* * *

Peter groaned in pain. He was in a hospital room, laying in a bed. A white sheet was laid over him to try and keep him warm in the slightly chilly room. He had white bandages wrapped around his torso and chest where his ribs were broken and one of his arms, the right one, was in a cast and held up in the air by a sling. He closed his eyes and started to think about what had just happened to him and what he was going to do now. He couldn't go back to Victor, not now. And he felt a tinge of fear at the thought of returning. What if Victor ate him for failing him?

No, that couldn't happen, could it? He had called Victor up and told him what happened. Victor had assured him he thought of a second plan in case this one had failed. He had thanked him for the information and even told him to come back to Raptor Dyne once his arm had healed. For a second, Peter had thought Victor had genuinely cared about him, but knew this wasn't the case. Victor was only interested in seeing him heal so that he could come back to work to either give him his punishment or make him work on another project with him.

Why had he joined up with Victor? Sometimes Peter almost forgets his true motive for joining up with Victor. It was simply for a chance at revenge. But was it really worth all this? Had he taken the right path? Victor had taken him in. He had given him a job, and had given him a chance to get back at the other company for what they did to him. If it had not been for Victor, Peter would probably be homeless now, unable to support anyone, let alone himself. He did owe a lot to Victor and working for him was his way of paying him back. He had even allowed the man to inject dinosaur DNA into him, thus making him one of his men. Victor trusted him.

But was this truly worth it all? He glanced up at his arm. For a moment, he began to doubt himself and the decisions he had made. If he hadn't been with Victor, he might not have gotten himself into this situation. He might not have broken his arm and ended up in the hospital. They told him the arm wouldn't heal for weeks, which was typical of broken bones. And he'd already become a public enemy when he strode through the highway like that. He wasn't sure if he'd accidentally killed anybody on his way to the lighthouse.

Peter narrowed his eyes as he thought of the lighthouse. No, it wasn't because of his decision to join Victor that he was in this mess. It was because of the Dino Squad. They were the ones who tripped him and caused him to fall down, thus breaking his leg. This was their doing. It felt like an insult when one of them dropped him off here. They said it was just because they don't want to kill him, but he believed it was because they wanted to hurt his pride. An enemy being helped by the same enemy that hurt him? What an insult!

He looked over at the IV fluid pouch hanging near him. A needle was attached to his arm, inside a vein, nourishing his body as he laid on the white bed. He looked up at the TV and picked up the black remote. Holding it up towards the TV, hoping it would calm his nerves, and pressed a button. With a flicker, the TV turned on, the light starting to illuminate the dark room since the lights were out. There weren't many channels in this hospital, but they at least had the weather channel. For some reason the weather channel had always seemed to calm him. Maybe it was the music or the blue and white coloration in the background. Unfortunately the remote the hospital provided had no numeric pad. Instead he had to press Channel Up and Channel Down in order to switch stations.

As he started to change the channel to get to the weather station, he caught a glimpse of something big and gray on one of the news stations. His eyes widened and he quickly switched it back. There was a red banner across the bottom that read 'Dinosaur Attacks Highway'. Apparently some people had video cameras and managed to get the footage to the newscasters. The footage being displayed included several shots of a large Apatosaurus stomping into the ground, attacking that father and son, and knocking back a car or so. There were a couple glimpses of the lighthouse in the shots as well, but the main focus was the huge gray dinosaur.

And while the footage was being displayed, a few news reporters got on and began to discuss the situation. There was some debate on whether or not this was real, some kind of cruel prank, or the work of terrorists. One of them believed that this dinosaur was real and was transported here from the past. He began talking about the end of the world and such, which drove the other reporters nuts. One suspected the Apatosaurus was a robot and being controlled by some terrorist and yet another believes that it was just special effects for some movie and the creators were just having fun. None of them could reach a conclusion although they all expressed concern for the public's safety. They deemed this creature, whatever it was, to be a menace and to be avoided at all costs if it was seen again. The higher authorities would handle the creature should it appear again and get to the bottom of this.

Clenching the remote tightly, Peter seethed through his teeth, trying to keep himself calm. Getting angry right now probably wasn't a good idea. He still has to heal and that will take time. He lifted up the remote and pressed the button roughly, shutting the TV off. He tossed the remote away in anger, nearly knocking over the glass of water next to his bed. Great, now this was all over the news and everyone in the city was bound to have heard of it. The only good news is that know one except Victor and his fellow co-workers knew it was him. The bad news is that now he can't risk transforming into a dinosaur again because the police will be on his tail.

Peter wasn't the only one who had seen the news. He hadn't heard the footsteps approaching his room. He hadn't heard the door open up. He only took notice when someone flipped the switch on and suddenly the room was lit up. Peter flinched and covered his eyes, which have adjusted to the darkness in the room. He turned his head angrily towards the door. “Hey! Be careful, I...” He stopped when he realized who it was. “Zoom O'Donnell? What are you doing here?”

“What?” Asked the man leaning against the door frame. “Can't I visit an old friend?” He chuckled and walked into the room. The man wore a light beige shirt that buttoned up the middle of the front. He wore rectangle-shaped glasses that sat on his face. His hair was slightly curly and blond in coloration. On his chin was a small and short blond goatee. He also wore light blue jeans and around his shoulder he carried a brown bag which carried his equipment along with more personal belongings.

“Well..yes.. but...” Peter rubbed the back of his head with his unbroken left arm. “I just didn't expect to see you here is all.”

Zoom smiled at that and looked up at the television. While the screen was black now, he had already seen the news and had seen the dinosaur that was rampaging the streets. He chuckled a few times, arms folded. He shook his head and turned over at Peter, a sly smile on his face. “You really put up a show.”

Peter smiled back, not fully realizing what Zoom had just said. “Yeah I guess I...” Then it dawned on him. “What?!” He looked at his old friend in shock. “You knew I was the Apatosaurus?!” He exclaimed.

At this statement, Zoom threw his head back and laughed as if this was just some big joke. Wiping a way a tear that came from his eye during the laughter, he walked a little closer to his friend, not taking his eyes off of him. “You know you can't keep a secret from me, Peter, old pal.” When he reached the side of Peter's bed, he continued, “I have my ways.”

Peter cocked an eyebrow suspiciously. “Oh yeah? What kind of ways?”

“Magical.” Zoom said, laughing at his own joke. Peter, on the other hand, didn't seem to find anything funny about what he had just said. Zoom's laughter died down quickly. “Okay, not really. I was riding by when I saw you transform. You almost squashed me!” He frowned.

Peter gasped in horror. “I did? I'm sorry! I didn't hurt you did I?” He began to scan Zoom's body with his eyes and tried to find anything wrong with him. A bruise, a scratch, anything, but found nothing.

Zoom's frown faded into a smile. “Oh of course not! I got out of the way just in time.” His face turned serious again. He pulled out a chair that was close by and sat down on it. He folded his arms once again, looking just slightly miffed. “Peter..why didn't you tell me you could turn into a dinosaur?” He didn't know why Peter never told him.

Peter frowned and turned away. “It was my first time... And Victor told me not to tell anyone outside the team.”

Upon the mention of Victor, Zoom's expression turned to anger. He remembered how Victor had turned him down when the photo he tried to give to him was switched because of some crazy punk child. Victor never would let him hear his side of the story. The billionaire found it hard to believe any child could be smart enough to pull that kind of trick without anyone noticing. And Victor himself had not even seen any of the children in the area and didn't believe they could have been wandering about otherwise he would have seen them.

“Victor?” Zoom asked calmly. “You work for Victor?” A nod came from Peter. “Man, it really has been a long time since we last talked.”

Peter smiled. “Yeah it has. Just a couple years.”

“So...let me guess. Victor is a dinosaur too?” Zoom asked out of the blue.

Peter's eyes widened. “How did you know?”

Zoom chortled. “Call it a lucky guess. So...does he try to hunt down those dinosaurs that have been appearing all over the news?” Peter nodded again. “I'm not surprised. A dinosaur hunting dinosaurs. Makes perfect sense...I suppose...” From the sound of his voice, Zoom was trying to accept this new information but was having a hard time believing it.

“Look..I wasn't supposed to tell anyone else this but...” Peter felt reluctant to spill to beans to his friend. He had no ties in with Raptor Dyne. He was just a photographer who had a bad run-in with Victor in the past. “...Victor is really a Velociraptor. Yeah, it sounds crazy doesn't it? But it's true. And he has this crazy idea of trying to bring back the reign of the dinosaurs. He's obsessed with ending mankind and letting the superior dinosaurs rule the planet once more.”

Zoom took a step backwards. “What?!” He gasped. “Why would you work for someone like that?”

“...It has good pay.” Peter said, smiling a little. Zoom didn't see the humor in it and Peter's smile dropped. “And he invited me to join the dominant species. He promised me power.”

Zoom closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. He was still in denial of what his friend had been doing these past few years. The Peter he had known wouldn't have succumbed to this. He would not have joined a madman like Victor. But then again, Zoom did start to believe that, if he were in Peter's shoes when Victor offered the job, he would have said yes too. Zoom would have been in it for the money. He would do anything for money, including allowing a celebrity to get hurt. He recalled how he had let a dolphin prop fall onto that celebrity, Kristy, just so he could get a good shot to get a lot of money for. He might have succeeded too if it weren't for that darn dinosaur that had shown up. That was odd, though, as he thought about it. How did a Spinosaurus get in so quickly and without breaking down any of the walls?

Peter gave a sigh. “Look, I'm..sorry I didn't tell you any of this sooner. I would have, but Dr. Veloci is very strict on who is allowed to know and who isn't. He isn't ready for the world to know the truth. He wants to keep it a secret.”

Zoom asked, “Why? Something like this won't stay a secret for very long I can guarantee you.”

“He doesn't want the authorities after him.” Peter explained. “Think about it. If everyone knew he was a Velociraptor, he would be hunted down and his mission will fail. Everyone who worked for him will be arrested and prosecuted.”

Zoom nodded, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm...good point.”

“And things are only made more complicated by this Dino Squad that keeps interfering with the plans!” Peter quickly realized he had said too much and covered his mouth, hoping his friend hadn't heard him. “I mean...”

This had caught Zoom's interest. He leaned in closer to his friend. “Dino Squad? Who is the..what are the... Dino Squad?” He asked awkwardly, trying to find the right words to say, trying to find the right way to word the sentences. “Are they the dinosaurs I've been seeing on the news? Those five?”

Knowing that he couldn't convince Zoom otherwise, Peter gave in. “Yeah... They had interfered with a lot of plans in the past. There have been times that the plan almost works, and then they appear and prevent it from succeeding. They have at first fascinated Victor and later angered him. He wants to capture them.” Peter was happy that he was in the hospital now. Victor couldn't watch him inside this room. “And recently we discovered that these dinosaurs were really children with the power to transform into dinosaurs at will.”

“Kids?” O'Donnell blinked in confusion. “Those five dinosaurs are really children?”

“Teenagers most likely.” Peter explained. “From Kittery High.”

Zoom's eyes widened. “Kittery High?” He suddenly had a suspicion that he had met these kids before.

“Yes. We discovered the identity of the Stegosaurus to be Irwin Caruso.” Peter responded. “And chances are the other four dinosaurs are teenagers that are students at Kittery High.”

Now that Zoom thought about it, the times he had seen the dinosaurs he had seen some teenagers in particular close by. And it was the same anywhere he had seen these dinosaurs. He had not encountered them many times. He could only remember three times he had seen the dinosaurs. And each time he saw the same five teenagers nearby as well. Was it a coincidence? Or were they and the dinosaurs one and the same?

If they were the same, then maybe this could be his chance at revenge. He didn't really have a good reason to get revenge on the kids, but he didn't really care. Maybe he could offer his services to Victor. “I think I know who the other kids are.”

“I've seen them.” Peter said. “I know what they look like.”

Zoom tilted his head. “Oh you do? All of them?”

Peter suddenly winced as he felt a pain shoot up his leg. How could he possibly forget those kids after this happened to him? Through bared teeth, he said through his pain, “Yes! Do you think I'd forget the ones who broke my leg?!”

Zoom's eyes widened a bit. “You mean those kids were the ones who did this to you?” The photographer asked, nervously feeling the strap on his shoulder.

Peter nodded once. “Yeah...they did. They tripped me and caused me to break my leg. Then they threatened me if I didn't tell them what they wanted...” He covered his mouth, realizing too late that he had said too much. He'd already revealed enough information. He didn't want to drag his friend into this situation.

“Information?” Zoom cocked an eyebrow. “What kind of information would a couple of brats like them want?”

Peter turned his head away and closed his eyes. “I'm sorry. But I'm not allowed to reveal that information.”

“Why not?” Zoom asked.

“You're not part of the team. That's why.” Peter answered him without looking back. He heard the scratching sound of the chair being scooted a little closer. But he didn't look back. He half wished that the photographer would get up and walk away and leave him alone. Zoom shouldn't get involved in this. It is too dangerous for a simple photographer. What hope would he have against dinosaurs?

Zoom smiled softly and leaned back in his chair. “If that's all that it takes then..count me in.”

Eyes wide with fear and shock, Peter whirled around fast, but still careful due to his broken arm, and stared at Zoom in disbelief. Was he joking? For a few seconds, Peter couldn't find the words to say. He constantly stammered as he struggled to say something, anything. But only gibberish came out. Zoom tilted his head a little in confusion at his friend's stammering. He had thought Peter would be happy to hear he wanted to help him.

“What's wrong? I thought you would be glad I wanted to join you.” Zoom asked, frowning slightly but not in an angry way.

Peter finally found his voice. “W-Well..y-yeah I am..but...”

“But what?” Zoom asked.

“Well...it's just that...” Peter stammered. “I-It is too dangerous for you. I mean..you are a photographer and, no offense intended, but I don't think a photographer stands a chance at capturing dinosaurs and...quite frankly, I don't know if you'll be able to handle working under Victor's control. It ain't easy and there's the constant threat of being eaten.”

“If I can survive being threatened by guards and celebrities as well as being nearly attacked by a Spinosaurus,” Zoom said with confidence, “I'm sure I can survive threats from a Velociraptor. I mean, how bad could it be?”

“Zoom...” Peter said in a serious tone, eyes narrowed a little. “Many of the workers have disappeared when they had disappointed Victor greatly. While some were simply dismissed, others were eaten. I've seen it too.” He shuddered at the thought. He could still hear the bones cracking and the meat being ripped off the bone.

Zoom's smile faded and he looked towards the ground. He started to reconsider his idea of joining with Victor. He did feel confident enough that he would be able to avoid getting eaten. He still wanted a chance at revenge. But would it be worth it? Those kids...was it worth it to try and go after them? They were young and naive. Maybe it wouldn't be fair to punish them. His eyes narrowed. But they did ruin his chance at getting thousands of dollars. But that kid...why had he wanted the photograph back? So what if Kristy's reputation at stake? So what if one person is hurt? He didn't understand why the boy cared so much about someone he knew so little about.

And of course those brats had hurt his best friend. He and Peter had been friends since middle school. They had went to the same classes together and they helped each other with their subjects. Even then, Zoom had displayed his cockiness and his willingness to hurt others for money. He'd been doing it for years. It was how he was raised. He was taught that good guys always finish last. The thought of a group of juvenile idiots hurting his childhood friend was enough to make him seethe. And the fact they had gotten in his way in the past only made him angrier. He wanted revenge and he had an idea on how to do it.

“I'm sorry, Peter, but I made up my mind.” Zoom said as he got up from his seat. He started to reach into his bag, searching for one particular object.

“What are you doing, Zoom?” Peter asked, trying to sit up with his unbroken arm.

Zoom pulled out his cellphone. “What do you think?” He popped it open. “I'm going to call Victor. I'm going to offer my services.”

Peter's eyes widened. “You can't do that!”

Zoom looked at the number pad on his phone and then frowned softly. “You're right..I can't.” He turned to Peter. “What is his cellphone number?”

“Victor doesn't like to be disturbed and...” Peter tried to say but was cut off by Zoom.

“I don't care.” Zoom said. “Just give me his phone number...please. I have an idea that he might be interested. I know I am.”

“What idea?” Peter asked carefully, unsure if he truly wanted to know what Zoom had in mind.

“A way to get even with the kids.” Zoom grinned deviously. “You and I already want revenge on them, am I right?”

“Yes but...a simple prank, Victor's not going to be interested in that.” Peter tried to explain. “He's interested in capturing them.”

Zoom chuckled in a slightly dark tone. “That's what I am talking about! Should I elaborate?” Peter nodded a couple times slowly. But the expression on his face told Zoom he is going to need some convincing. And Peter was sometimes difficult to convince completely. Zoom smiled. He could use the challenge. “You already know that I'm a professional photographer and that I edit all my shots to..spice them up. They are convincing except to those with a sharp eye for detail.” He set his cellphone on the table and reached in to grab his camera and held it with pride. “This camera has done wonders for me. It gives me clear shots of anything I want and I can edit them just like that.”

Peter still wasn't convinced. “So you can edit a few pictures. How is that going to impress Victor?”

“I'm getting to that.” Zoom was a little annoyed at being interrupted like that. But he shrugged it off. He turned his attention back to his camera. “With this, I have been able to fool people into thinking that Kristy girl was something she was not. It was very easy too. Just a few minor tweaks...” He traced the outline of the lens with a finger. He remembered how some teacher had walked up to him and broke it. She said it was an accident, but he believed it was on purpose. He pondered if she was the kids' leader. “So if I can edit people, why can't I edit dinosaurs?” He saw Peter's eyes widened with interest. “For example, I could very easily make it look like those dinosaurs caused certain disasters that have happened.”

“But...except for that incident that I caused,” Peter tried to explain, “There hasn't been anything significant enough to...”

“Then we can create some.” Zoom said slyly. “Maybe plant a bomb or two..nothing big, just enough to cause some damage, and frame the dinosaurs for it.”

“And then what? Have the police chase after them?” Peter asked.

“Precisely.” Zoom responded.

“But...Victor wants them. He doesn't want some stupid cop to track down 'his' dinosaurs.” Peter explained. “I don't think that plan will work.”

“Oh it will.” Zoom said in a voice full of confidence and arrogance. “If Victor tells the police to turn the perfect dinosaurs over to him.”

“That's...” Peter began to say, but trailed off, a little unwilling to finish the sentence for fear of upsetting his friend.

“...stupid? Not exactly. Victor's a billionaire right? A powerful business man. I'm sure he would be able to strike some sort of deal with the cops. After all...” Zoom leaned in a bit. “..money is the most powerful thing on this planet, is it not?”

Peter sighed. Zoom had him right there. Money was powerful and he had heard of police doing certain things just because someone paid them too. It was common in crime, or so he has heard. “You have a good point there...” He said finally, not sure what else to say to convince his friend otherwise. His plan just might work anyway.

Zoom nodded. “So...will you give me his phone number now?” He asked, looking at his friend expectantly. Why should he refuse to do it now after he was apparently convinced by his plan?

Peter lowered his head in defeat. “Fine..I'll give it to you.” He said reluctantly. He told Zoom Victor's cellphone number. After he did that, he added one more thing. “Don't call him right now. It's still early and Victor is probably asleep.”

Zoom closed his cellphone and put it away. “Thanks for the number. And what guest? You mean one of the kids?” Peter nodded. “So he caught one of them already? Which one?”

“The Stegosaurus. Caruso.” Peter told him. “He's being held at a hide out near Boston.”

“What of the green-haired kid?” Zoom asked with particular interest. “I have a bone to pick with him.”

“Why?” Peter asked.

“It's..personal.” Zoom said softly. “It's nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

“I see...” Peter said softly. He looked down. “Well anyway, Victor wanted Caruso for some experiments, in case you are wondering. He is subjected Caruso to different types of weapons and mutantsaurs.”

“Mutantsaurs?” Zoom O'Donnell asked curiously. “What are mutantsaurs?”

“They're dinosaur mutants.” Peter explained. “You might have seen some. They have a dinosaur-like appearance, although many of them still have some resemblance to a modern day animal. Victor has mutated a lot of animals with his primordial ooze.” Seeing Zoom's confused expression, Peter continued, “It's a glowing orange slime-like substance that mutants animal and plant life upon contact. It doesn't hurt and the change happens almost instantly. So far he has yet to perfect it and most of the experiments turn out to be just mutations, not the pure thing.”

“And what of those dinosaurs?” Zoom asked. “They don't look like any kind of mutation. They looked like completely dinos. How did Victor manage to get that?”

“That's just it...” Peter said, shaking his head slowly. “We don't know. It's even a mystery how I was able to get a full dinosaur form. That batch is long gone and Victor and no one else can't remember what was exactly in it. And Victor hasn't come up with a reason for why those five teens were able to get pure dinosaur forms instead of just mutants.”

“I see...” Zoom said, scratching his goatee thoughtfully.

“Although he does believe he knows why they have control over their dinosaur forms and be able to change in and out at will, just like he can.” Peter said, trying to lean up again but not being able to completely support himself with one arm. “He believes that Joanne Moynihan had given them that ability.”

“Joanne Moynihan? Who is that?” Zoom asked.

“She's apparently a teacher at Kittery Point. Victor believes she discovered that the kids were contaminated with dinosaur DNA and had helped them.”

Zoom narrowed his eyes slightly. “I think we have met... She destroyed my other expensive camera.”

“I'm...sorry to hear that.” Peter said, trying to sound sympathetic, although he personally didn't care about that camera. Zoom had a few more just like it. “Anyway, Victor and Joanne were..are both Velociraptors I should say, who had developed new abilities during their sixty-five million year old slumber. Victor had not only acquired the ability to turn into a human; he had also gained the ability to transfer the ability of self-control to another. To explain, he can, just by touching someone infected with dinosaur DNA, give them the ability to control that form. He believes Moynihan had gotten that same ability.”

“Just by touching them? How? That seems far fetched.” Zoom said, eyes narrowed in disbelief. “How could he possibly do that?”

“I don't know, but it worked before.” Peter said. “Victor had helped two teens control their dinosaur form. Before you say anything, they aren't any of the five teens I mentioned before. They're different. Victor found them and recruited them.”

Zoom stared at Peter for a few seconds before slamming his face with the palm of his hand. “So...let me get this straight.” He said, trying to sound calm. But in reality he was a bit frustrated and in disbelief. “There has been eight people who had gotten complete dinosaur forms. There's you, those five teenagers, and now two more. Am I right?” He asked Peter, who responded with a nod. “Okay, so, how is it that Victor still hasn't perfected this primordial ooze?”

“He needed a DNA sample, so he had been hunting those five particular dinosaurs and...” Peter said.

“And..why didn't he just use you? Or those two new recruits of his?” Zoom said, arms lifted in the air to emphasize his disbelief. “That would have been a lot easier than chasing down five big dinosaurs, wouldn't it?”

Peter slowly shook his head. “Victor didn't know they were teenagers for quite some time. The entire team actually, not just Victor, thought they were full blown dinosaurs that just had a habit of being able to disappear and move fast. Victor only recently discovered they were teenagers.”

“Still, he could have used your DNA or those two recruits you mentioned earlier. Why hadn't he thought of doing that? I thought Victor was supposed to be brilliant. But so far, no offense, he's turning out to be very...ignorant.” Zoom said, not looking very impressed with what he's heard of Victor now. “I apologize if I'm upsetting you.” He noticed that Peter didn't look particularly happy with him and felt a little guilty about saying what he had.

“No...” Peter said after a few moments of silence. “It's okay. You are right. There are times when Victor doesn't seem too bright.”

“Oh? Like when?” Zoom asked.

“Like the time he caught all five of the dinosaurs but was was tricked into letting them go.” Peter explained, recalling what he had heard from Victor and from the recent discoveries. “Victor had some of his men go after the dinosaurs and, well...” He scratched the back of his head as he leaned back down into his hospital bed. “I'm not entirely sure of all the details. But apparently they had managed to catch all the dinosaurs in that cage. But when Victor arrived, there were only teenagers. It didn't dawn on him at the time that those teens were dinosaurs. And he let them go.”

Zoom shook his head. “So he wasn't able to put two and two together huh? That's sad...” He had second thoughts on joining Victor now. If he couldn't even see through a simple trick like that, how could he trust him to get anything right? Well he did manage to capture one of the teens. That's it though. Just one. “It seems like he can't do anything right.”

“Well it was only a few times. And many of his plans would have worked if it weren't for this Dino Squad showing up all the time.” Peter attempted to defend Victor. “And so far this current plan, from my understanding, is turning out pretty well. He tricked Moynihan into revealing her location using her own trick. He put forth a plan that allowed one of his two dinosaur recruits into the lair and destroy their equipment so that, when he would take Caruso the next day, they wouldn't be able to find him. And when the Dino Squad found a new tracking equipment and Victor realized they would be coming to Boston, he set up a trap for them there, from what he had told me.”

Zoom nodded his head, smiling a bit, impressed. Maybe Victor wasn't completely stupid after all. He really thought ahead with that plan. He anticipated they would try to search for Caruso and took care of their equipment before he'd capture Caruso. And when the plan was nearly ruined when the kids found a tracking device, he turned it into his advantage and had a trap set up for the kids for when they got to Boston. That was impressive, very impressive. Maybe Victor could be a big help after all.

“Hmm..interesting.” Zoom said thoughtfully. He then looked down at a new watch he had gotten. He gasped as he saw the time. “I'm late!” He never specified just what he was late for, though. He placed the cellphone back in the bag and started towards the door. He glanced back at his bed-ridden friend. “See you later, buddy. And thanks for the number! I'll give Victor a call when I get back to my apartment.”

“All right then.” Peter raised up his arm to wave goodbye. “You're welcome. Goodbye. Oh and good luck!” With that, Zoom disappeared out of the door, shutting it behind him. Peter was once again alone in the room. He sighed, and turned the television back on. “Maybe there'll be something good on this time.”

* * *

Unbenownst to him, outside his room in the hallway, someone was listening in on him. It was Kista, the same woman who was talking to Donald and Michael earlier that night. When Zoom came out of the room, she quickly hid behind the door so he wouldn't see her. She didn't know completely why Victor wanted her to see Peter. She knew that he wanted her to inform him of some new details and that he also wanted information from him. But she didn't see the point in this little mission. She was growing agitated. When Victor had told her about the Dino Squad her interest was peaked, and she felt further teased as she heard Zoom and Peter talking about them. Though honestly she was not expecting Zoom. Heck, she wasn't even expected him to offer his services, let alone try to call Victor himself. She smirked slyly to herself. Why should she care anyway? It was his funeral. It's not her fault he doesn't know Victor doesn't like getting interrupted at important times.

She was about to turn the knob on the door when she heard, or rather, felt her cellphone vibrating. She had the sound off and the vibrator on. It annoys her sometimes when she's trying to do something, such as now. But it pays off several times because the muffled sound hides her position. Had it run, the ring tone would have surely been heard by Peter and he would be on alert. For her job, she must keep the element of surprise, to only let other see her when she wants them to see her. If she failed in that, well..she didn't want to think about it.

Groaning softly, she pulled out her cellphone and looked at who was calling. She narrowed her eyes. She didn't recognize the number. But judging from the area code, it looked like someone from Maine. Thinking nothing of it, she shrugged and opened up the cell phone and spoke into the device. “Hello?” A voice on the other line, sounding masculine, seemed desperate and was different things that didn't make much sense to Kista. She narrowed her eyes. “I think you have the wrong phone number.” The person on the other side asked what her name was. She rolled her eyes. “It doesn't matter what my name is. The thing is I have some important things to discuss with a co-worker of mine and our boss, Dr. Veloci, won't tolerate...”

She had to plug her other ear as the person on the other end suddenly, out of nowhere, started screaming at her. She had to stifle a yelp of pain as her ears started to ring even after the person stopped yelling. “What is your problem?” Kista said as she recovered her voice. “I did nothing wrong!” Then it became clear to her as the man continued to speak, more calmly but still in a harsh tone. “Oh..so you're the little brat's father.” She said in a taunting tone, chuckling. “Well you'll probably be glad to know that I am taking no part in whatever fate your son will face or has already faced. But...” Kista was in a rather evil mood in that moment. “...that may change later on.” With that, before the man could yell back at her, she shut the phone and reached for the door knob. She intended on having a word with Peter, just as Victor had instructed her.

* * *

Back at the lighthouse, Jack slammed the phone back onto his hook. He used such force he thought he nearly broke it. His wife was standing next to him, hand on his shoulder. It took him a few minutes before he had settled down enough to look at her. But his face was still etched in anger and pain. Amanda moved her hand away from him, afraid that she was just making him angrier.

Amanda was growing increasingly worried as the minutes passed by and no one returned to the lighthouse. Jack had tried to calm her down, but she wouldn't settle down until she was sure Irwin was safe. But there was no way to know that unless they called up someone on the team and ask them. That was a huge risk however. If they called at the wrong time, like when they were fighting or something, it could be disastrous. But Amanda felt it was worth the risk to at least know Irwin might be all right. Jack eventually gave in and tried to call Moynihan. But he had somehow gotten the wrong number.

“Jack...? What's wrong? What did she say?” Amanda asked cautiously.

“Oh it was a she all right...” Jack seethed. “But it sure wasn't Professor Moynihan...”

“Then..who could it have been?” Amanda pondered, thinking to herself. They had gotten Moynihan's number and it wasn't like her husband to dial incorrectly.

“I don't know.” Jack replied, still angry. “But whoever it was, they claimed to be working for Victor.” This caught Amanda's attention, who immediately snapped her head in his direction. “She also claimed to be not responsible for whatever happens to our son, but...” He sighed. “..she also said that this could change...her being responsible that is, for whatever else may come.”

Amanda placed her hand against her mouth and gasped. “Oh Jack...” She wanted to hug him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She glanced back at the paper, eyes narrowed. Could Moynihan have given them the wrong number on purpose? And if so, why? What purpose would there have been? What kind of motive would she have had? She had never given her a reason for her to doubt her in the past and she seemed genuinely concerned about Irwin's capture. No, Moynihan could not have done this on purpose. It just didn't add up.

She picked up the piece of paper that had the numbers written down. She took a careful look at the one for Moynihan's cell phone. She noticed something that neither of them did before. There was some sort of black smudge over two of the numbers. They looked like eraser shavings. She dusted them away carefully with her fingers and looked at the number again. Her eyes widened as it became apparent what happened. The smudge marks had disguised two of the numbers as something else. And those two small changes were enough for them to get someone different entirely when they would dial that number.

“Jack, you had dialed the wrong number.” Amanda told him, still holding up the paper in her hand.

“Thank you for stating the obvious.” Jack replied somewhat bitterly.

“Do you want to try again?” Amanda held the paper towards him, this time with the correct number.

Jack looked at the paper and frowned. He closed his eyes and turned away. He slowly shook his head. “I'm sorry..no. I don't want to take the chance of being wrong again. What if I accidentally call Dr. Veloci next?”

Amanda put the paper down and reached out towards her husband. Her hand gently caressed his face. “What should we do then?”

Jack looked at her and placed his large hand on hers. “Exactly what we were doing before.” He gently squeezed her hand. “We wait.”

* * *

Michelle grunted in pain as she slammed against the wall of the hallway. She slid down onto the floor, eyes closed tightly in pain. Buzz had just slammed her against the wall by grabbing her arm and throwing her. The fight had gone on for about five to ten minutes, or maybe it had not. She couldn't remember how long they were fighting exactly. But it was fierce. She had to admit it. Buzz was stronger than she had originally thought. He had started to use some of the stuff he used in the online game against her such as luring her to a certain place and letting her trip herself. She admitted that was clever but still got up to fight.

She had grown tired of fighting. She was starting to wear out and as she looked over her injuries, many of which were bleeding mildly, she wasn't sure how much longer she would last in the fight. And her strength was starting to fail her. As she struggled to her feet, she only slipped back down. She groaned lightly and looked up. Buzz was standing over her, piercing glowing eyes staring down at her, waiting for her to make her next move.

Michelle stared back, baring her teeth in defense, thinking Buzz was going to attack her any second now. She tried again to get up, but Buzz hissed loudly, showing his claws to her. She gasped and pushed her back against the wall in an attempt to get away, although it would be useless. And much to her displeasure, the remaining Dino Squad seemed to have sensed the fight was over. They came over to assist Buzz. They circled around her, blocking any escape path. Michelle looked around her, desperately trying to find some way to get away from there. She felt her heart racing and it was going so fast she almost thought it was going to explode.

“Give it up.” Buzz said, sensing who had won this fight. “It's over.”

Michelle darted her eyes left and right, scanning the environment around her. But it didn't take her long to realize she was indeed trapped. She could go dino, but there wasn't a lot of room in the hallway and it could probably hinder her escape even further. Not to mention it would probably cause the Dino Squad to believe she really was against them and that wouldn't do her, or Caruso, any favors. She sighed in defeat and lowered her head, eyes closed.

“...all right. I give up.” Without looking up, Michelle asked, “..what do you want from me?”

Buzz was about to speak up when he felt someone pull him back gently. He turned to see it was Moynihan. While she was happy the fight was over, she glared softly at Buzz, disappointed that he had continued the fight even when told not to. Michelle did provoke him, but she looked like she reacted out of fear, not true malicious intent. And despite Michelle being the enemy, Joanne couldn't blame her. Buzz had reacted rather harshly when there was no need to.

Moynihan took a step forward, now being the one closer to Michelle. She glanced down at the young teen on the ground. Trying her best not to sound menacing, she asked carefully, “Will you take us to Caruso?”

Michelle flinched a little. She knew this question was going to come up. And while she wanted to help, after the fight with Buzz, she started to have some second thoughts. “I don't know... If Dr. Veloci found out, he'd...”

“Don't worry about Dr. Veloci.” Moynihan said. “And if you take us to our friend, we'll let you go.”

“And if I refuse?” Michelle asked, eyes narrowed slightly.

“You become our prisoner!” Buzz declared. Michelle's eyes widened in fear.

Max jabbed Buzz in the ribs with his elbow. “Buzz!” He hissed at him. “Stop it!”

“No, you won't become our prisoner.” Moynihan told Michelle, who seemed to relax a little. “But we cannot guarantee what Victor may or may not do...” Moynihan did have ideas on what Victor might do to Michelle and she didn't want to go into details about it. She hoped this little scare would convince Michelle to help them. And if she cooperated, Moynihan planned on keeping her end of the deal and letting her go free.

Michelle's eyes widened at the thought of Victor Veloci. The others took notice, but thought nothing of it. A couple thought it was just a trick to get them to feel sorry for her. Michelle looked to the ground, thinking this over a little. She had two choices now and she didn't have long to make up her mind. She could refuse to help and try to escape, which may only end badly and get her into a worse situation. Her option was to help them. This, however, could also lead to trouble. She didn't know where Oscura was. She could be anywhere and she could see her leading the Dino Squad to Caruso. And she wondered what Victor might think. Then something crossed her mind. Didn't Victor want them to find Caruso anyway? Michelle grew a little fearful. Could she go through with helping them when, in the end, it could lead to their downfall?

She mentally shook her head. She wondered why she was caring so much lately. Not so long ago, she wouldn't have cared less what happened to them. She wondered if it was because of Caruso and what was happening to him. Yes, that had to be it. She had told herself that in the past. Caruso seemed to remind herself of what happened to her before. She had kept it a secret from the Dino Squad, but she had endured something similar to Caruso at the hands of Veloci. But it was a more gentle and mild form and it was simply to test her obedience, to give Veloci no reason to believe she might turn on him. But regardless, it was still harsh.

After about a minute of silence, and realizing she was starting to agitate a few of the Dino Squad members with her silence, she exhaled and said, “..all right. I'll help you.” She struggled to her feet. The Dino Squad moved out of her way to let her walk out in front of them. But they never took their eyes off of her. She started to walk down one of the hallways. She glanced over her shoulder and said, “It's this way. Follow me and be quiet. This place is crawling with Victor's men and if you want to find your friend, you mustn't be spotted.”

“No duh. We aren't stupid. We don't need you telling us that.” Buzz muttered under his breath as he and the others started to follow Michelle.

“No tricks.” Rodger warned her. “If we find out you are steering us wrong...well you don't want to know what will happen.” His eyes glowed as he said that. He wasn't sure if any of them would actually do anything to really hurt her, but perhaps some fear would motivate the girl to not try any tricks.

Michelle nodded and proceeded to lead the Dino Squad down the corridor. The Dino Squad remained behind her, keeping their eyes on her in case she tried to get away. Michelle was becoming a bit nervous but tried her best to hide it by acting a little brave and bold. “What I don't get is why do you even need me to lead you?” She said before she could stop herself. “Why can't you find your precious friend on your own?”

“That is not any of your business.” Fiona growled.

“And why would you want to know anyway?” Max asked, narrowing his eyes slightly as he kept up the pace. “I thought you didn't care about Caruso.”

“I don't!” Michelle snapped angrily, feeling a little agitated. Max was starting to remind her of Oscura. He wasn't as harsh, she admitted to herself, but he seemed to be implying the same thing as Oscura did before. “I was only asking because I thought you were his friends.”

“We are his friends!” Buzz snapped. Why must Michelle tempt him like this? If she kept this up, he could lose his temper again and attack.

“Look, we don't know our way around here.” Moynihan spoke up, sensing the tension building up amongst the group and the enemy. She decided to step in before something else happened. She didn't want another fight to occur, not right now. They've come so close to finding Caruso. They couldn't afford to have anymore mishaps. That would only slow them down, and she knew time was of the essence. “If we searched on our own, we might not find Caruso in time. We just want him back.” Moynihan did her best to sound calm, hoping that it would help alleviate some of the tension building up.

Michelle chuckled a little. She glanced back at Moynihan as they continued to walk. She wondered how Moynihan was able to walk again so fast after falling down those stairs. She was even more surprised that there were little injuries on her. The leg hardly looked swollen anymore and the old woman wasn't wincing as she walked on it. She took notice of the cane, something she'd overlooked until now. She wondered if it was because she was still in some pain or if it was because of the old injury Victor had given her thirty years ago, or so he had said.

She didn't understand why yet, but she felt a little agitated that she was being forced in doing this. Yes, she did tell herself she would lead them to their friend. But this is not how she wanted to do it. She felt more like a prisoner than a helper. She was expecting them to capture her any second and interrogate her further, to reveal things she shouldn't have. She was already pushing it by helping them find Caruso. And even this she wasn't so sure about because of the trap Victor had set up for them. Different things went through her mind simultaneously, trying to find a solution. What could she do to make them go faster without making it look suspicious?

An idea came to her, but she was not going to like it. And the Dino Squad weren't going to like it either. But it was the only thing she could think of to try to quicken the pace so they'd get to Caruso faster. If she was lucky, she'd get them there before the trap was complete. Maybe they would even see the trap being set up so they could avoid it. But she couldn't be entirely sure. She didn't know exactly what kind of trap it was going to be.

Michelle smirked darkly as her eyes locked onto Moynihan's ankle. “How's the leg?” She asked slyly, almost like she was implying something. She knew Moynihan was a bit sensitive about that leg, especially after how Victor broke it when he defeated her years ago. How could anyone forget something like that?

Moynihan's eyes widened a bit at the question. Why did Michelle ask something like that? It wasn't relevant to what was going on. Of course, Michelle was the one who hurt her leg to begin with. She wasn't the first. But she had thrown her down the stairs a couple days ago. She didn't understand why Michelle had done that. She didn't think anyone could be that cruel. But she was proven wrong in that instance. The pain of slamming against those stairs, the cracking sound of her ankle being twisted, crashing on the floor, it was all still fresh in her mind. Moynihan's eyes narrowed as her anger back then started to return. She was doing exactly what she didn't want the children to do, but she had a hard time stopping herself.

Moynihan managed to suppress her anger enough so that her only reaction to what Michelle said was a single sentence, “You dare mention that...?” It was worded as a question but she ended up saying it more like a threat. Joanne noticed Michelle flinched as she said that but she didn't stop just yet. “It is not wise to provoke the enemy when you are outnumbered six to one, don't you know?”

“Oh I know.” Michelle said, trying to sound a little sarcastic. “But I didn't think anything of it because, with an injury like that,” She pointed at Moynihan's leg. “...I don't see how you are much of a threat. And if you have taught your tricks to these kids, then I hate to say it, they aren't much of a threat either.” She knew she was probably going too far with what she was saying, especially after how she was defeated in battle by Buzz. To say they weren't a threat was a big understatement. “What did you teach them anyway? How to run and hide like a coward? How to back down from a fight they were actually winning?” She grinned deviously as she said that, although inside she was feeling sickened. She was starting to sound more like Oscura.

“How dare you say that!” Fiona snapped, trying to resist the urge to chase after Michelle. “You have no idea what you are talking about!”

Buzz stepped in, quickening his pace a little as he prepared to lunge at Michelle in case she said anything else to provoke them. “And what do you mean we aren't much of a threat? I defeated you!”

“Yeah? So?” Michelle smirked. “It was just dumb luck.”

Buzz started to run toward Michelle but was held back by Max. Max frowned at Buzz and shook his head, showing that he disapproved of him trying to go after Michelle. He had already done enough damage to her as it is. He need not do anything more. Sensing that Michelle was just setting up a front to try to fool them, Max remained calm. He did his best to not allow the words to effect him. Being a leader, he had to act more responsible and mature. He kept this in mind as he turned his attention onto Michelle.

“Let's not fight again, okay?” Max asked her calmly. “We just want our friend back, so let's just get it over with. We don't have much time left. He could be...”

“Dead?” Michelle cut him off. “Good. He can die here for all I care. He was nothing but a nuisance.”

Max was cut a bit off guard by that statement but nonetheless kept his cool. He didn't want to make the same mistake Buzz had made earlier. He didn't want to lose his temper and chase away what was probably their only chance at finding Caruso. If Michelle was trying to provoke him, it was not going to work. It would take a lot more. “He is still our friend and we still care about him. If you ever had a friend, you should understand that.”

Michelle blinked as he said that. At first, she was not sure exactly how to respond. She was drawing a blank and she felt herself running out of ideas. If she could not even anger the leader, what hope was there of her getting them to where Caruso was faster? She'd have to get them to chase her, but she had to make it look more like an accident rather than on purpose. If they saw she was doing this on purpose to get them to chase her, they might become suspicious and not follow her. Instead they'd take another path and probably increase their chances of getting caught.

It was difficult to keep this act up, but she felt she had no choice. Sneering the best she could, she said, “Oh you were his friend? Funny, I never would have guessed, not after how Caruso told me, in a fit of anger over..something I forget, but he said that you insulted him in a rather..harsh way I might add. I thought friends didn't do that. But I suppose I could be wrong. I have been wrong before. But tell me, boy, how did it feel?” She turned her head away and continued to walk, slowly and deliberately. “How did it feel insulting your friend like that? Mocking what he liked about himself and his interests? Did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy seeing him squirm, leader boy? Did you?”

Michelle realized too late that she had gone way too far with what she'd just said to Max. Within seconds after taunting him like that, she felt something hard slam against her cheek bone. She staggered back, holding her jaw gently where a bruise was starting to form. She turned over to see Max standing very close to her, his hand raised, a fist formed tightly. At first he looked shocked. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to snap. For a brief moment, he felt guilt. But it was quickly overwhelmed by another emotion: anger. Instead of relaxing his arm, he raised it up a little higher and took a step forward. Michelle instinctively took a step back to get more distance from him.

Michelle noticed the others weren't amused as well, although she wasn't surprised. Buzz and Rodger both looked like they wanted to kill her. She flinched, feeling a chill go up her spine as she stared into their cold glares. She glanced over at Fiona. Fiona's expression was a little softer, but her teeth were bared as she stood next to Max as if she was preparing to back up him in case he said anything. Moynihan stood the furthest back now, and didn't seem to have a look of anger on her face. But just by looking in her eyes, Michelle could almost sense that Moynihan was upset. She wasn't sure if it was mostly at her or with Max.

Max was contemplating what to do next. Part of him wanted to punch Michelle again. She had opened up an old wound and was striving to make it worse. He felt a little betrayed that Caruso had told their own enemies what had happened, but he probably had a good reason. He must have. He was their friend after all. And it angered him to hear someone like Michelle taunting him about what he'd already apologized for. He hadn't meant to snap at Caruso that day and he wished he could take it back. But it was in the past now and all he could do was try to let it go. There was no use in hanging onto what happened in the past. There wasn't anything he could do to change it.

The other part of him wanted to back down. As much as he hated Michelle, he couldn't stoop down to her level and attack out of spite. If he did, he would be no better than she was. Michelle had given him a few reasons not to become like that, the biggest one was when she tossed Moynihan down the stairs. Max felt a sharp pain as he recalled that day. They came in on what seemed to be a normal day, only to have their good moods shattered by finding Moynihan at the bottom of the steps, wounded. And Rump was hurt as well. Max glanced at the dog, who was on the ground now, sniffing around. Max was thankful for the training lessons Fiona put the dog through. At least he stays in one spot now. The wounds on Rump's body had sealed up and the dog looked a lot better than he had before. He still couldn't believe Michelle would attack Rump like that. She could have killed him.

But then why should she care? Michelle worked for Victor. She and Oscura were under his control. As far as he is concerned, all of Veloci's men are trained to be merciless and deceitful. There is probably no one in that company who is trustworthy, no one who wouldn't kill if they were paid enough. It sickened him to think that anyone would be interested in killing off innocent civilians and experimenting on animals just for profit. Max wondered how many animals were tortured, how many animals were sacrificed before Victor found out how to transform their bodies without hurting them and without side effects. How this madman had gotten away with this for so many years is a mystery to him even to this day.

Glaring at Michelle, arm raised up still, he said, “To even bring that up... you must be either really brave, or really stupid.” He lowered his arm, forcing it to relax. But the muscles in his arm remained a little tense. “Just consider yourself lucky that I am not like you.”

Michelle narrowed her eyes and turned away. She removed her hand from her cheek and started on her way again. “Of course you are not like me. You seem to be honest all the time. You aren't afraid to speak your mind. That I can tell from you.” Her claws unsheathed, but not in a threatening way. She merely looked at them, seeing a faint glimpse of her face in them. “You also seem less aggressive. I take it you must have excellent control of your anger, am I right?” She asked in a taunting way. The way she had said 'control of your anger' got to Max. The muscles in his arm tensed up tightly, and he was fighting the urge to take action again. Michelle took notice of this and chuckled. “I knew it. How could I have even thought that? You don't have control of your anger. Your friend is proof of that.”

“Will you stop bringing that up?!” This time it was Rodger who stepped in. The african-american didn't like to see any of his friends being messed with like this. It was hurting him to see Max having to endure this kind of personal and psychological taunting from someone as deceitful as Michelle. “Haven't you caused enough damage already?”

“Oh let me think about that. No.” Michelle said within a few seconds, not putting much thought in her answer. She brandished a claw on her pointer finger and extended it towards Rodger. “And you, I've heard about you. You don't have as much control of your anger, now do you?”

“I beg your pardon..” Rodger started.

“There are some things your friend told me about you guys during his stay here. I guess he didn't mean to reveal them, but perhaps he was just too angry to care. Who knows?” Michelle shrugged, a broad, mischievous smile stretching on her face. “But I am sure you recall the time when you pulled a few pranks on your friends. I recall you cut your precious friend's hair and pretty much broke him.”

Rodger's eyes widened at that statement and he took a step back. He didn't know why Caruso would have told her that. He thought they had agreed to never bring it up again. Caruso sure didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it anymore. It really did devastate him and Rodger felt horrible about it, especially since he didn't really feel guilty about it until after the pranks were over. He didn't realize just how hurtful they really were and how much it would really hurt him after the fun had worn down. He was grateful that his friends were very forgiving, but those pranks did strain their friendship a little for a while.

He was especially upset at what he had done to Caruso. Caruso valued his hair greatly and took great pride to making it look nice. And Rodger had almost ruined that for him. After the incident, he had gotten rid of that stupid prank hat he'd given to the blue-haired boy. He had thought they both put this incident behind him. Rodger hadn't really thought much of it as of late until Michelle said something about it just now. Why was she doing this? Why was she taunting them like this? She was outnumbered! Didn't she know that if she kept this up, she was going to get hurt?

“So you found your voice.” Michelle grinned, stopping in her tracks and turning around to face the Dino Squad. She ignored their angry looks and said, “Don't look at me like that. It's not my fault that you lost your temper like that, Styraco Boy. What I'd like to know is this: even if you do find your friend..wold he want to go back with you?” She turned her back to them again. “After all, for all I know, he might not even want to see you all again. Maybe he'd rather stay here and join us..or even be killed.” She chuckled darkly after saying that and started to walk away to continue leading them.

The Dino Squad stood there in silence, their mouths agape at what Michelle said. At first they felt pain at the thought that Caruso might not even want to see them anymore. They had said things to him in the past, or even did some things, that he wasn't very happy about. He even nearly left the team a few times as a result of that. But then they started to feel angry. That wouldn't be like Caruso. He might have been upset with them in the past, but he still cared about them. He wouldn't just turn his back on them like that. They wondered what they should do now. They knew they should just keep following Michelle and ignore whatever she tells them unless it is of the up most importance, such as Victor or one of his men coming this way. But they felt the urge to do something about what she was saying, but so far no one was making a move to do so.

After what seemed almost like hours, someone took a step towards Michelle. It was Fiona. She almost didn't want to do this. She had already gotten into a cat fight with Oscura. And now really wasn't a good time for fighting. But Michelle's hurtful words were starting to get to her and the rest of the team. Michelle was probably trying to make them nervous, to shatter their confidence so that, even if they get to Caruso, they might be too afraid to try to help him, that they might think they were too weak to do anything. And Caruso might end up dying as a result. Fiona felt a pain in her heart as she thought of finding Caruso on the ground, dead, in a pool of his own blood. She prayed silently that it wouldn't come to that.

“Now you listen here.” Fiona said with confidence. She pointed a finger at Michelle in a disciplinary manner. “I don't know where you are coming off, making fun of my friends like that. Are you really that cold-hearted?” She wasn't sure if she wanted Michelle to answer that question. She probably already knew the answer. “Why are you even doing this? Are you trying to tempt us? Do you want us to hurt you?” She wasn't sure if Michelle was being very brave and bold, perhaps to hide a possibility that she might be scared, or if she really just didn't care what consequence came her way.

“Ooo..I'm shaking.” Michelle taunted, although in a less taunting way than before. “Am I supposed to be afraid of you? A foolish Spinosaurus such as yourself who can't even win against a puny dinosaur such as myself? If you can't even hold me down, what hope do you have against Victor? You weakling..”

“You're really asking for it...” Fiona seethed through her teeth, feeling tempted to tear out Michelle's throat at that point. But she knew she'd have to hold back unless she didn't mind getting charges for man slaughter.

“I am?” Michelle asked curiously. She tilted her head a bit. “That's funny. I thought it was you who was asking for it. Coming here, that is, in an area with plenty of Victor's guards all around. You sacrificing yourselves to Victor now? You going to let him experiment on you?” She grinned. “You must be willing to do that...after all, you understood the risks in coming here. Yes I understand that you came to save your friend. But you must have known that, if this mission of yours fails..you're staying with us.”

“We'll make sure it works.” Max said, standing close enough to press his finger against Michelle's upper chest, near the beginning of her throat. “By making sure you lead us to the right place. If you do so much as lead us astray or try to run away from us, you'll find yourself on the ground again and this time I cannot guarantee that none of us will hold back. Do you understand me?”

Michelle turned her head away, a slight scowl on her face. “Oh I understand all right...” She said softly, seemingly understanding at first. But then she continued in a deeper tone, voice laced with anger. “I understand that you and your pathetic Dino Squad team are no different than Victor is. You act a lot like him. There's no difference, that I can see, between working for Victor and working for you. You are no better than he is. I almost feel sorry for your friend. Even if he gets out of here alive, he has to look forward to going back to you guys, who may be just as bad as Victor..even worse than he is.”

Unable to control himself, Max grabbed Michelle by her shirt and slammed her into the ground. He heard Moynihan shout something urgent to him, but he wouldn't listen to her. His mind was focused on Michelle. “Take that back!”

Michelle struggled in his grasp as she responded, “Never!”

“Take it back!” Max demanded again, sharp teeth starting to protrude from his mouth. He was hoping to intimidate her into apologizing.

“No!” Michelle said sternly, looking very intent on not apologizing for what she had said about the group. She wasn't falling for his intimidation attempt. She'd seen worse, particularly from Victor. Max screamed in anger and lifted up his fist to punch her, completely forgetting about controlling his temper. Michelle's eyes widened in shock and she braced for the attack.

“Max...” Moynihan's voice was finally heard as she walked up to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let her go. We do not have time for fighting.” She told him gently but firmly.

Max closed his eyes. He didn't want to disappoint his mentor. And if he had gone through with attacking the girl, he would have made the same mistake Buzz had. He would have proven Michelle right. He didn't want to do that. Groaning in frustration, he released Michelle and got up off the ground. “I'm sorry, Moynihan.”

Moynihan nodded. “I know you are, dear boy.” She turned her head towards Michelle and frowned. “And as for you...” Michelle looked up. “What is wrong with you? All we want is Caruso back and we had promised to let you go if you did. Why must you keep doing this? Just how old are you?”

“I'm eighteen...” Michelle growled. “What's it to you?”

Moynihan gripped Michelle's arm and pulled her off the ground. As Michelle regained her footing and brushed herself off, Moynihan placed one hand on her hips and held the other one up, the pointer finger in Michelle's direction. “Then act like it!”

Michelle glowered at Moynihan. “You aren't my mother, so stop acting like it!”

“I am still your teacher!” Moynihan said. She had almost forgotten about that. Michelle had joined her classroom, which made her the girl's teacher. Whether Michelle liked it or not, she still had some authority over her.

“Some teacher.” Michelle rolled her eyes. “As a teacher you are responsible for your students. You are responsible for their safety, are you not? But instead, you allowed all this to happen. You didn't succeed in keeping your students safe from my boss! You're nothing but a failure!”

“Don't talk to Moynihan like that!” Fiona yelled.

“And why not?” Michelle sneered. “You know it's true.”

“You're wrong!” Fiona responded. “Moynihan isn't a failure!”

Michelle cocked an eyebrow. “Oh she isn't? Then how come Caruso's with Victor? How come you guys are here now? Hmm?” She folded up her arms and waited for an answer.

A silence fell upon the group. Each teen looked at each other, trying to find some sort of answer they could give. They wanted to defend their mentor, to prove Michelle wrong. But so far, none of them could come up with a good answer. A few tried to answer, but nothing came out of their mouths. Their minds had drawn up a blank. They didn't want to accept it, but Michelle was right. As much as it hurt them to admit it to themselves, Moynihan had failed them. They knew she tried her best, but she still failed. One by one, the kids looked at Moynihan. They said nothing to her, but their eyes and expressions told enough. Moynihan looked at them, reading their faces and feeling disappointed that none of them were defending her. But how could she blame them? She did fail. She closed her eyes and turned her head away.

Michelle watched this scene play out, feeling guilty about what she said. Her expression softened up and she looked to the ground. She had really hit a sore spot there. She had only meant to anger them a little. She didn't mean to crush their spirits like that. She hadn't told this to anyone yet, but when she faced Moynihan back at the lighthouse, she was a little afraid. The woman could still turn into a Velociraptor and had she succeeded, she might not have succeeded. She had only won because she had attacked Moynihan while she was still in human form. Michelle's eyes widened a little as she thought of that. Perhaps she was the one who was weak. Maybe she was the coward that Moynihan said she was after she grabbed her ankle. She winced at that memory. She had deliberately went for Moynihan's weak spot just to win. Moynihan was probably a more competent of a fighter than she was.

Michelle exhaled and hung her head. She decided to give up trying to get the group to chase her. She had already said enough to hurt the group and she knew she'd gone too far. If she said anything else, she'd risk severing their friendship. She didn't want to do that. After more silence had passed, she decided to break it. Hoping to get their minds on something else, she said, “Look...just forget what I said... You've wasted enough time as it is. I don't know how much longer Caruso will last, so...”

She felt herself being yanked forward. She gasped as she came face to face with Buzz. His piercing eyes bore into her, and she could see the faintest hint of a yellow glow. “You just won't stop will you?!” He stated through gritted teeth. “You just keep at it and keep at it until...” He stopped himself, unsure if he should continue. He found his rage lowering down and he didn't want to make the situation worse.

Michelle gulped, her face showing the slightest hint of fear. “Until...what?”

“Just forget it.” Buzz closed his eyes tightly and shoved Michelle onto the ground. “Someone like you wouldn't understand.”

Michelle flinched a little and got up off the ground. She stared at the Dino Squad for a few seconds and looked away, feeling a bit ashamed about this. She contemplated briefly about just leaving and letting them find their friend themselves. She'd probably just make them more nervous. Maybe Oscura was right about her. If she couldn't be cut out for leadership, how could she be cut out to even lead a small group somewhere? She'd just slip up somehow. And she had already done some psychological damage. She noticed the kids were avoiding eye contact with their teacher. She hoped that they would heal over time.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Rodger asked, trying to sound calm though his voice gave himself away. The edge of his voice clearly had that feeling of anger and it worried Michelle. She expected him to attack her at any second.

And sure enough, he did. He grabbed her roughly by the arms and shoved her up against the wall. She could feel his fingernails digging into her skin and she flinched at the pain. But the eyes she stared into showed no mercy towards her. “Are you going to take us to Caruso or not?” He asked through clenched teeth, trying to sound calmer than he really was.

“I...” Michelle started to say.

“And let me tell you something.” Michelle was cut off as Rodger jabbed a finger in her direction, inches away from her face. She could see a glint of white as a claw was starting to grow through the fingertip. Eyes widening a little in apprehension, she stared at Rodger, cringing a little as his eyes started to glow. “If you ever say anything like that again, or if you even think about leading us into a trap, I will personally tear you apart...”

Michelle moved her head back, mouth agape. Did the african-american kid just threaten her with death? She realized that he had, and her heart started to race. It took her a few seconds to find her voice after that brief scare. “A-All right then...” She said nervously. Rodger was a big teenager. She didn't want to think about what he could do to her with those huge arms.

Fiona came over and stood by Rodger's side. His arms were still gripping onto Michelle and anyone looking close enough could see just how deeply his fingernails were digging into her skin. Fiona glared at Michelle, and Michelle was thankful that it was not she who was gripping her. Spinosaurus claws were a lot sharper than Styracosaurus claws and Fiona would probably not hold back at getting them deep into her skin just to prove her point. Michelle watched and waited to see what Fiona would do to her.

Fiona took a step forward. Michelle couldn't bear to look at her in the eyes and lowered her gaze. The redhead frowned and reached out with her hand. Much like what Oscura had done to her, she gripped Michelle's lower jaw and lifted it up to make the girl look at her. “You had best heed his warning. He's not the only one who would like to get his claws into you.” To emphasize her statement, she extended her claws, poking the skin but not breaking it. “You get the idea?”

Michelle gulped, fighting the urge to rip her face away, and nodded. “Y-Yes...” She wondered why Moynihan was keeping quiet this time. She wasn't really expecting anyone to defend her. But Moynihan, just moments ago, seemed so intent on keeping a fight from breaking out. But now she wasn't even looking in this direction. Michelle looked at her sympathetically and wished she hadn't called the woman a failure.

Fiona released her grip and took a step back. She was satisfied that her threat had done the trick, although she knew that Rodger's threat had shaken up Michelle as well. She just wanted to be sure that Michelle had gotten the message. She didn't really approve of the idea of ripping the girl to shreds, however, even if she deserved it. She didn't want herself and her friends to be turned into monsters. And that is exactly what they would become if they went through with the threat. “Good...” She said to Michelle. “Now lead.” She pointed down the corridor they were currently walking in and Rodger released Michelle.

Michelle started to back away a little, fearful that another member of the Dino Squad would assault her. After seeing no one make a move towards her, she tried to relax and turned around. She continued on her way with the Dino Squad in tow close behind her. She tried to shake off her anxiety. This would be all over once they got to Caruso. Once she had led them to him, she would leave and she wouldn't have to worry about them again. Or would she?

For the next few minutes, the group, led by Michelle, continued down the hallways. The place was like a maze. If it wasn't for Michelle, they wouldn't have known which way to go. They would easily get lost in this place even though it was smaller than most of the malls they've been to. Most of the corridors were dark in color, almost black. And there was a weird metallic scent hanging in the air. It was occasionally mixed with the scent of chemicals and other things the kids could not identify. Some of the lights did not work and a few others kept blinking several times, making it difficult to navigate in different areas of the building.

All around them, they noticed there was an almost total lack of windows. Seeing a faintest hint of a window underneath a dark gray slab suggested that Victor probably covered up many of the windows to prevent people from looking inside. That was quite clever of him, they had to admit. That was one of the mysteries of their enemy. He had shown, especially recently, that he can be quite clever and devious. But other times, he didn't seem to be so bright. The raptor has not yet perfected his primordial ooze and yet he had been able to create the right formula to get an Apatosaurus, not to mention the Dino Squad themselves. Perhaps Victor was a stupid genius who could either make a big mistake or a clever plan.

The Dino Squad soon came up a door that was wide open. They looked at Michelle to see if this was the right room. She looked back and shook her head and urged them to move quickly. When the group passed by the open door, they quickly realized why she wanted them to hurry. The room was filled with experimental tanks accompanied by some of Victor's henchmen. The tanks contained failed experiments, floating in suspended animation. The men had their backs turned towards the door, but the kids weren't sure how long that was going to last. They quickened their pace so that they wouldn't be seen. Once they were passed, Buzz glared towards Michelle.

“Why didn't you just shut the door?” Buzz asked her, keeping his voice low so that the men back in the room would not hear him. “Wouldn't it have been easier?”

“No. They would have noticed.” Michelle explained. “And they would have come to open up the door and would easily of spotted us. It wasn't worth the risk.”

Buzz looked at his surroundings and shuddered. It was getting increasingly dark as they headed down. He could see that there was a faint light near the end, suggesting some of the light bulbs were working. Eager to get out of the darkness, he quickened his pace again. “Let's just go.”

As the group continued on their way, Michelle nearly stopped in her tracks. She had this strangest feeling that something just wasn't right. There was something in the air that was bothering her. She looked all around her cautiously, eyes nervously darting from one place to the other, trying to figure out what was wrong. The team behind her were probably eyeing her cautiously, thinking she was waiting for some sort of signal. But it was something else that got Michelle worried. Since they had passed the room only a moment ago, she had this strangest feeling that someone had spotted them. But if they had, then why didn't they sound the alarm? Something was rather off about that. Perhaps no one spotted her, but then why was she getting this sick feeling in her stomach? No, something has to be wrong. Her dinosaur side was telling her that. And her dinosaur side hadn't been wrong before.

She took a few sniffs. She caught the familiar metallic smell, but there was another scent that was coming up. She wrinkled her nose. Whatever it was, it was a bad smell. It wasn't the scent of death, much to her relief, but it still seemed to be bad news. She stopped walking, confusing the Dino Squad as she held out her arm for them to stop. She looked up at the ceiling. Along the corridors there were vents. They were usually open and often used to flush out different chemical smells so that the rooms didn't stink as badly as they would if these vents didn't exist. And sure enough the vent straight above them was open. But the scent that was coming out was almost unfamiliar to her.

“What's wrong?” Max asked her. But Michelle ignored him. Her eyes were glued on the vent above them, her eyes narrowing, focusing. What was that smell that was coming through? She sniffed again, hoping to recognize it at some point. But her human nose just wasn't efficient enough. To try to get a better idea, Michelle temporarily transformed her head and lifted her long black snout in the air. She scented the air again, taking in as much air molecules as she could in a single breath. She suddenly recognized the scent. Eyes widening in fear, she quickly changed her head back.

“Run!” Michelle shouted, making a run for it. “It's ether! Someone is flushing it through the ventilation system! It'll knock you out!”

The Dino Squad hesitated at first. They looked up at the ventilation shaft just above them. They wondered if Michelle was speaking the truth. It could be that this was a trick. But what if it wasn't? Could they really risk it? They looked at each other and towards where Michelle was running. She had stopped after running a couple yards. She looked back at them and motioned with her hand rapidly, urging them to get going. Not wanting to take the chance, the group ran as fast as they could. As they caught up with Michelle, she started to run with them, keeping in front. She urged them to follow her down one particular path, well lit compared to the other hallways they were in. As they reached it, she stopped and let the group run past her. She turned around and next to her was a red button. She immediately pressed it, causing a shaft to come down, completely cutting off their path back that way.

“Why did you do that?” Max asked, pointing at the red button on the wall.

“To keep the ether from coming through.” Michelle explained and walked passed the teens. She ignored their suspicious looks and gestured forward. “Well let's go. We have to pick up the pace now. It won't take long for Victor to realize there's been an 'accidental' gas leak.”

“Or maybe it wasn't an accident...” Buzz muttered.

“Shhh!” Max scolded him. “Don't start something up again.”

“I'm not...” Buzz said, defending himself.

“Look,” Michelle said, looking over her shoulder and looked directly at Buzz, “If you have something to say to me, punk, save it until later, unless you do not value your friend's life.” She looked away and continued on her way, keeping her distance from the group but not going too far.

Buzz narrowed his eyes. “I do care about him!”

Michelle was grinning but Buzz could not see it because she was looking away from him. “Then prove it by shutting up and letting me lead you to the little weakling.” She said.

Buzz clenched a fist, shaking. “How dare you...” He started to move forward, arm raised for an attack. But Michelle sensed his agitation and started to move quicker. If Buzz wanted to attack her, he'd have to move a lot faster. And Buzz did just that. His pace quickened so that he was now speed walking, getting close to running. Out of fear, especially after how he had defeated her, she dashed forward a couple of feet and stopped almost abruptly since she didn't want to lose the Dino Squad. Buzz had a very faint smile of satisfaction on his face. “Yes you better run...” He warned her, eyes narrowed dangerously as she glanced back at him with fear filled eyes.

Max placed a hand on Buzz's shoulder. The punk kid turned towards the jock, the same glare on his face, although he softened it up a little. He could sense that Maxwell was disappointed in him. He could read his expression. The eyes were slightly narrowed and his mouth was curved downward into a frown. Before Max even said a word, Buzz knew what he was going to ask. “Buzz..do you want to find Caruso?”

Buzz wanted to turn his head away, but Max's stare kept him fixated on him. He didn't understand why. Maybe it was fear that Max would read his mind, or that Max would be able to tell he was lying if he turned away. “Yes...of course I do. He's..my best friend...”

Max nodded, understanding. They all regarded Caruso as a good friend. He did have some problems, but they all still cared about him. Max understood the pain that Buzz was probably going through right now. Max wasn't at all happy about what Michelle had said either. But he could tell that, with the way Buzz and some others were acting, Michelle might end up running off. And if she disappeared, then they won't find Caruso in time. As much as he hated to admit it, Michelle was their only chance left.

“Then please...” Max said softly. “...don't scare off our only chance at finding him.” He gestured towards Michelle with a jerk of the head. “If you chase her off, then we may never see Caruso again...”

Buzz looked back at Michelle, glaring at her harshly as she stared back. She didn't move from her spot, although her look of fear was gone, replaced with a calmer expression. He then looked back at Max, who slowly shook his head. Neil though carefully about what Max had just said to him. Reluctantly, he gave in and slumped his shoulders. His eyes closed and he lowered his head. “Fine...” He said. “I won't say anything else. Would that make you happy?”

Max winced at the bitterness of the question and took a step back. He finally nodded after several seconds. “..Yes..it would...”

* * *

Several more minutes passed by. The Dino Squad didn't understand why it was taking so long to get to where Caruso was. They knew the building was big, but it couldn't be that big, could it? It felt like they have been walking around for about fifteen minutes already. And this place didn't seem to have any stairs either. Some were suspecting that Michelle was leading them into a trap. But after the threats she was given, it was a bit unlikely she would try such a thing. She was in plain sight after all, so if she were going to try to signal anyone, they would see it.

Michelle was, however, keeping a good distance from the group. Even though she had heard Max make Buzz stop, she remained a bit fearful of letting them get too close. If one of them had gotten too close to her, she'd quicken her pace a little until she was satisfied with the distance between them. The problem was, which she didn't realize, that she was a little too far from them. They could see her just fine, but with the huge gap between them, they could more easily become separated, especially after what happened earlier with the ether, if there ever was any ether that is. Fiona looked behind her, feeling a little concerned that someone might be following them, although she could not see or hear anything suspicious.

As they continued on their short trek, Moynihan lagged behind a little. Michelle's words still stung in her mind. The girl probably had not meant it to hurt her that much, but it had. Moynihan started to doubt herself a little. Maybe there was a little truth in what Michelle had said before. Moynihan was the kids' teacher and she was indeed responsible for them while she was with them. She had even promised Caruso's parents that they would return safely, even though she had doubted herself a bit back then. Why was this happening now? She had done such a good job before, or so she believed. She kept her cool and had helped avert many different problems. The team had always relied on her advice, and they had always trusted her word.

But what about now? Did they still shared the same opinion of her as before? Was she still doing a good job? Moynihan couldn't help but believe it was all her fault this was happening. She found it rather strange that these happenings were occurring very close to the time when Victor had tried to scan the lighthouse. Was there a connection? She had shaken the idea off before. She didn't find anything to find suspicious about it back then, but she had overlooked something. She had overlooked the fact that the scanning might have been a trap in itself.

Suddenly a wave of guilt overcame her as she thought more and more about that incident. Why hadn't she noticed it before? Oh why hadn't she realized it? She tried to hide her face from the kids as she felt a few tears stream down her face. This whole thing was her fault. What would the kids think of her after they found out? If she had only had the computer off at the time, if only she had gotten the radar up in time, if only...

“Moynihan?” She heard Fiona say. “Are you all right?”

Moynihan turned her head towards Fiona Flagstaff, who was eyeing her with a concerned look on her face. Moynihan rubbed her eyes and smiled weakly. “Oh..I'm fine..” She managed to say. “Just had something in my eyes.”

“Are you sure?” Fiona asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Moynihan gently pushed the hand away and nodded. “Yes..I am sure.”

But she was lying through her teeth and she knew it. And it only made her feel worse. She wasn't sure if she could bring herself to reveal this new information, but sooner or later, she would have to. When Victor had scanned the lighthouse, he wasn't doing it to see what was in the lighthouse. He was doing it to see where the jamming signals were coming from. Victor must have been able to piece together whatever evidence he had found. He must have made a connection between the jammings and the dinosaurs showing up. And he must have seen the lighthouse. She knew he did. After the football game Caruso had used his dinosaur abilities in secretly, when they were in the lighthouse, Moynihan had glanced out the window briefly and had seen Victor, off in the distance, just standing there. Her heart nearly skipped a beat as she watched him, but was satisfied when he lost interest and left. He hadn't even tried to come inside. But she had a feeling it would have been only a matter of time before Victor sees a connection with the lighthouse.

When she had jammed his signal that time, he must have made the final connection. Moynihan winced at the memory as it flowed through her mind. He had been testing her. He was waiting for her to make a big mistake and she had that day. That's how he knew about the lighthouse being her lair. Michelle hadn't led Victor there as they had all initially believed. That was a lie Michelle probably made up to mask how Victor had really discovered the true meaning of the lighthouse. It was Moynihan herself where Victor must have discovered the truth, wasn't it? It wasn't because of what Michelle or Oscura had told him.

But that wasn't the only thing that had to have happened for this to occur. There was also that football game. She knew, she was positive that Victor had spoken with one of the students there. A few people had seen, very briefly, Caruso transform. But it happened so fast that many of them dismissed it while others only remembered vague details. But Victor was more cunning than any of her students realized. They had thwarted him time and time again, but that was only because he believed them to be ordinary dinosaurs. Now that he knew they were humans, thwarting him was going to become an even greater challenge than before.


	11. Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“Moynihan, are you sure nothing is wrong?” Fiona urged again, sounding more serious than the last time. This time she gripped Moynihan's arm, intent on not letting go until she got an answer. “You keep spacing out. What are you thinking about?”

“I-It's nothing...” Moynihan lied, stammering a little.

Fiona narrowed her eyes. “Moynihan...” She said in a suspicious voice.

“It's nothing that you need to be concerned with right now.” Moynihan quickly said, looking away. “I'll..tell you about it later... Now please let me go.”

“All right then...” Fiona said slowly, releasing Moynihan's arm. She continued to stare at the old woman suspiciously. What was Moynihan hiding from her?

Suddenly they heard the sound of a door opening. They tensed up and were on full alert, scanning the area for signs of danger. They realized a little when they heard Michelle's voice calling out to them. “Come on! This is the place!” Her voice was loud and yet at the same time a little quiet. She spoke up loud enough to be heard but quiet enough so that her voice didn't reverberate against the walls, which may make her voice travel further than she wanted and have an unwanted listener. When the Dino Squad caught up to her, Michelle was standing in the doorway, waiting for them. She looked up towards the ceiling, looking for anything suspicious. She then looked left to right, trying to see if there were any tell tale signs of traps. Satisfied that there were none, she moved in as quickly as she could.

She knew the Dino Squad were right behind her, so she continued on. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a silver plate. She recognized it as the food plate that she had given him at one point early on in the capture. She shook off the feeling of guilt and continued to walk towards the center of the room. There was a large cage, rusty with metallic bars glinting in the light in the large room. She recognized the figure inside the cage. Caruso was still in dino mode and was still not awake from the attack from Victor. Victor severely hurt him with the war bridle but what actually knocked him out was a blow to the head. There was blood dripping from the dinosaur's skull, just above his eye. Victor had used his sickle claw to cut a deep wound on the head. It was not deep enough to kill but it was enough to knock him out. Michelle grimaced at the sight and did her best to ignore the smell. Even in human form, this scent was unbearable. And, even though it was no longer necessary, Victor had left the war bridle on Caruso.

Hearing footsteps, Michelle went to work quickly. She transformed into her Guanlong Wucaii form and lifted up her right paw. She placed a talon in the keyhole and started to pick at it desperately. She had forgotten to mention that Caruso may have been in a cage. If she didn't do something soon, they may have to break him out themselves, which would have created a lot of noise and would surely attract Victor and the others. And inside this room, with only one exit, they would be as good as caught.

“Where did she go?” She heard Rodger ask. How could they have gotten lost? They weren't that far behind her. Maybe they took a wrong turn? How could they have done that? Michelle decided it was best not to ask questions. Maybe they were just surveying the area a bit.

“She went in there!” She heard Max answer. She heard the footsteps become louder and louder until she heard another cry from Max. “She's over by that cage!”

The Dino Squad rushed into the room. As soon as they stepped in, they were overwhelmed with a strong scent that was both unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. The room gave them an eerie chill up their spines. It had an ominous feel to it even though they didn't know exactly why. In the middle of this gloomy room they saw Michelle in dino mode. She had her claw in something. It appeared to be a lock of sorts, and she was picking at it furiously. As soon as it gave a click, Michelle turned her head over to the Dino Squad to give one final message.

'You can take it from there.' And then Michelle turned and darted off, running through the door. Her faint footfalls could still be heard and they grew fainter and fainter until they became nonexistent, mixing into the silence completely.

The cage door swung wide open. As they drew closer to it, they could see there was clearly an occupant inside. It was a large purplish blue Stegosaurus they immediately recognized as their missing friend, Irwin Caruso. Without hesitation, they rushed towards the cage, smiles on their faces, and some had tears come from their eyes, not due to sadness but to happiness. Finally, after all this time, they were finally reunited with their friend.

“Caruso!” Fiona shouted to the Stegosaurus. “Come on, get out of the cage!” But the Stegosaurus gave no response, not so much as a single movement. She frowned a bit and tried again. “Caruso! Come on!” She shouted a bit louder this time.

Max decided to try. “Caruso! Look if you're still mad at me, I'm sorry! But can we discuss this later? I don't know how much time we have left to get you out!” But the large dinosaur before him didn't say anything back.

Rodger frowned a bit. “Something is not right...”

As the teenagers drew closer to the cage, they tried their best to ignore the horrible smell. It seemed stronger here than it was in the other parts of the room. From where they were positioned, Caruso had his back turned to them. His tail hung limply outside of the cage and it was clear he was on his side. They could see a few injuries on him but nothing that seemed too serious at first. Then they started to walk around, heading towards the front. And as they did so, they realized Caruso was far from fine. They saw something strapped around his waist and torso. And on one of his front legs they could see remnants of a long deep cut that must have cut a major blood vessel. The skin still looked like it was caked with dried up blood.

As they neared the head, they noticed more and more cuts on him. And they took notice of burn marks as well, areas of skin that were charred black. And on his face, they could see a bridle, lined with spikes, digging into his skin and mouth. Caruso's mouth was wide open and blood was pouring from the multiple cuts he had. His tongue was hanging out and they could see how badly lacerated it was. On his skull they took notice of another long deep cut, blood dripping from it like a leaky faucet. Caruso's eyes were shut softly, as though he was just asleep. His head and neck were curved backwards in a pose very similar to many dinosaur fossils discovered. It was known as the death pose. But Caruso's position wasn't that extreme. The head was curved back but his neck didn't appear to be broken.

“He's unconscious...” Rodger stated, staring in shock at the injuries that were concentrated on Caruso's head. “No wonder he isn't answering.”

“Then..we'll just have to wake him up.” Buzz said, grimacing a little at the sight of the blood coming from the multiple wounds. That was probably a good sign. Blood coagulates after death and can't flow, so if Caruso was still bleeding it meant they might still have a chance at saving him.

Standing several feet away from the cage was Moynihan. She hadn't dared get closer. Her nose was wrinkled in disgust at the scent all around her. But she wasn't fooled. She knew where it was coming from. It was concentrated all around Caruso's large body. And the more she breathed in, the worse she felt. Her stomach knotted up with emotion and her hands started to tremble. The scent she was detecting was death. And it was coming from Caruso. She watched, heart broken, as the children started to try to wake Caruso up. But she knew it would all be in vain. Her head lowered, and she tried her best to fight back her tears. She had to remain strong for them. She just had to.

She closed her eyes tightly and stifled a cry as she watched the children continue to try to awaken their friend, whom they still believed was just in a deep sleep. But they didn't know any better. They didn't recognize the scent of death... Why hadn't they moved faster? Why hadn't she just let them come to Boston when they first suggested the idea? Why did she have to hold them back? She stared at Caruso's unmoving body, feeling horrible about initially wanting to wait until the morning before they came after him. What a horrible mistake that would have been....

“CARUSO!!” Rodger shouted, using his huge lungs to amplify his voice. He shouted rather close to Caruso's ears, if Stegosaurs even had ears that is. He knew that, when a person fell asleep, their ears still remained on alert, so if Caruso was sleeping, shouting loud enough should jolt him awake. He waited a few seconds and got no response from Caruso, which further puzzled him and he was starting to become worried.

And he wasn't the only one. Max started to shake a little as he realized Rodger's shouting hadn't done anything to wake Caruso. “Why..isn't he waking up?” He asked to no one in particular.

“Maybe he's really tired?” Fiona suggested, hoping to lighten the mood up a little. “Maybe he hadn't slept since he was caught and just decided to take a nap...”

Buzz looked at Irwin and narrowed his eyes. If that was the case, then Caruso must be a very heavy sleeper. Doesn't he realize that he's now scaring him by doing this? What if Caruso was doing this on purpose. Buzz felt anger rise up as he started to think that Caruso was awake and was just doing this to scare them. Irwin did sometimes have a bad habit of frightening them when it was not necessary, like when he had gotten him paranoid about mutantsaurs during the camping trip. But then again, when he had gotten caught in the tree, he didn't try to pin it on Caruso. He blamed himself for allowing himself to get worked up enough to get tangled in a tree.

Buzz took a few steps forward, standing right next to Caruso's head. Eyes and body glowing, he shifted into his Pteranodon form. He opened his wings wide as if he were going to take off. He threw his head and long neck back and inhaled deeply, inflating his chest like he had to scare of the rat mutants. He suddenly thrust his head forward, jaws split wide open. A loud, ear piercing shriek echoed from his vocal cords and long jagged jaws. The sound caused Moynihan and the other teenagers to cover their ears as if it was hurting them. Buzz kept up the shriek for a few more seconds before he ran out of air and coughed a little. His wings relaxed on the ground and, with his tongue hanging out, he panted a little. But Caruso didn't flinch.

Buzz's eyes widened as he shifted back. “It..didn't work?” He said in disbelief. Either Caruso was a heavier sleeper than they originally thought or something was very wrong.

“Geeze...” Fiona said, rubbing her ear. “Warn us the next time you're going to do that, okay?”

“Why did you do that anyway?” Rodger asked, smacking his head a bit to try to get the ringing sound out of his head.

“I thought he would wake up...” Buzz never took his eyes off the motionless Stegosaurus in the cage.

“It never would have worked.” They heard Moynihan say behind them. “Nothing you do will work.” As she spoke, the Dino Squad looked at one another, confused. Moynihan sounded downright heartbroken and devastated. She sounded as if she had lost all hope about this situation. This wasn't like her. She wasn't the type to just give up like that. What was wrong with her. When they turned towards her, they noticed she had dared not get so close. She hung back, keeping several feet between her and Caruso. She seemed almost afraid to get any closer.

“Moynihan..what's wrong?” Fiona asked carefully, reaching out towards the old woman but hesitating. Her hand was shaking a little as she thought of all kinds of bad news the woman could give them.

“Come on, Ms. M...” Max said, gesturing towards Caruso. “We have to get him to a hospital...don't we?” He knew if the wounds were not treated soon, they would get infected.

“These wounds are pretty bad.” Rodger visually inspected the wounds on Caruso's face, shaking his head slowly. He didn't understand why Victor felt the need to do this. To control him? What good was controlling someone if they are too injured to do what is expected of them?

Moynihan closed her eyes and hung her head. She slowly shook her head. “A hospital would do no good...” She looked up at the Dino Squad. They all looked at her, confused, unsure, and scared at the same time. She looked away, trying to hide her tears. “Oh can't you scent it...? ...he's gone...”

As she said this, there was a collective gasp from the group. One by one, the teens looked at each other, and then back at Moynihan. Their eyes were wide with fear and shock, and they looked at their mentor, hoping to find some consolance in her eyes, hoping that she was going to say that she was wrong. But none of that came. There was no comfort. There was no doubt. There was only a horrible truth. But they were not willing to accept it yet. It was too early to declare Caruso to be gone. And they had come too far now to admit defeat. Their frightened looks were soon replaced with looks of determination. Moynihan didn't see their faces, but she sensed they were still confident. She admired them for their unwillingness to give up. But in the end, they will only be crushed. She didn't want them to get their hopes up.

The Dino Squad were not entirely sure what to make of Moynihan's announcement. It had frightened them, and somehow made them more determined. They were angry at first. They couldn't believe their teacher, who had always given them encouragement before, would say something like this. They thought it was some sort of sick joke. But how could it be? Moynihan was not the type to play jokes. She must truly believe Caruso was dead. But how could she know that? None of them had even tried to check for vital signs. And they could feel heat coming from Caruso's body. He couldn't be dead, could he?

The silence was unsettling for everyone in the room. Buzz looked down at his feet, shuffling them nervously. Thoughts were racing through his mind. What if Moynihan was right? Caruso had not even responded to his Pteranodon shriek, and he was quite loud as a Pteranodon. And Caruso wasn't that light of a sleeper. He was the first in the group to come to the realization that Moynihan was probably right. He looked back at Caruso. He had been awfully still since they got there. With all this commotion, shouldn't he have stirred at least once? He hadn't moved even a centimeter. Buzz grimaced a little as he stared at the bridle on Caruso's head. It seemed a bit loosely fitting now, but still dug into his head. He would love to remove it, but it was just too big, and with the way it was hooked up, he feared he'd hurt the boy more if he tried to remove it.

The bridle didn't go unnoticed by everyone else either. They could see it plain as day, but shared Buzz's fear of hurting Caruso more if they tried to take it off. Rodger could see a few sparks emitting from the bridle. He knew that this meant that the bridle was electrified. He gripped his neck gently and rubbed it as he imagined how painful it must be to wear that thing. There would be pain from the spikes, and additional pain from electricity coursing through the nerves, sending them into overdrive. The pain would be unbearable. Rodger had seen a lot of cruel inventions from books he'd rented from the library, but nothing could compare to this. Rodger clenched a fist tightly, shaking it a little as he thought back to when Caruso was taken, wishing he could have stopped it somehow.

Fiona tried her best not to shed a tear. She was still in doubt of Caruso being gone, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was true. She reached out towards Caruso, but then pulled her hand back, fearful of touching him. It hurt her emotionally to see Caruso like this, all cut up and bloody and wearing some cruel contraption. She knew Victor was a dark person and that he was capable of doing horrible things. She knew that he probably dined on his own men and would like to get his claws into any human that he sees do to his extreme hatred of them. But she never would have thought that he would be this cold-hearted. She gasped as she saw the way the bridle cut into the corner of his mouth, and she once again looked at his tongue, lopped on the ground. There were multiple cuts on it, one so deep it looked like it almost cut the tongue in half.

Max just looked at the large body in disbelief. No, Caruso could not be dead, he thought. Caruso was just too confident and tough to be taken down that easily. Caruso was a formidable fighter, he admitted. He couldn't have been taken down this quickly and this easily. Caruso had only been missing for at least a day at most. How could he have been so broken this quickly? What could have reduced him to this? But he knew the answer. Veloci is what reduced Caruso to this state. The cuts were unmistakable. If they weren't from the bridle, they were from Victor himself. Max's eyes scanned over the Stegosaur's body, his mind taking in information on the severity of the wounds, making him fully realize the gravity of the situation. His eyes stuck onto the head piece of the bridle. He saw how it cut into Caruso's mouth, how the inside of his mouth was coated in blood. Max closed his eyes as he recalled what he had said to Caruso that day, feeling a sharp pang of guilt in his stomach.

Moynihan worked up the courage to look back at her remaining students. They were staring at Caruso longingly, probably waiting for him to move, to twitch, anything to prove her wrong. But she knew it was never to be. The scent of death still hung strongly in the air, making her wrinkle her nose, trying to keep the bad smell out. As she looked back at Caruso, Michelle's hurtful words came back to her. She had failed them. Moynihan knew she was responsible for the safety of these kids and she had failed them miserably. She couldn't save Caruso. She had let him down. She made little attempt to even find him, and for what? A twisted leg? She closed her eyes, wishing she could comfort the children but not sure how to do so.

When she opened them up again, she saw Max standing in front of her, staring at her in the face. His expression looked almost like anger, but she could see pain in his eyes, and disbelief as well. Max looked like he wanted to grab her and shake her for saying such a horrible thing. But he held back, although his hands were trembling with agitation. Moynihan took a step back, unable to think of anything to say to the boy.

“...are you sure?” Max asked solemnly, almost muttering under his breath. “Are you sure he's..gone?” Moynihan opened up her mouth to say something, but words were failing her. She remained quiet, offering no more than a gesture to confirm what she said. She made no attempt to doubt herself. Max's eyes narrowed a little. “How can you say that? After all we've been through to find him, how could you say that he's dead?!”

“I...” Moynihan sighed, feeling horrible. She silently wished she hadn't said anything, and yet at the same time, she felt a little morbidly happy, for if she had kept quiet, she would have had to endure the pain of seeing their hopes crushed. She didn't want them to go through what she did sixty five million years ago. It was just too painful for her back then, and she knew these children would have taken it even harder. Humans were always more closely connected to each other than dinosaurs. Their bonds were stronger and she could feel that. “I'm sorry...” It was all she could manage to say.

Fiona's eyes widened as she sensed the tension building up. She quickly moved herself towards the two and stood between them to separate them before things got worse. She glanced over at Moynihan and then over towards Max. She held out her hands to give distance between the two. There was no look of anger on her face, just a mixture of concern and shock. Her attention was focused on Max. “Max..please, don't...” She wanted to comfort him, but feared if she got too close he would shove her away due to his current emotional state.

“Don't what?” Max asked her bitterly, teeth gritted a little.

Fiona snapped her head back, a little surprised at Max's behavior. But one look into his eyes told her he was not truly angry with anyone in particular. She wanted to reach out towards him, to give him a hug and comfort him. But she refrained herself from doing so. “Please..don't upset Moynihan...” Fiona asked him. “Please..don't make things worse than they already are...”

“I just...” Max broke his gaze away from Fiona, feeling terrible for the way he was acting. “I just don't want to believe it...I'm sorry..”

“It might not even be true...” Fiona answered, trying to cheer Max up. “Maybe Moynihan is wrong.”

Max slowly shook his head. “I don't know about that...” He said, defeat starting to weigh him down, his hope disappearing as fast as it came.

Moynihan didn't know what to say to the kids at this point. She wanted to say something to them to make them feel better. She wanted to tell them that she was wrong. She wanted to tell them Caruso would wake up at any moment. But how could she lie to them like that? If she did something like that, she would be outright betraying them. She didn't want to break their trust. And it was hurting her to see them like this. She tried to come up with something to say, anything, but there was only one thing she could say and it was not going to be of any consolance. “I'm sorry, Fiona...but I fear I am not wrong, even though I wish terribly that I was.”

Fiona looked at the old woman in disbelief. “No..it can't be true... There has to be something..” She said, stammering a little.

Joanne slowly shook her head, adjusting her glasses a little. “I wish, but no... I've been a Velociraptor for a long time, Fiona. I have hunted countless times. I have become all too familiar with this scent. It is only present when an organism has..expired.”

“No!” Fiona shouted in response. “It has to be something else... I...!”

“There is no other smell like it.” Moynihan said solemnly, her eyes closed. “Trust me, Fiona, I wish it were something else, but... I am afraid that is not the case.”

“No...” Fiona whispered, feeling her strength to hold her tears back weaken up.

Rump walked over towards the Stegosaur. His ears perked up a little, recognizing who the dinosaur was. He pressed his nose against the dinosaur and sniffed a few times. He snorted in disguist as he inhaled the horrible smell. He sniffed again, grimacing a little, ears folding back a bit. He whimpered a little, sensing something was wrong. He barked a few times, pressing his front paws against the purple body. When that didn't work, he ran around towards the front, towards Caruso's head. He sniffed at the bridle and growled softly, as if he knew it was hurting Caruso. He attempted to bite it, but he felt himself being lifted into the air. Rump whimpered and growled, reaching out towards the bridle with his paws.

“No, little guy...” Rump looked up to see Buzz staring down at him. The young teen had scooped Rump up off the ground and held him against his chest. “You'll only make it worse...” Rump struggled a little and was tempted to go dino. But a look from Buzz made him think otherwise, and he relaxed in Buzz's arms. “Poor Rump...” He said under his breath as he stroked the dog's head.

“Poor Caruso...” Fiona approached the Stegosaurus, her eyes glued on the bridle. She reached out towards it, but stopped herself. She didn't know how to take it off. She couldn't see where the thing hooked together. Feeling defeated, she looked over to Moynihan for help, her eyes wide and pleading. “What should we do?” She asked.

“There's nothing we can do...” Moynihan said, her eyes filled with sorrow. They had an unusual shine to them, caused by tears that now filled her eyes, but she tried not to shed them. “We're too late...”

Rodger shook his head in denial. “No..no... It can't be too late.” He glanced over at Caruso. He didn't want to give up on him like this. His breathing started to become quicker as he raced through his mind, trying to find something, anything. He was always the clever one, wasn't he? He was the one who usually could think of a plan. But now his mind was numb. He couldn't think of anything and his brain was starting to hurt from trying to come up with something. He gripped his head, gritting his teeth. Why couldn't he think of anything?

“Shouldn't we....” Max said, looking over at Caruso with uncertainty. “..check his pulse or something?” He wanted to make some kind of suggestion that may bring out some hope. Moynihan might have smelled something that made her think Caruso was dead, but what if he wasn't? They would have to check his vital signs first, namely heart rate and breathing.

Rodger's face lit up a bit. He looked around the group, hands held out, palms facing each other, trying to emphasize what he was saying. “Y-Yeah, we can do that! Great idea, Max! Someone could feel for his pulse and the other could check his breathing.”

“But...” Buzz frowned a bit. “How could we feel his pulse through that thick skin of his?”

Fiona elbowed him to get his attention. “You can just listen for his heart beat...”

“Oh yeah...” Buzz said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “I guess I wasn't thinking straight.”

“Well, let's do it.” Max said, heading towards Caruso. Following close behind him was Rodger. Max had decided, mentally, that he was going to check for breathing. Rodger head towards the large ribcage. Max approached the head, grimacing again at the bridle digging into his skin. He wished he could take it off, but like everyone else in this room, he didn't know how to. He looked over, trying to see Rodger, but Caruso's large chest was in the way. Rodger was behind Caruso's large front legs, getting ready to rest his head on him to try to hear the thunderous heart beat.

Buzz, Fiona, and Joanne stayed back, waiting for them to get the results. Rump whimpered a little, his eyes glued on the large body and his ears were down. Buzz comforted him by stroking the back of his neck, scratching behind his ears once in a while. Fiona stood close to Moynihan and gazed down at her. In her eyes, she could see both despair and desperation. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the old woman. And she could sympathize with her as well. They were all going through the same thing. Wanting to comfort her, she placed a hand on Moynihan's shoulder. The old woman looked up at her, a tear already appearing. And Fiona noticed that, if she looked hard enough, she could see Moynihan's hands shaking.

“Moynihan...” Fiona started to say, but she wasn't sure what else to tell the woman. She closed her mouth and closed her eyes, sighing. She wanted to say something to make her feel better, but words were failing her. She began to get frustrated with herself. After all Moynihan did to help her, why couldn't she say just one thing to her to make her feel better? As she saw another tear form in the woman's eyes, Fiona felt a sharp pain in her stomach. It was hurting her to see her teacher like this. In all the times she's worked for her, both as a student and a mutant fighting team member, she had never seen Moynihan cry, not even a tear. This wasn't like her.

“I appreciate you trying to help me,” Joanne said softly, offering a small, weak smile. “But I fear that it won't ease my guilt. This is all my fault...”

Fiona slowly shook her head. “No..no it's not your fault. How could you say a thing like that?”

Moynihan tried her best not to cry in front of Fiona. But it proved too difficult for her and before she knew it, more tears streamed down her face. “Because..it's true...” Fiona didn't know what to say. She wanted to comfort Moynihan, so she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close. She allowed the woman to let it all out. It still scared her that Moynihan, usually always so unflappable, would break down like this. But she could not just tell her not to cry. That would be wrong. Everyone needs a good cry, don't they?

Max moved a little closer to Caruso's head, heading towards the open jaws. He swallowed in anticipation. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but he didn't want to quit, not now. The closer he got to the open mouth, the faster his heart was racing. Once he reached the nose, he knelt down, gently placing his hand on Caruso's head, just behind the eyes. He moved his other head towards the front of the snout. If Caruso was still alive, he should be able to feel hot breath against his palm. He held his hand in front of the open mouth, just above the tongue. He waited, hoping, praying. He closed his eyes and hoped that he would feel something. But he felt his hopes crush as he did not feel anything. His eyes widened and he slowly shook his head. He couldn't feel even the faintest of breathing. This couldn't be possible. Caruso couldn't be...

“Rodger? You hear anything?” Max called over, hoping the african-american would have better luck.

Rodger placed his hands on Caruso's side and then pressed his ear up against the skin. He tried to listen as best as he could. He pressed as hard as he could against the side, knowing the thick skin would probably muffle the sound of the heart beat. But with a big animal like this, it should be pretty easy to hear a heart beat, or so he had believed. After several seconds, he couldn't make out a heart beat. He started to feel a little panicked, but didn't jump to conclusions just yet. Caruso's heart beat was probably very slow. So he pressed his ear further against the ribcage, struggling to hear even the faintest of heart beats. A minute passed by, then another, and another, and he could not hear anything.

Closing his eyes solemnly, he said, “...there's no heartbeat.”

“No...” Max whispered, not wanting to believe it. “No...it can't be true. No.”

Rodger tried his best to keep a straight face. But as he inhaled, there was a shake to it as he tried to stifle a cry. “I've been listening for several minutes, Max. There's..nothing...absolutely nothing at all...”

“But..what about his thick skin? What if the heart beats are being muffled?” Max asked.

Rodger slowly shook his head. “A Stegosaurus's heart is massive. Even with a thick skin, the size would make the heart beat loud enough to be heard.”

“But what if they are slow?” Max was feeling desperate. He wanted to find a way to lift Rodger's spirits. “If they were slow, then wouldn't the sound...”

Rodger held up his hand to stop Max from talking. “For the heart beats to be so slow that they could not be heard...” He gulped nervously. “..he's too far gone.”

The others watched the two talk to each other. They could not hear what they were saying. But judging from their expressions and gestures, they knew they had bad news. Fiona pressed her fingertips against her lips in anticipation. Buzz clenched his teeth, holding Rump closer. Joanne stared, unblinking, at the two teens and waited for them to deliver the news. Rump looked up at Buzz, sensing he was feeling upset. To try to console him, he licked Buzz's face and whined.

Rodger and Max stood up and turned to face the others. They could see their expressions. They were prepared for the worst. To confirm their worst fears, the two bowed their heads and slowly shook them. They didn't want to look at their friends' faces when they did this. They didn't want to see their sorrowful looks. It would just make them feel worse.

“No...” Buzz whispered, taking a step back. He had a feeling this was going to be the news, but he still hoped that it would prove to be wrong. Now he felt a wave of painful emotions overcome him. It took almost all of his strength not to drop down onto his knees. He had considered Caruso to be one of his closest friends. To think that he might not see him ever again, it was something he didn't want to think about.

Fiona shook her head in denial. “I-It can't be true..” She whispered. She could feel tears forming in her eyes, but she fought to hold them back, trying to remain strong. She looked down at Moynihan, hoping that she could provide some comfort. But she knew she was not going to get any from her. Moynihan was the first to realize the terrible truth. Moynihan looked at her sympathetically, wiping away a tear. But she did not say anything. Fiona looked away towards Caruso. “Oh, Caruso...”

Moynihan looked at Caruso and felt even worse that her fears were just confirmed. If there was ever a time that she wished that she was wrong, this was it. She wanted Max and Rodger to prove her wrong, but they didn't. They couldn't hear a heart beat and they couldn't detect any breathing. Caruso was either dead or too far gone for any kind of help. If only they could have gone faster... Why had she slowed them down at the lighthouse? When they proposed the idea of going to Boston, why didn't she just let them go to begin with? She shouldn't have tried to stop them. She had taken away precious time from them to find Caruso. If they had gotten here just a little earlier, maybe they could have saved him.

“Come on...” Joanne spoke up to get the kids' attention. “..let's go. We...must inform Caruso's parents what happened.” It was going to be very hard for her, and all of them, to tell the couple that their son was killed. She silently wished she didn't have to do this, but at the same time she knew that Caruso's parents had every right to know what happened.

Max looked left and right, shaking his head in denial. “No..no we can't just...” He looked down at Caruso, staring at his unmoving dinosaurian face. He bit his lip. The thought of leaving Caruso's body here to rot made him sick. “..we can't just leave him here.”

“Maxwell... dear boy...” Moynihan said. “There's nothing we can do. He's..he's... gone...” Moynihan didn't like the idea of leaving Caruso's body here. But what else could they do? Unless Caruso changed back, somehow, they would have no choice. They would draw too much attention if they tried to carry a Stegosaur body all the way back to Kittery Point in Maine. “We...really do not... have a choice.”

Max shook his head again, a look of fear on his face. Slowly he frowned and walked over to Moynihan. He didn't know what was coming over him. He just suddenly felt so angry with Moynihan, even though this wasn't her fault. As Moynihan saw him approach, her eyes widened a bit. For the first time, she actually felt afraid by his presence. She started to walk backwards, wanting to get away from the situation. She felt her back press up against a cold wall. Max backed her up, his frown furrowing deeper. He gripped her arms a bit roughly, pushing her a little harder against the wall. “Yes, we do have a choice...” He told her through clenched teeth. “There's always a choice...”

Moynihan shook her head. “I'm sorry... but there is no choice here. The second choice is nonexistent. There's never going to be another choice.” She cried out in pain when Max gripped her arms tighter, his fingernails digging into her, and pulled her forward only to slam her hard against the wall again. Her head was thrown back and hit the wall pretty hard, but not hard enough to make her lose consciousness.

“Max..please, stop this...” Moynihan begged, eyes wide with shock. She never dreamed she would be assaulted like this by one of her own students, let alone a member of the Dino Squad. But Max didn't stop. He refused to let her go, despite the fact that he really wanted to. But he couldn't stop himself. His emotions were taking over. Wanting to release the built up tension that he could feel in his fingertips, he released his grip on one of his arms, formed a fist, and pulled his arm back. Without warning, he delivered a punch. It landed square on Moynihan's jaws. Her head was thrown to the side, and she cried out in pain as a bruise quickly formed just below the corner of her lip.

“Max!” Fiona gasped in horror. She couldn't believe Max would do something like this to Ms. Moynihan. “What are you doing?!” She reached out to try to stop the fight, but she felt Buzz grip her wrist and hold her back.

But Max ignored her completely. He continued to pin Moynihan against the wall, eyes filled with mixed emotions. “You're lying!” Max shouted at Moynihan, tears starting to stream down his face. When he shouted again, his voice was weaker. “You've just..got to be lying...” His grip weakened until he released Moynihan. As the old woman rubbed the sore marks on her arms, Max dropped down onto his knees, staring at the ground with a distant look in his eyes. “It's got to be some sick lie...” He inhaled sharply as more tears trinkled down his face. He could feel his nose start to stuff up as the tears went into his nostrils.

“Max...” Moynihan whispered, kneeling down in front of him. She reached out towards him and gently cupped his chin. “It's going to be all right in the end...you'll see. Please don't cry...”

Realizing what he had just done, Max started to shake uncontrollably. “I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to.. I don't know what came over me.”

“Shh...” Moynihan pressed a finger against his lip, silencing him. “It's all right...” Despite the pain in her arms and mouth, she pulled the young boy into an embrace to comfort him. It was all she could do. “Let it all out...” She whispered to him and she could feel her shirt start to dampen from the boy's tears.

* * *

Down in the corridor, Michelle hurried to get out of there. She wanted to get as far away from the room as possible. She wanted to get back to Raptor Dyne as soon as possible. She just couldn't face her boss. Victor was probably going to be wondering what took her so long. It wasn't supposed to take her this long to lure the Dino Squad there. And on top of that, she was supposed to lure them with Oscura. But she had chased Oscura off. If she told Victor about it, he was not going to be pleased with her. And knowing Oscura, she was most definitely going to tell.

If she could just get back to Raptor Dyne, she might be in the clear. There might be a chance that Victor would forget about what Oscura said and let her off the hook. That would only buy her time though. Oscura might remind Victor the next day. Michelle would have to make it up to him somehow. She didn't know exactly what she was going to do, but she would think of something soon.

As Michelle turned a corner, near where one of the exits was, she saw a flash of red. Eyes widening, she screamed and halted to a stop before she crashed into the figure standing in front of her. She took a few steps back, slowly craning her head up to see how she almost ran into. When she saw who it was, she stifled a scream and took a step back. “Dr. Veloci, sir..!” She cried out.

Victor folded up his arms, shaking his head disapprovingly at her. His lips were curled slightly back, not in anger, but annoyance and disappointment. “I'm disappointed in you, Ms. Brown.” It seemed to almost upset him that one of his most trusted henchmen would do something like this. Oscura had told him what Michelle had done and, frankly, it both upset him and angered him.

Michelle looked around nervously. Trying to sound innocent, she grinned a bit and asked, “What are you talking about?” As she asked that, she saw movement in the corner of her eyes. She looked over and saw Oscura leaning against the wall with an arrogant smirk on her face. “Oscura...” She whispered, realizing that Oscura had went and pretty much turned her in, and turned back to Victor.

“You have some explaining to do...” Victor said, eyes narrowed dangerously. “And you'd better have a good excuse.. for your sake...” There was a dangerous undertone to that last statement, emphasized by a slight glowing of the eyes. He intended on getting her to tell him the truth. Her punishment, if any was necessary, would be decided upon afterward.

Michelle flinched as he said that. “Yeah..I hope so too.” She whispered to herself. Not wanting to keep Victor waiting, she quickly thought of an excuse to tell him to explain why she did what she did. Hopefully he would decide not to issue any sort of punishment afterward. As she started to explain, she briefly wondered how the Dino Squad were doing and if they had gotten out all right.

* * *

“I-It's no use...” Buzz whispered, loud enough for the others to hear him. “He's too far gone...”

“We have to keep trying!” Fiona responded, kneeling close to Caruso.

“But...” Buzz's voice trailed off.

Buzz was standing next to Moynihan. In front of him were Fiona, Max, and Rodger. After Max had recovered from his very short lived temper tantrum, he was still in denial, as was everyone else, including Moynihan. Believing that they might have overlooked something or had not tried hard enough, he went over to Caruso and tried to wake him up. He shouted, yelled, and roared as loud as he could. He had felt his lungs feel like they were on fire, but he continued anyway. The others had joined in, except Moynihan, Buzz, and Rump that is. The room was filled with so much noise that Buzz expected Victor to beat down the door at any second.

Despite the trio's persistent efforts, none of them were able to get a reaction from Caruso. Their hearts started to ache more and more as their attempts continued to fail. The longer Caruso remained prone on the ground, the faster the trio came to realize that their efforts may have been futile, all in vain, all for nothing. All their attempts to find Caruso, it only led to this, shattered hope and a terrible loss. As the trio continued with their efforts, slowing down as more time went by, memories came back to them. They started to remember some of the things they had said to Caruso, and began to regret how they had treated him. They wished they could take it all back. They wished they could do something to make it up to Caruso. But as they soon slowed down to a stop, they realized that this was not to be.

“...maybe Buzz is right. Maybe...maybe it is too late.” Rodger spoke softly after finally giving up. “We've gave it our all...”

“No...I refuse to believe he's dead.” Max said through gritted teeth. “We just aren't trying hard enough. There has to be something we hadn't tried yet..something...” He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked over to see Fiona staring at him sympathetically. She didn't speak a word, but in her eyes, he could tell that she wanted to comfort him. But there was something about her eyes that looked familiar to him. The way her eyes looked, it reminded him of how Moynihan was looking at him before he punched her. A pang of guilt came over him as he wondered what had possessed him to do that. The old teacher had forgiven him, but that did little to ease his guilt.

“Max...” Buzz finally worked up the courage to get a little closer to Max since he snapped. He still felt a little afraid of the jock after he had punched Moynihan seemingly without remorse. It was of some comfort knowing that Max apologized for what he did, but what if he did it again? Buzz didn't know just how emotionally stable Max currently was. This was one of the reasons he had stayed back while the others moved towards Caruso. The other reason was that he was starting to believe there was no hope left, that nothing he could do would change anything. As the jock turned towards him, Neil said, “You've tried almost everything to wake him up. What else is there left to try?”

“I...” Max said, but couldn't come up with an answer. He could only look away, not wanting to look at Buzz in the eyes. He didn't want him to see his newly formed tears. They stung his face, already red from the other tears he had shed. He felt embarrassed. A guy wasn't supposed to cry, weren't they? A guy was supposed to be strong. They were supposed to be stable. They were supposed to do the comforting. The memory of him breaking down and an old woman comforting him made him feel like a little child.

“Max is right.” Max turned to see Fiona, still standing next to him, defending him. She sounded so confident, even more so than he was sounding right now. Fiona always seemed to be one of the most level headed of the group. She displayed good leadership qualities. Even though he was also a good leader, he couldn't help but be jealous of her. “There has to be a chance...even a slight chance... Caruso's tougher than this. He couldn't have been...”

As she said that, a familiar sound caught everyone's attention. A glow filled the corners of their eyes and they quickly looked over to see what was happening. The large Stegosaur body was engulfed in the familiar bluish glow associated to detransforming. The sounds of molecules and cells quickly shifting filled the air, and quickly, almost suddenly, the body shrunk back down, revealing the human form of Caruso. Caruso remained on his side, mouth still open. His eyes were closed softly, as if he were just sleeping. They could see where some of his clothes were torn from Veloci's assaults, especially on his arm. There was several places coated in some blood from his injuries and his hair was messed up, ripped and torn from the bridle that he was still wearing. The injuries on his face became more clear, especially on his forehead where the massive blow was dealt. The war bridle seemed to fight even tighter on him now, although that seemed implausible. The bit that was still in his mouth cut in deeper now, producing more blood flow.

A strange and happy feeling began to fill everyone's minds, everyone but Moynihan. They were elated to see the transformation take place. They were familiar that transforming took mental power. They would have to focus hard enough on their dinosaur or human form to switch to and from them. This was why they never transformed at night when they were in a deep sleep. For Caruso to transform, he must have had some consciousness left, enough to change back. And to be conscious, he must be still alive. But they didn't know if he would last very long. With those injuries, he might be completely gone soon. They would have to act fast and get him back to the lighthouse to treat his injuries.

Without thinking, Max started to move towards Caruso. “Come on...let's take him back.” He said, quickly taking charge of the situation. “He won't last long with those injuries.”

Buzz and Rodger nodded towards Max and started to make their way towards Caruso. They knew they would have to be careful when they carried him. They didn't want to injure him further. While they were all happy to see that Caruso might be alive after all, they didn't show it and remained as serious as possible. Something could still go very wrong and they would have to be prepared. But as they got close to Caruso's body, they felt something pull them back physically. Someone gripped them by the collars of their shirts and roughly pull them back. They turned to see who had pulled them back and were surprised to see Moynihan, still gripping their shirts.

“Moynihan...?” Buzz whispered, feeling very confused.

“What are you doing?” Rodger managed to pull himself free and turn around all the way to face his mentor. “Why are you holding us back?”

Moynihan slowly closed her eyes. She quickly released Buzz, not realizing just how hard she was holding him and Rodger. She wasn't sure how to tell them how she felt. She felt afraid, uncertain, and suspicious. She felt like she needed to protect them from suffering what she did before the mass extinction. She would never wish this fate upon anyone for it had taken her years to recover from it. When she saw Caruso transform back, she didn't feel quite as elated. Instead she felt concerned that the children would misinterpret it, and to her fear, they had.

“Please..don't touch him..” Joanne managed to say, not looking at the two in the eyes.

“...what? Why?” Buzz asked, feeling the urge to run towards Caruso despite what she was telling him. Why wouldn't Moynihan want him to touch Caruso? To pick him up, he or whoever was going to do it would have to. They couldn't just drag him on the floor by rope. “How are we going to...”

“It's too late.” Moynihan whispered, loud enough for the boys to hear her.

“W-What..?” Moynihan heard Fiona say behind her. She quickly turned around to face the teenager. Fiona's expression was perplexed and confused, but not genuinely sad. She hadn't fully registered or understood what Moynihan was talking about. All she knew was that Caruso might be alive. There was no way he could change back if he was dead, wasn't there? “What do you mean it's too late?” She looked towards Caruso's unmoving bloody body. “He can't detransform if...”

Moynihan cut her off abruptly by raising a hand to silence her. “I know how you might think that, dear Fiona...” She said with a sense of understanding, but there was a tinge of sadness in her voice as well. She didn't want to tell Fiona this, but she knew she would have no choice. She looked around her and saw that Fiona was not the only one looking at her. Buzz and Rodger had moved in a little closer to listen to what she had to say. Max had also walked back towards them, looking confused as to why no one was following him towards Caruso. “But I'm afraid that detransformation only..confirms my fears.”

Fiona gulped, dreading what Moynihan was going to say next. Part of her wanted to make the old woman stop talking, but the other wanted to know what Moynihan had suspected. “What do you mean...?”

“What..fear..? How does this confirm it?” Max asked, sounding slightly agitated again.

Moynihan swallowed hard, shaking a little from fear of having to reveal the information. She looked down at the ground, not wanting to bear the pain of looking at her students' faces. Could she really do this to them? Could she really break this terrible information to them and completely demolish all hope? “I-I..should have told you this before.” She said with regret. “The primordial ooze does not last long without a host. In a sense it's 'alive', and immediately bonds with living tissue. Without that living tissue, the primordial ooze 'dies'. Once it does that, the individual reverts back to their original form.”

Upon hearing this news, an uncomfortable silence settled upon the little group. Had they hard her right? Did she just say what they thought she said? They looked back at Caruso, this new information slowly being digested into their minds. Almost immediately, they began to deny it at first. They couldn't stand the thought of their best friend dying like this. They didn't want to believe that there was no hope left. This had to be a mistake. It just had to! Caruso can't die like this. This was not how their rescue plan was supposed to go. Any moment now, they were going to wake up from this terrible nightmare. But no matter how many times they would pinch themselves, they remained awake. This was either a very surreal dream or this was reality. Yet, in the back of their minds, they knew that, no matter what they did, this was one dream they will never wake up from.

Fiona gripped Moynihan's shirt and pulled her close. She did not hold the same angry expression on her face that Max had. Instead she had a more pained look of disbelief. Her eyes were wide with fear. She shook her head in denial. “..It's not true...” She whispered. “Please..tell me it's not true..” Tears threatened to stream down her face as she found it more difficult to hold them back. “Tell me it's not so...”

“I'm sorry... But I can't...” Moynihan closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Fiona, pulling her close. Fiona didn't fight back at first, just letting the woman hold onto her. She could hear sniffling from Moynihan, who was trying to hold back her tears but failing to do so. “I'm so sorry...” She whispered as she tried to console Fiona. She wished there was something more she could do.

Fiona shook her head in both despair and denial. “No...” Suddenly she shoved Moynihan away. The startled woman stammered back a few inches, looking at Fiona with a shocked expression. Fiona didn't stand there for very long. She quickly turned around and started to dash towards Caruso. “Caruso!” She felt herself being pulled back. She glared at Moynihan, who had gripped onto her arm. “Let me go! He needs help!” She shouted, pulling her arm roughly away only to be gripped again.

“Fiona!” Moynihan tried to explain. “It's too late!”

“It's not too late! There's still time!” Fiona said, completely denying Moynihan's claim. “We just need to hurry!”

Moynihan tried to pull Fiona back, tried to stop her. “Don't touch him!” She shouted with a sense of urgency in her voice. “Don't go near him! Please...” She begged, choking back a sob. “Please...I don't want you to be more hurt than you already are... please...” But her begs fell on deaf ears. With one final pull, Fiona broke free from her grasp. All Moynihan and the boys could do was watch as the distressed tomboy rushed towards the still form on the ground, calling out his name in vain, hoping he would respond.

“Caruso!” Fiona shouted one last time as she reached Caruso's side. Her running slowed quickly into a walk. Her expression was pain-filled and her eyes were glossy from the tears filling them up. As she walked by his side, her voice lowered into a pained, soft speaking voice. “Caruso...” She whispered, a slight crack to it as she tried not to cry. She felt herself fall into her knees next to the young teen that she had grown so attached to since the incident at the tide pool. She reached out towards Caruso's face with a shaky hand. She wanted to touch his face, but she pulled her hand back as she looked at the bridle that dug into his skin. Her lip quivered as she said, “No...” She pushed her hands underneath his unmoving body, pulling Caruso up off the ground and into her arms. She stared into his face as she gently cradled him. “Oh no...please...” She said, choking back a sob. “No...”

Moynihan couldn't stand seeing Fiona like this. She could feel Fiona's pain, and she felt a sharp pain in her heart as she watched the girl try to wake up Caruso. It hurt her even more knowing that nothing Fiona will do will change a thing. She looked away from the heartbreaking scene, many tears staining her face. “Oh Fiona...” She murmured, sniffling a bit. “Why didn't you listen...?”

Fiona's hand found its way onto the headpiece, feeling the cold metal as a sharp pain dug into her stomach. This horrible contraption, she couldn't begin to imagine what it must have put Caruso through. Without thinking, she transformed her hand and used her large claws to cut through the terrible device. “I'm going to get this off of you, Caruso...” She said to him as if she was expecting a reply. As she cut the final strap, the straps holding the headpiece to his body loosened up. A few more cuts and Fiona managed to get the body piece off, revealing red marks on his skin where the straps pressed into him.

Fiona gently gripped the head piece with one hand. Very carefully, she pulled on it, sliding it off of Caruso's head. When she got it off, she tossed it away in disgust, angry with what it had done to Caruso. She turned her attention back towards Caruso. Slowly, she touched his face, pressing her hand against his cheek. “Caruso...?” She tried again, hoping that he might hear her this time. “Caruso...please...wake up...” She begged him, stroking his hair. “We're here now... We've come to save you, just like I promised...” But she didn't get a response from Caruso. His eyes remained closed and he didn't move an inch. “No...”

Swallowing her own fear, Moynihan slowly walked over towards Fiona. She tried her best to ignore the smell radiating from his body. She knelt down right behind them and remained still for several seconds, unsure of what to do. Eventually she wrapped her arms around Fiona again, hugging her tightly but gently. This time, Fiona did not try to struggle and she didn't push Moynihan away. Instead, she gave into her emotions. She started sobbing as she pressed her cheek against Caruso's head. Moynihan continued to hug the convulsing, heartbroken Fiona as she let it out. Hearing Fiona cry like this was only making her feel even more guilty and renewed a sense of protectiveness for the remaining kids.

Rump whined loudly as he listened to Fiona cry. Sitting down on his haunches, he lifted his head towards the ceiling and let out a long, haunting howl, a throwback to his distance ancestor, the wolf. As his howl slowly faded, he felt himself being picked up. He turned to see Max holding him. In an attempt to comfort the jock, Rump licked his face a few times. Max smiled a little, but that smile quickly faded as he looked towards where Caruso was being held by Fiona.

Max had a hard time accepting what had just happened. They arrive here, ready to get Caruso out as soon as possible. Then they find out that he might be dead, and then he changes back into his human form. But Moynihan claimed that it only proved that he was dead. This was all almost too much for Max to handle. He closed his eyes as his guilt came over him once again. Seeing Caruso like this, seeing those cuts on his body and face, it reminded him so much of what he had said to Caruso not so long ago. He had outright said that he was sick of the teen, especially his fame-seeking habits. Max swallowed hard as he remembered just how hard Caruso had taken that insult. He looked..defeated if that sounded right. He was so emotionally distressed that he hardly made a strong reaction.

He wished he could apologize. It was what he wanted to do the most when they would find Caruso. But now that they were here, he finds that he is too late. There's no time left to apologize, no time for anything. Caruso would never know just how sorry he truly was, and this tore through Max's very soul. He was trying his best not to cry again. His face was still red where the tears stained him and it stung a little. But his efforts were in vain as another tear escaped and stained his already sore cheek. Holding Rump with one arm, he traced the tear from his face with a single finger.

“I can't imagine...the pain he must have been through..” Max had managed to say, his voice choking as he fought back a sob. “And..we weren't able to stop it...” He found it harder and harder to hold back his tears. As he fought back his tears, he failed to notice Rodger walking up towards him from behind. “I'm sorry Caruso...I'm so sorry...” He whispered, closing his eyes and covering his face with his free hand. He nearly jumped when he felt a large hand on his shoulder.

“Are..you all right?” Rodger asked carefully, even though he could clearly tell what was wrong.

Max was silent for a few seconds and then glared at Rodger, almost like he was furious with Rodger for asking that. He felt like punching the guy. He was fighting the urge to wretch himself away from him. But he couldn't get his legs to move. Instead he stood there frozen, glaring at Rodger. He started to shake a little and Rump started to feel uncomfortable, sensing the teen's growing anger. He struggled to get out of Max's arm and when he managed to get free, he trotted towards Buzz. Seeing how Rump reacted to his swift change of emotion and noticing Rodger's growing concern, Max slowly relaxed and slumped his shoulders. He couldn't take out his frustration on Rodger. That would only make things worse.

“It's just that...” Max exhaled slowly. “I never got a chance to apologize...”

Rodger tried to comfort Max with a smile. “I'm sure he knew you were sorry...”

“But it's not just that...” Max said, turning away to look at Caruso. “We took so long to get here... What if he thinks we abandoned him on purpose? What if he died believing we did not care?”

Rodger was taken aback by this statement. This didn't sound like the Max he knew. And it certainly didn't sound like something Caruso might believe. “Why do you think that? I don't believe Caruso would believe such a thing. I mean, he knew we cared about him...”

Max frowned a little. “Did he? After what we said and done to him... did he really believe we cared about it?”

“Now listen here, it was you who said all those things to...” Rodger said, attempting to defend himself.

“Rodger..we are all guilty.” Max said in a serious tone, eyes narrowing slightly.

“How are we all...” Rodger started to say before he realized just what Max had meant. “Oh...”

In a way, they were all guilty of doing something that really upset Caruso. Usually, under normal circumstances, they would just brush it off as if it were no big deal. All friendships had their quirks, didn't they? All friends would have problems with one another. It was normal. But they never would have believed just how much these seemingly meaningless things would effect them after Caruso had died. They never expected it to happen this fast. Caruso was so young. He didn't deserve this. As memories flashed through his mind, one in particular stood out. It was the time when he had cut Caruso's hair without his permission. He had wanted to forget about that. He remembered how upset Caruso was. And Rodger had only made it worse by purposely exposing his bad haircut in front of the entire classroom.

Rodger slowly shook his head. What was he thinking? Was he so caught up in the idea of revenge that he would ignore the emotional warning signs? He had laughed so much after seeing Caruso run away like that. But now, thinking back, it only brought him pain for two reasons. The first one being that Caruso was in emotional distress. The second one was that he had found the entire situation very amusing. He hadn't taken Caruso's feelings into consideration. All he had cared about was getting revenge over something that could have been settled had he just talked to them. Rodger felt like beating himself up. Why hadn't he done that in the first place?

Another incident that came to Rodger's mind was during the football game. Caruso had wanted to win a football game and he wanted to do it through cheating. He had wanted to use his dinosaur powers to win, and this was something that everyone else had strongly opposed. They had all believed that he only wanted to do it simply for fame. That seemed to be a strong motivation for Caruso. If it involved fame and fortune, he'd be willing to do almost anything. He was even willing to expose himself on national television because of this dream. But it was only later that they had found out the real reason for Caruso cheating. It wasn't for himself. He was only doing it so that he would please his parents. He was afraid of letting them down. He didn't want to do that, so he decided to cheat to win the game to make his parents proud of him.

Rodger recalled that the group didn't feel too guilty afterwards. Caruso wasn't upset and he had decided to stay on the team anyway. But now, things felt a little different. Rodger felt even worse, and he couldn't shake off that feeling, even though Caruso didn't harbor any ill feelings towards him. Or did he? He started to feel a little concerned, just like Max. What if Caruso had believed they abandoned him on purpose? Caruso was only missing for about a day, but with what he had gone through here, time must have seemed to take an eternity to pass by. He probably lost hope very quickly and had died believing that they didn't care about him. This wasn't true of course, but did Caruso know that? Rodger closed his eyes and sighed. He couldn't help but feel responsible.

He had tried to create a computer to locate Caruso, and he had failed miserably. The computer died almost instantly and he almost set the lighthouse on fire. He had failed and of all the times for it to happen too... 

“You're not the only one who believes they had failed Caruso.” Rodger said to Max.

“Darn it!” They heard Buzz shout. They quickly looked over at the teen. Buzz had slammed his fist onto the hard ground. He flinched in pain but didn't pull his hand away. Rump had backed up a bit, but remained close, albeit confused. Buzz dropped onto his knees, shaking in anger. His eyes were closed so tightly it looked like he would rip his eyelids off. Grinding his teeth, he hissed, “Stupid Veloci! Why did he have to do this?! How could anybody be this cruel?!” He took in a few shaky breaths as Max and Rodger watched him, unsure of what to say. Buzz didn't pay attention to them. He was caught up in his own grief. “Caruso...he was just a kid! Do you hear me, Veloci?! HE WAS JUST A KID!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, uncaring if anyone, be it friend or foe, heard him. After the shout, he opened up his eyes, letting the tears flow from them as he slowly stopped shaking.

Max turned away for a few seconds, feeling the pain and distress in Buzz's voice. But he couldn't keep his gaze away from the punk-loving teenager. Without saying a word to Rodger, he made his way towards Buzz. When he reached him, he knelt down behind him and tried to comfort him. He placed a hand carefully on the teen's shoulders. He wasn't sure how Buzz might react. At most, he expected him to shove him away. But instead, Buzz simply looked up at him. He made no attempt to push him away. Max looked to the ground, struggling to find the words to say.

When he finally found the words to say, he opened up his mouth slowly, but even then hesitated a little. “Don't worry, Buzz... Victor will not get away with this. Caruso's death will not be in vain.” Max spoke loudly with confidence. “I can promise you that, if that makes you feel better.” Buzz didn't respond, but offered a small smile of gratitude. It helped him feel better knowing he wasn't the only one who felt this way.

“He'll pay...” Rodger said, now standing close behind the other two males. He had followed Max over and heard what he told Buzz. Rodger felt his own desire for revenge rise up inside of him. He wanted to let out this terrible feeling and now he had a target. They had been blaming themselves for something that had happened in the past. It wasn't their fault Caruso was dead. It was Victor's. He was the cold-blooded killer who murdered Caruso without a second's thought. “Mark my words.. Victor will pay for what he did!”

“If I ever get my hands on him..I'll...” Buzz gripped at the ground with his fingernails. He was still on his knees. “..rip him apart! I'll kill him!” He shouted and then clenched his teeth together. “I'll kill him...”

“Make him suffer the pain that we did when we lost Caruso.” Max hissed. “Make him suffer every once of pain he inflicted onto our friend!”

Fiona shuddered as she listened to what the boys were saying. She had gently set Caruso's body on the ground and turned around and hugged Moynihan back. She had so many things on her mind right now. And the way the others were acting wasn't making herself feel any better. In fact, it was frightening her. Right now, she wasn't interested in revenge. She was in too much pain to be thinking about ways to go after Victor. She understood why the boys were upset and why they would want to seek revenge, but it was still frightening to see them like this. It was so unlike them to talk like this about anyone, and she hadn't seem them act this way before either. This combined with the thought of losing Caruso was making her mind an emotional wreck.

Continuing to hug Moynihan, Fiona whispered, “Why are they acted like this...? They're scaring me...”

Moynihan gently stroked Fiona's red hair. “They're just upset dear... We all are.”

Fiona got quiet after Moynihan said that. She knew the old woman was right. Caruso's death was taking a toll on all of them. She began to contemplate why she was feeling like this. She hadn't expected Caruso's death to have this kind of impact on her. She did care about him and regarded him as one of her closest friends. But with his death came a wave of new, unexpected feelings. She remembered how she was feeling when she held him in her arms. He still felt warm, but only just slightly. Feeling his core body temperature drop like that made her heart ache more the longer she held him. She was struggling to prevent herself from crying. She wasn't the type to allow herself to cry so quickly. But this...this was just too much for her. She couldn't hide her emotions. Fiona then started to ask herself one question. Did she regard Caruso as more than just a friend?

She didn't think too much of him at first, before the tide pool incident. To her, he was just another vain show-off who tries to impress other people, but had a selfish motivation in doing so. He hardly seemed interested in developing genuine relationships. He seemed more like the person to use people and then throw them away when he was done with them. If it had been her choice, she never would have bothered to get to know him. But after the tide pool incident, and they gained dinosaur forms, she was suddenly thrown onto a team with him, along with three other people she didn't think highly of at the time. She thought she would be driven crazy knowing they know had to work as a team on a regular basis.

But the longer she worked with them, the quicker she grew to realize that these people weren't as bad as she thought they were. Their battles had not only made them a better team, but it also helped them understand each other better. And as a result they grew close, both as a team and as friends. It wasn't until now did Fiona realize she had grown especially close to Caruso. She didn't always show it, but she seemed to have developed a special attachment to Caruso. Was it love? Fiona shook her head at the thought. She wasn't interested in love, so why would she even think about developing a crush on Caruso? It just seemed...absurd and awkward. He was a friend, that's all! Or was he...?

Fiona tightened her grip on Moynihan a little bit. She wanted to stop thinking about what happened, but how could anyone ignore the loss of a loved one, especially when they were right at their feet? Fiona wanted to wake up from this nightmare. Caruso couldn't possibly die! There was just no way.. It was impossible!

Fiona finally managed to say something after being lost in deep thought for a few minutes. “W-Why...?” She choked, breathing in shaky, sharp gasps of air. “Why did he have to die...?” She sniffled, tears starting to stuff up her nose. But she didn't care. “I..I never got a chance to...” She couldn't deny it anymore. “..tell him how much I..loved him...” She started to cry a little harder.

Moynihan sighed sadly. She gently stroked Fiona's hair again to try to calm her down. It hurt her to see the girl like this. “Shhhh....” She whispered, trying to get Fiona to stop crying. “It's all right...shhh...” She then, not knowing what else to do to cheer Fiona up, gently planted a small kiss on her forehead, like how a mother would do to her child. Fiona didn't object.

“This...this is all my fault...” Fiona muttered under her breath, silently cursing herself. “I should have gone faster... I'm a Spinosaurus... I should have been able to move faster..” She gritted her teeth, clinging a little tighter into Moynihan to the point where she was unintentionally driving her nails into her. “All my fault...”

Moynihan slowly shook her head. “It's not your fault Fiona... Don't blame yourself.” She whispered, slowly rubbing her face against Fiona's in another attempt to comfort her. “If it's anyone's fault... It's mine.” She said regretfully.

Fiona's eyes snapped open and she moved her head back to look up at the teacher. Moynihan had a look of shame on her face and she could see a tiny glint under Moynihan's eyes where tears of guilt were starting to form. Fiona slowly shook her head, her eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. “No...” She said, wiping away her own tears. “No. It's not your fault, Ms. Moynihan.. How could it be your fault? You tried your best... You didn't mean for this to happen...”

“And my best was not good enough...” Moynihan said glumly. She released one of her arms from Fiona and put her face in her hand. “It wasn't good enough...” She let her tears fall down her face, not bothering to wipe them away. She ignore the increasing difficulty she was having to breathe through her nose and continued to blame herself. She didn't know who else to blame. She was the one who was in charge of these kids. She was the one who should have been able to protect them. She had failed them and she couldn't clear her mind of this fact. “It's all my fault... I'm so stupid! Why didn't I see this coming...? Oh..I should have seen the warning signs... I should have done something earlier...”

Fiona's lower lip quivered a little as she listened to what Moynihan was saying. “Oh Moynihan...please, don't blame yourself...” She tried to comfort Moynihan by snuggling up against her. But she feared it wouldn't be good enough. She listened to the old woman start to cry. Fiona looked over her shoulder towards the boys and gave them an almost frightened, helpless look. She wanted them to come over and help her calm the old woman down.

The boys stared back at Fiona, a look of sympathy and guilt on their faces. They could sympathize with Fiona and Moynihan and what they were going through right now. But at the same time they couldn't help but feel guilty. They had heard Fiona say how they were frightening her with the way they were acting. They immediately grew quiet after hearing her say that, mentally scolding themselves for allowing their anger to get the better of them. They were so desperate in releasing their anger that they had forgotten to take others' feelings into account. And the expression that Fiona was giving them was only making them feel worse. They tried to think of something that they could do to make them all feel better.

After staring at the heart wrenching scene before them, Max started to make his way towards them. Buzz and Rodger slowly followed, Rump running by their heels. As they reached Moynihan and Fiona, they dropped down onto the ground, forming a small circle around them. Moynihan hadn't noticed that they were there, but Fiona did. It took her a few seconds to find something to say to the boys.

“..what are we going to do..?” Fiona whispered under her breath, looking at Moynihan with concern. It frightened her to see Moynihan blame herself like this. It just wasn't like her. “I'm so worried about her...”

Max was the first one of the boys to give an answer. “Ms. Moynihan... you shouldn't blame yourself. Trust me..I know..that it is like...” He closed his eyes slowly, placing a hand on his forehead, rubbing his forehead a little. “...to blame yourself when something goes wrong... It doesn't work, believe me... It only makes things worse.” He was speaking from experience. When he was blaming himself earlier, he knew that he was only making himself feel worse. He wasn't doing himself or anyone else any favors.

Moynihan didn't bother looking at the boy when she gave her response. “No...it is my fault.” She didn't know why she was refusing to listen to Maxwell's advice. She wanted so much to do so, but her own guilt was pulling her back. She felt the urge to continue blaming herself, to continue beating herself up even though she knew it was upsetting the children. “I..I don't deserve to be your mentor... I let you all down...”

“Moynihan!” Max gasped, frightened and a little shocked that Moynihan didn't listen to a word he was telling her. “Please..stop it!” He said with a strong sense of urgency in his voice.

“It's not going to do any of us any favors...” Rodger said, trying to sound a bit calmer than Max did. “Please....stop this....”

“It hurts us to see you like this.” Buzz said softly.

Rump's ears lowered down a bit further as he walked over to Moynihan. He gently nudged her with his nose before whining a little. He curled up next to her, moving as close as he could to the old woman in a desperate attempt to try and cheer her up.

“Even Rump knows you shouldn't be blaming yourself for this.” Max said, gesturing towards the small white dog.

Moynihan managed to find her voice long enough to say in a shaky voice, “I-I know...It's just that I...” But her voice trailed off after that.

“It's just that..what...?” Fiona asked carefully, releasing her grip on Moynihan and leaned back to look at her in the face. “What's wrong, Ms. M?” She placed a hand on her shoulder when the teacher didn't say anything and turned her head away. Fiona frowned with concern. The look on Moynihan's face held not only depression, but something else. It looked almost like..familiarity... “..did something happen?” Fiona whispered under her breath, just audible enough for the teacher to hear her.

At first, Moynihan didn't respond. Seeing Caruso on the floor like this brought back many painful memories of her past. She had long hoped to forget about them and move on. Now she was brought back into that painful state thanks to this. She slowly looked over at Fiona and the other kids one by one. They looked at her sympathetically, and moved in a little closer. She exhaled slowly, feeling bad that she was only making them feel worse.

“I'm..sorry.. I'm not sure if..” Joanne started to say, unsure if she should tell them her story. She didn't want to hurt them even more mentally.

“It's okay...” Max spoke softly, kneeling down next to Moynihan. “You can tell us anything... Did something happen to you?”

Moynihan looked away, eyes closed. “Yes..something like this did happen to me before...” The kids' eyes widened as she admitted this.

“What...?” Fiona whispered softly. She gently placed an arm around Moynihan to try and console her. “Why didn't you tell us?”

“What happened?” Buzz asked.

“I didn't tell you what happened...” Moynihan said sadly. “..because I didn't want to hurt you. You kids are young...too young to be heartbroken with this... That's why I wish I tried so much harder to..protect you all... I didn't want you all to suffer the same pain as I did when I was still a Velociraptor.” She wiped away a tear. “I had told myself I wouldn't let anyone else I care about suffer that fate. But I failed to uphold my promise...”

“What happened...?” Rodger asked, repeating Buzz's question for him.

“Yeah...you can tell us...” Fiona said.

Joanne Moynihan hesitated for a while. She looked at each of the kids' faces. They were looking at her expectantly. They really wanted her to tell them the story. She couldn't understand why. Wouldn't they just make themselves feel worse by listening to her story? No..she would make them feel worse by telling them the story. But then she remembered that humans were largely motivated by love and compassion, one of the reasons she had turned against Victor. The kids knew they might make themselves feel worse, but they weren't thinking about themselves right now. They were thinking about her, the teacher, and they only wanted to make her feel better.

“All right...” Moynihan said, giving in. “I'll tell you...” She drew in a deep breath and began to tell her story as the children leaned in a bit to listen to her tale. “It happened when I was just an adolescent Velociraptor. My pack was..well it wasn't very big, but it wasn't very small either. My mother was the leader of the pack. I never knew my father...which didn't bother me too much at the time.. Velociraptors don't have the same level of compassion as you humans do. Anyway, one day we started to move to another location. Prey in our region was getting rather low and, following our instincts, we followed a migrating herd of ceratopsians, which were our favorite, if not most dangerous, prey. But along the way, we were suddenly...cut off by a Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

Max gulped as she said that. “Oh....” He managed to say, rubbing his throat nervously. He was not liking where this was going.

Moynihan continued, “The Tyrannosaurus Rex stood directly in our path. We didn't understand why it was doing this. We were not its favorite prey and more suitable targets were close by, the Triceratops. We tried to find an alternate path around the big creature and escape, but the T-Rex made its intentions clear. It wasn't interested in hunting the Triceratops. It wanted to hunt us. It roared in our faces and started to give chase. Being smaller, our first instinct was to turn around and run. We had nothing to guard so we would not gain anything by attacking. We managed to escape the gaping jaws of that T-Rex. I had taken another path, between tall thick grass. I continued to run before I realized that no one in my family was following me. I quickly turned and ran back the other way to see they were.”

“I thought Velociraptors couldn't love...” Buzz muttered under his breath, thinking about Victor.

“Shhh!” Fiona elbowed him.

Moynihan nodded towards Buzz. “I never said we couldn't love.. I just said we don't have attachments quite like yours. You see, we have to live life like everyday was our last day. We had to quickly move on and not allow our emotions to get in the way. But sometimes..some of us.. have emotional bonding stronger than normal, at least for Velociraptors.” She then decided to continue on with the story. “Anyway, I saw them running away from the T-Rex. He had ignored me, since I was in an area where it could not see me well, and went after my family, who were still out in the open. I wanted to do something to help them, to distract the T-Rex. But...alas, I couldn't react quickly enough. The Tyrannosaur was leading them straight into a trap, and I was too far to warn them. They were heading towards a thick growth of trees, and waiting between an opening was a second T-Rex. By the time my family knew what was about to happen, it was too late. The second Tyrannosaurus burst throw the trees. Before my family could react, it was already upon them with its jaws.”

“Oh man...” Rodger said, looking to the ground as he listened to what the woman was saying. “You lost your entire family..to that T-Rex ambush?”

Moynihan slowly shook her head. “No...not everyone. Out of the ten that made up our pack, about three of them managed to escape the T-Rexes. I managed to reach them in time and lead them away from the T-Rexes. While I was a Velociraptor at the time, the event did mentally scar me and the survivors... I was in denial for days, or maybe weeks. My two sisters and grandmother, the only ones who survived the slaughter other than myself, recovered much quicker and were trying their best to keep the remaining pack alive. They saw my emotional distraught as a set back and were considering kicking me out. Now before you say anything, that was the way things were dealt with back then. Dinosaurs couldn't afford letting emotions control them for too long. If a dinosaur remains emotionally distraught for an extended period of time, they're often driven away for the group's sake. Dinosaurs under the control of negative emotions often attract predators, or make hunting more difficult.” Moynihan took in a deep breath before continuing, “However I wasn't driven away. Instead, another dinosaur joined the pack, and he brought me out of my depression.”

“Oh really? Who was that?” Max asked.

“..Victor Veloci...” Moynihan said hesitatingly. As the kids looked at her in shock, he nodded slowly. “Yeah..I know... He was..so different back then. But that's probably because 'hairless monkeys' weren't running the planet back then. He quickly became my...mate with my grandmother's approval. Victor had become the leader of the pack and, with his help, we quickly grew in strength.”

“..if this story is supposed to be sad, then why...” Fiona asked, sounding confused.

“This story doesn't sound like something that would hurt us..” Max said. The T-Rexes killing her family did sound sad, but as Moynihan continued, it only seemed to get better and better. Then he realized something. There must have been more to the tale. “...Did something else happen?”

Moynihan slowly nodded her head. “I am afraid so, dear. Not long after Victor joined, there was..another incident with the T-Rexes. The very same that attacked my family only weeks prior. They had tracked us down to our den where we were sleeping. Victor woke me up and started to nudge me away, towards a back entrance. I didn't understand why at first, but then I saw a bloody mess where one of my sisters used to be. A massive green body filled my vision and I could just make out my grandmother being attacked when Victor pushed me away and we were outside. Victor and I took off, making sure we were heading downwind so that the Tyrannosaurs could not track us down by scent. It took until we had run for a very long time before the gravity of the situation started to weigh me down.”

“Oh man...” Fiona whispered. “I'm so sorry...”

“I know you are dear..but you should not be sorry. You weren't there when it happened..” Moynihan wiped away her tears as the terrible memories came back to her. They were even painful knowing Victor was a part of them. He had seemed so caring back then. The thought of him betraying her in the way that he had made her heart ache. Sometimes, she recalls the love she used to share with him when he was her mate. He would have made a caring fatherly figure if that meteorite hadn't struck the planet only a couple years later. For all that time, it had been just her and Victor and together, they outwitted the other predators as well as their prey. They had made such a great team. Sometimes she wondered why they had split apart.

Moynihan was suddenly surprised when she felt Fiona hug her tightly again. She slowly smiled and wrapped her arms around her. Then she felt the other kids hug her as well. Moynihan couldn't keep her smile down. It did make her feel better knowing that they cared and wanted to help her and each other recover from the past..and the present. Moynihan looked over at Caruso. Her eyes watered as she thought about what he had been through and the pain he had suffered. “I'm sorry Caruso...I'm so very sorry...” She looked away, letting her tears fall.

Upon mentioning Caruso's name, Fiona's eyes watered. “Caruso...” She hugged Moynihan tighter, pressing her face against her shoulder as she started to cry again. The mention of their deceased friend's name caused anger and an increased desire for revenge to rise up in the boys. But they dare not say anything. They didn't want to upset Moynihan and Fiona even further. But they made a silent promise to each other. When they find Victor, they will kill him. They will kill him for killing their best friend. He was not going to get away with this.

* * * 

Kista raised up an arm and started knocking at the door to Zoom's apartment room. She had spoken with Peter and completed her mission, if she could even call it that. Peter seemed surprised at some of the details, but overall he kept a straight face. When Kista had questioned him about Zoom, claiming to have seen him walking down the hallway when she was about to enter his room, Peter explained the situation to her and what Zoom could offer to Victor's cause. But even though he was trying to be supportive of his friend, Peter sounded slightly reluctant, as if he didn't completely agree to Zoom's plan. Kista asked Peter where Zoom lived so she could speak to him in person and, after a few moments' hesitation, he gave her his address.

Although she had overheard much of the conversation back at the hospital, she was still skeptical on whether or not Zoom could be of any real help. So he exposes them to the public. Big deal. How was that going to benefit Victor? If anything, it would make things even worse for him. Everyone would be after the dinosaurs then.

She immediately snapped back into attentiveness when she heard the door knob turn and open up. Zoom took one look at her and frowned. “Hello...” He said suspiciously. “....who are you?”

Kista cleared her voice and placed a hand on her chest. “Greetings. My name is Kista Bakar. I had spoken to Peter and I...”

“..why were you in that hospital room?” Zoom said, eyes narrowed. “You don't even know Peter...”

“Says you.” Kista said vainly, rolling her eyes. “I've worked with Peter before.”

Zoom's frown slowly faded. The mention of Victor caught his attention and it made him reconsider what he was about to tell this woman. “You..work for Victor?” He asked carefully.

Kista slowly nodded, pushing away her blond hair from her face. “Why...yes I do in fact.” She gently shoved him out of the way as she walked into his apartment room and looked around. “Heh..nice place you have here. I think I'll make myself at home.” She strode over towards a chair and sat down on it. She noticed she was sitting at the man's computer desk and took note of the expensive machinery sitting down, hooked up. On the monitor, it displayed a clear head shot of a tan Spinosaurus. “Fancy computer you have here.” She said, lifting up a finger to press one of the keys.

Zoom's eyes widened and he held out his hand as he dashed towards the computer desk. “No! Don't press that button! You'll....” But it was too late. Kista pressed the key just hard enough to activate its command. The picture that was on display immediately disappeared. “...delete the picture...” He groaned.

Kista pretended to be shocked, placing her hand towards her mouth. “Oh dear, I'm sorry.” She said sarcastically. “My finger slipped! I guess I must have butter fingers.” She shrugged innocently, grinning towards Zoom, who was rubbing his forehead with frustration.

“Do you have any idea how long it took me to find that picture...?” Zoom asked in a dangerous tone. “And you just..deleted it, just like that! Now it's going to take me forever to find the other pictures!” He rubbed his head roughly, scratching at his scalp with his fingers as he struggled to keep his temper under control. “Why are you even here anyway? Came to delete all my hard work?”

Kista chuckled as she got up from the seat. “You are such a baby.” She teased him, pressing a finger tip against the underside of his chin. “Do you always throw a little temper tantrum whenever someone plays with your toys?” She chuckled and turned and walked away a little to give the man some space. She turned around, hands behind her back in an almost innocent manner. “In all seriousness, I was simply curious to know how you could..benefit Victor with whatever plan you had.”

“Really?” Zoom said, rubbing his chin with his hand where Kista had touched him. “Didn't Peter tell you?”

Kista nodded her head once. “Yes, he did mention it. But...I'm not so sure how it would help...” She leaned in a bit. “Do you care to explain?”

“W-Well I...” Zoom stammered, trying to come up with an answer for the blond woman standing before him. But try as he might, he just could not come up with a good answer. It wasn't really the answer that was the problem. He just couldn't think of a way to word it without it sounding stupid or silly.

Kista smirked arrogantly, folding up her arms. Seeing Zoom struggling to answer like this was amusing her. “Tsk tsk tsk... you poor little benevolent imbecile...” She teased. “You can't think of anything to say can you?”

Zoom shot a look of shock at her. “What..did you just say?”

“You can't think of anything to say.” Kista repeated herself, slowly shaking her head. “Which doesn't surprise me since...”

“No!” Zoom cut her off, waving his hands frantically in front of his body. “I didn't mean that! What did you just call me...?” He asked, narrowing his eyes a little. He placed his hands on his hips and waited for Kista to answer him.

“A poor little benevolent imbecile.” Kista smirked almost playfully.

Zoom's initial reaction was anger. He was really not liking Kista right now. Who was she to go and insult him like that? Did she not know who he was? Then his emotion slowly melted into confusion at what Kista had just said. It made little to no sense at all. “...you do realize that didn't make any sense at all.. right?” He asked her cautiously.

Kista burst into laughter. “Of course it doesn't make sense to you. You aren't gifted with my superior intellect.” She said, brushing her hair back with one hand.

Zoom snapped his head back, stunned. She couldn't be serious, could she? She couldn't possibly be that stupid, or could she? Zoom placed his hand on his face. Just what was Victor thinking when he hired this lunatic? But he couldn't focus too much on this little thing. He had something else to worry about. Kista wanted to know what services he could provide Victor and he might as well tell her. Despite her idiocy, she has ties with Victor and might be able to convince the billionaire to allow him to join the team.

“About my plan... hmm.. before I tell you...” Zoom moved in a little closer to Kista. He attempted to try and use his charm to convince Kista to say yes. “Do you think you can convince Victor to...let me join his gang, sweet cheeks?” He grinned softly, adjusting his glasses. As Kista leaned up against the wall to try and get away from him, Zoom placed his hand against the wall and leaned against it, continuing to give Kista a somewhat creepy grin. “If you say yes, maybe we could...get together sometime. Maybe dinner and a movie...”

Kista scowled at him and shoved him away somewhat roughly. “You scoundrel! Is that the way you treat all the ladies? Despicable!” She started to walk towards the door, a disgusted look spread across her face. “If you're going to act like this, then maybe you are not fit to be a part of Victor's team.” She reached towards the door, intent on leaving the apartment and heading back home. She couldn't believe Peter had sent her here. The next time she saw him, she was going to have a word with him. But as she reached for the door handle, something stopped her. She began to reconsider her decision leaving. A small smile came on her face as she started to think that maybe Zoom does have potential after all. She looked over her shoulder slowly. “On second thought... maybe you could be of some use...”

With that, she turned around and walked back towards the blond man. She circled him a little, similar to a vulture would when it found a dead carcass. As she circled him, Zoom started to feel uncomfortable. Kista was starting to creep him out. Maybe this was why Victor had hired her. He probably shouldn't underestimate her again. Idiot or no idiot, she was intimidating, especially with the way she was looking at him. It was almost a look of hunger. Despite the fact that she was just another human, a woman to be exact, he couldn't help but feel a cold chill shoot up his spine as the woman grinned at him. He backed up against the wall and Kista got as close as she could to him without making physical contact with him.

“So..what about this..plan of yours?” Kista asked, her face close to Zoom's. “Do you care..to share, mister?”

“W-Well...” Zoom started to explain nervously. “You already know that I wanted to..expose the Dino Squad, right...?”

“And how could that benefit Victor?” Kista asked.

“Well..think about it.” Zoom rubbing his hands together, managing to get away from Kista and walk away a little. “If the kids are exposed for what they really are, then everyone will be after them, especially if the kids are made to look like the bad guys. And if everyone is after them, with how rich Victor is, perhaps he could convince these people to catch the children, and offer a reward to whoever succeeds.” He had thought this over as he sat down in his silent apartment. It sounded like a good plan to him. But he still wondered what Victor would think of it.

Kista's eyes turned up towards the ceilng and thought about what Zoom said. His plan sounded ridiculous at first. Just as she thought before, it would raise complications. It could expose Victor for what he really was and ruin the plan. Victor had worked too long and too hard to have his plans ruined just like that. But when she thought more about this idea of Zoom's, she started to realize it might actually be beneficial after all. Victor could be made into a hero of sorts. If Victor offered to destroy these nuisance dinosaurs, then the public would trust him more. Yes...it just might work. As crazy as it sounded to her, it could work.

Kista looked into Zoom's eyes and smiled somewhat darkly. “You know... you might not be as stupid as I thought you were...”

Zoom grinned and stood proudly. “Why thank you, ma'am. I appreciate...” Then he slowly realized what she was implying. Folding his arms, he scoffed, “Hey...!”

“But there is one thing I'd like to know.” Kista leaned against the wall, her arms folded as well. “Just how are you going to pull it off? You know the public will expect more than pretty pictures to convince them of anything.” She held out one hand. “And just how can you prove to the public, one hundred percent, that these kids are the dinosaurs, one and the same?”

“Well there is O'Ryan....” Zoom noted, raising a finger. “He is a...”

“Lunatic and disgraces the dinosaur name.” Kista growled angrily. She had heard about O'Ryan and had checked out his program. But she ended up feeling cheated and felt angry after watching it because O'Ryan fakes almost everything, including the dinosaurs, and tells all kinds of lies to distort the truth and try, in vain, to fool people into thinking he was filming actual dinosaurs. But any one with half a brain could tell he was lying. “How could he possible help?”

“He and his cameraman are really good with camera's...” Zoom started to say. But he was cut off by Kista.

“Oh I'm sure they are...” Kista rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Thanks for that newsflash.”

“Just listen to me!” Zoom growled, resisting the temptation to dig at his scalp as he tried to speak with this woman. Just what was her deal anyway? “Anyway, he could help capture footage of the dinosaurs. And he could bring the footage to me and I can edit it. With my photographs and his footage, we could prove to the public that these dinosaurs that have been spotted multiple times are, in fact, teenagers.”

Kista scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Interesting plan, but... why would O'Ryan want to help you?”

“From what I have heard,” Zoom explained. “O'Ryan is angry about some kids ruining his footage, from which he claimed to have had a kid transforming into a Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

Kista cocked an eyebrow. “Oh really? He had a run in with the Dino Squad I presume?”

Zoom's eyes narrowed angrily as Kista mentioned the Dino Squad. “Yes...” He hissed under his breath. “And O'Ryan ain't the only one who wants a bone to pick with those brats. That punk kid will pay for humiliating me...” He clenched his fists tightly, shaking in anger. “He'll pay dearly...”

Kista giggled, her hand covering her mouth. “You're letting yourself get worked up over a child? How pathetic are you?”

Zoom's eyes narrowed angrily. “He ruined my work and...!”

Kista cocked an eyebrow and folded up her arms. “Excuse me? Your work?” She tried her best not to laugh. “From what I recall, you used someone else's photograph for your purposes. How does that count as your work?”

Zoom was startled that Kista knew about how he had gotten a photograph from someone else, that it wasn't his own photograph. He wanted to ask her how she knew, but then he thought better of it. She'd probably go on a rant or something. “Never mind that.” He said, sitting back down in his chair and pulling himself towards the computer. “Now if you excuse me, I've got some work to do.”

“Don't you want to see Victor?” Kista asked out of the blue, walking towards Zoom. The blond man swerved his chair over and looked at her in shock. The photographer was obviously not expecting her to offer him to meet with Victor personally. He thought he would have had to make a phone call to do that. Maybe he didn't need to ask for Victor's number after all. “I take it you are interested, right? Well hold on there, Speedy.” She held up her hand, confusing Zoom at first. “Have you..set up an appointment...?”

“So I needed the number after all...” Zoom whispered under his breath, feeling somewhat disappointed. Then he spoke up, loud enough for Kista to hear, and said, “So do I need to call him now or...”

“You can call him now..if you want.” Kista walked backwards a couple inches. “But you might want to be careful. Victor hates being disrupted from something..important.” She grinned, looking almost mischievous.

Zoom rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure..whatever.” He turned his chair towards the computer screen. The screen was black. He had turned the computer off a few minutes ago since he was not using it. He pulled out his cellphone and the piece of paper where he wrote Victor's number. He decided to call now before other things would come up and make him forget about calling Victor. But as he started to dial the number, something hard and solid struck him in the back. Zoom's eyes widened, his mouth dropping open as pain briefly registered. Then his eyes rolled back and the eyelids closed. He crumbled onto the desk, unconscious.

Standing behind him was Kista, who was gripping the photographer's camera in her hands. She grinned almost sinisterly towards the man. “Enjoy your sleep, my friend.” She said as she set down his camera and strode over towards the prone shape in the chair. She playfully stroked his hair as her smile broadened almost evilly.“When you wake up, you'll get your chance to speak with Victor...”

* * *

The room had remained silent for several minutes. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of breathing and the occasional, distant footstep. But the footsteps never grew louder, instead only becoming more and more faint until they could be heard no more. The kids were surprised that no one has come to investigate this room, or they would be if their minds were not on something else already. Caruso's death had been hard on them all, and Moynihan's dark story didn't make them feel any better either. A dark cloud had descended upon their minds and it didn't seem like it would clear up anytime soon. How could they recover quickly from something as awful as this?

The scent of death become a little stronger, but despite that, the kids hadn't moved far from Caruso's side. They remained at least a foot from him and tolerated the horrible smile his body was emitting. They didn't feel comfortable leaving him like that, and in this place too. He was their best friend. They wanted to do something, but what could they do? Nothing they do would bring Caruso back. And they all knew that, too. Mixed, mostly dark thoughts clouded their minds. They were devastated that they lost a best friend. They were angry that they couldn't get to him faster. They were vengeful, wanting to get back at Victor for what he'd done. But would it be worth it? Getting revenge on Victor might make them all feel better, but it wouldn't bring Caruso back.

Max contemplated this as he rubbed his forehead with one hand. He looked around the room. No one has spoken a word since Moynihan told her sad story. Fiona hadn't left Moynihan's side. The tomboy was holding onto her, her eyes closed as tears flowed from them. Moynihan and Fiona were trying to comfort each other, hugging each other to try and help the other to calm down. Max slowly turned his head towards Buzz. Buzz was staring blankly at the ground, his fingers fumbling with something, probably a small rock. Buzz was looking at his reflecting, thinking about when they all went to the tide pool that day. He closed his eyes and looked away.

Max then looked over at Rodger, who was staring at Caruso with a look of regret on his face. Max slowly got up to his feet and walked over towards the african-american, wanting to start a conversation with someone to end the silence. He sat down next to Rodger, but averted his eyes from Caruso. He couldn't bear to see Caruso like this, a shadow of his former self. And every time he looked at him now, he could only see Caruso's look of absolute shock when he scolded him so harshly not so long ago. That cold look he gave to Max, the way he spoke to him, that was permanently etched in Max's brain, and he could feel his stomach knot up in pain at the thought.

“Rodger...” Max spoke softly. Rodger looked up at Max, his eyes somewhat puffy and red, suggesting he'd been crying. Max couldn't think of what else to say. So he placed his hand on Rodger's shoulder to try and comfort him. Rodger just looked away.

“I couldn't stop myself...” Rodger mumbled under his breath.

“What...?” Max asked, leaning in a little to try and hear what Rodger was saying.

“Why didn't I stop myself..? Why did I keep on laughing...? Why didn't I get enough...?” Rodger continued to mumble, staring out into space as though he was lost in his own little world.

Max said, “Rodg..what's wrong..?”

“I'm a terrible person...” Rodger mumbled, somewhat louder than what he was saying before.

Max gripped the large teen by his shoulders and started to shake him. “Rodger, snap out of it! You're scaring me!”

Rodger quickly shook his head, blinking rapidly and his eyes opening up wide as though he'd been awakened from a bad dream or a horrible nightmare. He breathed in deeply and quickly, sounding like he was hyperventilating. He looked all around, as if he was regaining his senses of where he was. He looked over at Max and could see just how worried the jock was about him. Feeling guilty, he rubbed the back of his head nervously and said, “I'm..sorry about that.”


	12. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“What happened? You were really zoning out there.” Max asked. Rodger took one look at him as he asked that and slowly turned his head towards Caruso and nodded in his direction. “Oh...”

“I was just..thinking about.... You remember when my...experiment failed...?” Rodger asked without looking at Max. Even though he wasn't looking, Rodger could sense that Max had nodded. He knew that Max would remember that incident. After all, it had effected all of them in someway, mostly thanks to pranks that Rodger himself had pulled later on as a form of revenge. Rodger hadn't realized just how childish he was acting until later on. He had nearly pushed the others too far. “..well I was just..thinking about what I did to Caruso...” His eyes closed as he tried to fight back the tears. “I was..so cruel to him...”

Max looked at Rodger sympathetically and wanted to hug him to console him, but refrained from doing so because he thought it would look and feel awkward. But he wanted to do something to try and help Rodger feel better. “Rodger...we all have regrets.” It was all he could come up with to say.

“B-But you didn't break him..like I had..” Rodger stammered, inhaling sharply as he stifled a sob. “You didn't make him run out of a classroom because of a stupid prank...” He placed his face in the palm of his hand.

“I did yell at him...” Max said, drawing in a long, soft breath as he recalled what happened. “I said things that I had bottled up inside..for so long... I never meant to let them out like that... I didn't mean to hurt him like I had.” He slowly closed his eyes, placing his face in the palm of his hand. He felt a stinging pain in his stomach as he remembered what he had said to Caruso. “I only wish that I had the chance to..properly apologize.”

“Yeah...” Rodger said, eyes narrowing a little. He spoke in a somewhat angry voice. “You were harsh on him.”

“Don't remind me.” Max looked away.

“I'm sorry...” Rodger said, turning his head away as well. “I didn't mean to..come off like that...I guess I'm just..not feeling like myself.”

“Neither am I.” Max responded, agreeing with Rodger. “I don't think any of us will..feel the same for a while, if ever again.”

The two friends sat down in silence, not daring to look at each other. Buzz looked over and saw them, sitting there and talking for a little while before growing silent again. Wanting someone to talk to, he slowly got up onto his feet and walked over to them. He stopped within about a foot away from them and sat down, feeling a little better to be in close company of others. He struggled to find the words to say, but nothing was coming to mind. He would open up his mouth to speak, but no words would come out. What could he say anyway? There was nothing he could say that he felt would make them feel better.

When Buzz thought of something to say, he turned his head towards Rodger and Max. He said, “Man...I...I wish there was..something we missed.” It was true too, and he knew everyone else was thinking the same thing. Rodger and Max turned to look at the punk kid and nodded once, agreeing with what he was saying.

“I know...but there's nothing that...” Suddenly Max stopped his sentence short, his eyes widened a bit as he remembered something, something important. Buzz and Rodger tried to snap him out of his trance, but to no avail. They tried talking to him, but he wasn't responding. His mind was being filled with thoughts and memories pertaining to Moynihan and her science class. There was one lesson in particular that was sticking out in his mind, and it could turn this whole thing around. Moynihan was talking about how wolves would disguise their scent so that other animals wouldn't know they were wolves. He slowly turned towards Caruso and started to wonder if the death scent was his own or...

“Max...?” Rodger asked, placing his hand on his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah...” Buzz said in a concerned voice.

Max didn't answer them. Instead he immediately got off the ground swiftly and turned towards Moynihan. “Moynihan!” He called out. When he saw that he got her, and Fiona's, attention, he continued, “Could you sniff Caruso again?”

The question made everyone stare at him in shock. Moynihan snapped her head back, shaking her head as she was in complete disbelief that Max would ask him something that morbid. “Why...? All it will prove is...”

“Just do it!” Max almost demanded. His voice had a strong sense of urgency. “Please...”

Releasing Fiona and standing up, Moynihan looked at Max with a mixture of confusion and anger. “Maxwell...how dare you ask me to do such a thing...” She said, doing her best to keep herself from getting too angry. She felt somewhat offended that Max would ask her to scent Caruso again, even after she had already done so with no good news. “How could you even think of asking me that...?” She asked him in a soft voice.

“Yeah...what are you, some kind of sadistic person or something?” Fiona said, her eyes narrowed and her arms folded tightly against her chest.

“I know..it sounds weird...” Max admitted, feeling guilty about asking in the manner that he head. “But..just listen to me... Ms. M, don't you remember when you gave us that lesson..the lesson about the wolves?” Moynihan nodded slowly, her eyes still narrowed in confusion, though her anger was starting to melt away a little. “And how they disguise their scent to confuse other predators as well as their prey?”

“Where are you getting at?” Moynihan asked.

“What if this horrible smell...isn't Caruso's?” Max asked urgently. “What if it's not his..scent of death? What if..it's something else?” He knew he was probably just doing some wishful thinking. He knew that Moynihan, being a Velociraptor, couldn't possibly mistaken another scent for death. She was a predator and had probably smelled this scent more times than she cared to count. But maybe there was still a chance that it wasn't Caruso who was emitting that scent, but something else...

“Max..that sounds so..” Fiona started to say.

“Ridiculous? I know.” Max finished her sentence for her. But he wasn't deterred. “But what if there's a chance that..the scent isn't his? What if..Victor wanted us to think he was dead? I mean think about it. What if Victor found out we were coming and wanted to find some way to make sure that we wouldn't leave with Caruso. And what better way than to fool us into thinking he's dead?”

“But...” A voice said behind him. Max turned around to see Rodger and Buzz walking towards him. Buzz was the one who had spoken up. “...how could he fake a scent like this?”

Max held up his hands and arms, shrugging. “Well, he has a lot of chemicals, doesn't he? Couldn't he just..fake the scent somehow?”

“As much as I'd like to believe your claim,” Moynihan said, slowly shaking her head. “I'm afraid that I find it hard to do so...I...” She was caught off guard when Max gripped her arm firmly, but gently at the same time. He looked up at her with wide, pleading eyes, and she had a hard time looking away.

“Just..please...do it...” Max begged.

Moynihan hesitated for a few seconds before giving a soft exhale. “All right then...” She said, turning away from Max and made her way towards Caruso. She did her best to ignore the smell that was filling her nostrils. She could feel anxiety and fear rise up inside of her as she drew closer and closer to Caruso's prone body on the ground. When she reached him, she knelt down beside him and leaned in a little. She took in a few deep breaths, the death scent almost as strong as it was when they came in here. But her human form wouldn't be able to tell her much. She closed her eyes and when she reopened them, she was a Velociraptor once more.

Once again, she sniffed at Caruso. She was feeling rather strange about doing this. But she carried out Max's task. While she had her doubts of his claims, part of her hoped that he was right. As she continued to sniff at Caruso, she did realize that something was rather off about the scent that clung around Caruso. Her eyes widened a little and she pushed her snout in closer, sniffing a little harder as if she were in shock by what she discovered. Her heart started to thump harder. She was noticing a decrease in the scent. The scent of death shouldn't decrease, she thought. It should only get worse as the process of decay sets in. It would only decrease completely after the body was almost completely destroyed. The only way that the scent would vanish before the body could decompose was if..the victim was still alive.

Feeling excited about this discovery, she turned her long head towards the group to deliver the news. But before she could say anything to the others about this sudden revelation, she felt something move at her feet. She looked down to see Caruso's foot against hers. Her eyes widened a little. The foot wasn't there just seconds ago and she hadn't done anything to move Caruso's body. Her feelings were further increased when she realized Caruso must have moved that leg on his own. She lowered her head towards his face, looking at his closed eyes. She pressed her snout gently against his head, taking in a few sniffs, this time scenting no death, but just Caruso himself.

She almost jolted when she felt something press against her snout. Although she could barely focus, she recognized the object as Caruso's hand. She looked back down at his face and noticed a smile had crept over it. Caruso's eyes slowly fluttered open, halfway. Unfocused eyes looked up at her, and the smile broadened slightly, although weakly.

Caruso slowly opened up his mouth to speak, taking in a few weak breaths as he did so. Judging from the look on his face, this once simple task was now torture for him.“W-What do you know....?” Caruso managed to say in a feeble voice. “I'm..I'm so h-handsome.. I-I-I'm even attracting...d-dinosaurs...” He coughed a few times and his eyes closed once again.

Moynihan was, at first, at a loss of words, stunned at hearing Caruso's voice for the first time since that horrible day when the lighthouse was under attack. Quickly the reality of the situation sank in, and she couldn't control the overwhelming feeling of happiness and relief that she was feeling inside her. Without saying a word, she transformed back, and with a huge grin on her face, she wrapped her arms around Caruso and held him up. Caruso grunted slightly in pain but didn't object to the gesture. Moynihan continued to smile as tears of happiness flowed down her face.

“A-A-And it l-likes me too...” Caruso whispered, managing a weak smile.

“CARUSO!” The others cried out in unison, elated. Words couldn't describe what they were feeling right that second. They stood up immediately, but hesitated. They hoped that this wasn't a trick. They hoped that nothing bad was going to happen this time. Unable to control their emotions, they ran towards Moynihan and Caruso. One by one, they wrapped their arms around the two, creating one big group hug. Rump barked happily and ran circles around the group, his tail wagging so fast it looked like it was going to rip off. They all began crying happily, a few laughing a little as it felt like a huge weight was being lifted up off their shoulders. Caruso didn't try to struggle, feeling too weak to move much.

“Caruso, you're alive!” Fiona cried, her eyes filling with tears of joy. “I'm so glad you're all right...” She whispered.

Filling with excitement, without realizing what she was doing, she planted a quick kiss on his cheek. Caruso looked at her, a little surprised, but didn't say anything. Everyone else was just as surprised, but decided not to say anything, believing that Fiona was just so worked up and so happy Caruso was alive that she couldn't help herself. Caruso managed to give a weak smile and said in a joking manner, “..l-looks like I'm not just attracting dinosaurs...”

“Don't ever do that again!” Max shouted angrily, but from the tone of the voice, it was clear that he wasn't really angry, just very relieved. He wanted to apologize to Caruso now, but he knew he would have to wait. Caruso was still badly hurt and he needed medical attention, and fast.

“You gave us quite the scare, yo!” Rodger said, ruffling Caruso's hair playfully, but gently at the same time.

Caruso winced a little, but not in pain. “Please...p-please..don't m-mess w-with my..my hair...Rodger...” He whispered weakly, trying to raise his hand to push Rodger's hand away. But due to the lack of strength, it just fell limply at his side once again. Rodger just smiled and pulled his hand away. Same old Caruso, he thought.

Buzz smiled as he looked at Caruso. “So...do you want a rematch?” He asked, referring to the online game Rodger had designed. While Caruso made no verbal response, his nonverbal response was a smile. Buzz took that as a yes and his own smile broadened.

Caruso was, at first, grateful for the hugs he was receiving and was enjoying the moment, feeling secure and happy for the first time in almost twenty-four hours. He received no such comfort while he was staying with Victor. He didn't realize just how much he'd miss human interaction, being in the company of friends and family, even though he had only been away for about a day. The touch of his friends was a welcome gesture for him, having felt only pain and misery for hours upon hours. But he slowly realized the others were hugging him a little tightly. His eyes widened in pain. He knew they were very happy to see him, but if they didn't let up, they wouldn't be happy for long. They were hugging so tightly that he was having trouble breathing and he started to struggle a little, despite his pain.

“I-If you don't..stop squeezing me so tightly...” Caruso said through short, gasping breaths. “...I really am going to die...” Immediately, the kids let go, releasing the pressure they had been unintentionally putting on his ribcage and stomach. Moynihan loosened her grip, but not too much because she didn't want to let him fall to the ground. Instead, she slowly knelt down, gently setting Caruso back on the ground. She released him and took a step back, giving him some breathing room. “Thanks...”

“Caruso...” Moynihan asked gently. “Can you walk?”

“I-I'll try...” Caruso slowly struggled to get onto his feet. Progress was painfully slow and his legs wobbled constantly, lacking the strength they once had. But nonetheless, he managed to stand on his own, his feet planted firmly on the ground. He held out his arms and hands to try and keep his balance as he lifted up one foot to try and walk. But as he set the foot back down, a searing pain shot up his side where he received a wound from the mutant mole. He gasped in pain and took an involuntary step back to try and escape it. But this caused him to accidentally hit his head lightly against one of his friends. Eyes bulged open as he cried out in pain and he fell back onto his knees, trembling in agony. He tried to press his hand against the wound on his head, another on his side. But the pain was unbearable and he immediately pulled them away. “So..much...pain...” He managed to say.

Fiona rushed forward. “Caruso! Are you okay?” She asked him as she carefully grabbed his arm and tried to pull him up. But unfortunately, she didn't notice the long cut on Caruso's arm, the first cut he had received while under Victor's supervision.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Caruso cried out, trying to pull his arm away from Fiona. “DON'T TOUCH ME THERE!”

Fiona gasped as she realized what she was doing. She immediately released Caruso, allowing him to drop down onto his knees once more. “Caruso, I'm so sorry!” She said immediately in an apologetic tone. Feelings of guilt welled up inside of her and she started feeling angry at herself for doing such a thing without checking to make sure there were no injuries there.

“I-I-It's all right...” Caruso managed to say under his breath.

“So..what are we going to do...?” Buzz asked, looking at Max and Moynihan for some answers. “He can't walk... how are we going to get him to help?”

“One of us could carry him...” Rodger suggested.

“That's a good idea.” Max said. “But how would it work? All of our dinosaur forms are too big for Caruso to climb on, and I don't think he has the strength to hang on once we get going. And he's too big for us to carry in human form...”

“I'll carry him.” Moynihan stepped forward.

Max looked at her leg and asked cautiously, “..are you sure you want to do that?”

Moynihan lifted up her leg and took a look at it before setting it back down. “Don't worry. My leg is fine. Caruso's parents gave me medicine for it. I'll be able to carry Caruso.” When Max continued to give her a concerned look, she offered a smile to try and reassure him. “Really, it's okay. Now then...” She turned her head towards Caruso. “Do you think you'll be able to hang onto me?”

“S-Sure..no p-problem..” Caruso said.

“Good.” With that, Moynihan transformed into a Velociraptor. She knew she would have difficulty running away if she only used her arms to hold him. But if Caruso were riding her, it would be easier, at least on her. She wasn't sure how well Caruso would be able to handle riding her while he was injured. But this was the only option she could see that just might work. She slowly walked towards Caruso. She lowered her self to the ground, getting as close as possible to Caruso without touching him. She gestured for Caruso to climb up on top of her. The boy hesitated at first, looking up at her in fear, as if he was remembering something terrible. But he quickly snapped out of it and slowly climbed on top of Moynihan. He wrapped his arms around her long, muscular neck and held on as tightly as he could. Once she was sure Caruso was secure, Moynihan turned towards the other teenagers. 'Let's head back to the lighthouse.'

“Sounds like a good plan.” Max said as the group started to make their way towards the exit. Max was glad that they were finally heading back to the lighthouse. He was starting to get sick of being here, in this terrible place. And he was growing increasingly concerned about Caruso. Many of his injuries looked severe and would need medical treatment. And he wasn't sure how they were going to treat the cuts inside his mouth.

“Should we go dino?” Rodger suggested. He was looking around the place in a nervous manner. He kept thinking he heard things, but in the end it turned out nothing was there. Still, he didn't want to take the chance. Michelle might have called in reinforcements. This could still be a trap. He looked left to right, expecting a trap to appear out of nowhere. “We might have a better chance getting out of here if we do..”

“But wouldn't that just draw attention to ourselves?” Fiona asked, slowly shaking her head. She wanted to get out of this place, but she also didn't want to risk themselves getting caught. She felt they should think of another way of getting out of here quickly. Plus they also have equipment they needed to put onto the SUV, where ever Moynihan put it, that is.

“But what if we are ambushed before we could get out?” Rodger asked. He then gestured towards Moynihan and Caruso. “If Victor finds out that Caruso's gone, wouldn't he go beserk and go after us...?”

“What if he doesn't?” Fiona asked.

“I don't think it'll take him long to find out, Fiona.” Rodger said. “I mean, it's not like he's never going to find out.. We should...”

“Should what? Risk messing this up by...” Fiona started to say.

“Will you too stop fighting?!” Buzz snapped, moving in quickly in between the too. Everyone was surprised by this, especially Max. The jock was going to interfere himself. He wasn't expecting Buzz to step up to the plate. And he was especially surprised at how angry Buzz sounded. Well he probably shouldn't be that surprised, not after what he's seen when he was with Michelle, anyway. “Do you really want to waste time arguing over something like this?! Let's just go before Victor catches on to us and sends his oozer losers here!”

“Buzz is right.” Max said. “Please don't argue about this. Right now, our top priority is getting Caruso to safety. How we do it, I don't care. Let's just go, now!” His voice was filled with a strong sense of urgency and determination. The others nodded towards him, acknowledging his order. For a few seconds, Max thought that he had everything settled, but then he saw Fiona and Rodger glare at each other again. Max slowly shook his head. They aren't going to argue again, were they...?

“I still say we should go dino. We'll leave this horrible place faster that way.” Rodger said sternly.

Fiona growled. “And I still say we'll just be asking for trouble that way.”

Rodger narrowed his eyes. “I thought you liked speed!”

“Not when it could potentially risk our safety!” Fiona responded, her voice growing a little louder as she was becoming more and more frustrated with Rodger. “What are you, some kind of reckless oaf?!”

Rodger's eyes widened a little. “What...” A scowl reappeared on his face. “Do you really think I am throwing caution to the wind?! Do you really think I'm so careless that I would do anything to get something done, even at the cost of another's life?!”

“Guys..” Max said, walking towards the two. “Not now..please...” He wanted to try and calm them down. “Let's just try to reach a negotiation and...”

But Fiona and Rodger weren't in a negotiating mood. At the same time, they quickly swerved over towards Max and shouted, “STAY OUT OF THIS!” Max was shocked by this, and took a step backwards. He was confused. He couldn't understand why they would yell at him like that, and especially when he was only trying to help too. He felt hurt and a little angry at the same time. Rodger and Fiona didn't seem to notice. They turned back towards each other and continued with their arguing.

Max walked towards Moynihan. “We'll never get out of here if those two keep on arguing.”

'Then why don't you talk to them?' Moynihan suggested.

“They won't listen to me.” Max said, sounding completely frustrated.

'They should.. You are the leader after all, are you not?' Moynihan asked, tilting her green head to the side. 'A good team cannot be without a good leader.'

Max slowly nodded his head. “Yeah..I know...” But he was still feeling unsure about himself. He looked back over to Rodger and Fiona. The fight wasn't going to let up anytime soon, and he knew they didn't have that kind of time to spare. He looked back towards Moynihan, and then looked at Caruso's face. Caruso smiled at him, but Max could still see the fear and pain in the boy's eyes. Caruso wouldn't have lasted much longer with Victor, and if he caught him again, he didn't want to think about what might happen. Max narrowed his eyes. He knew he would have to try, for Caruso's sake. He turned around and made his way towards Fiona and Rodger.

“Why are you antagonizing me?!” Rodger shouted bitterly. “I'm just trying to help!”

“And your help is going to get us all captured, you idiot!” Fiona snapped.

“No it's not!” Rodger protested. “I would never suggest a plan that had a high risk of us getting captured!”

“What about that incident back at the school with the holographic mutantsaurs?” Fiona asked in a low voice.

Rodger snapped his head back, looking at Fiona with a shocked look on his face. That statement really hit a nerve. It has been a while since that had incident had occurred. Why did she have to bring it up now? He admitted he made a mistake. But there was nothing he could do to change what he did. He never meant for them to get almost captured by Veloci. How was he to know it was a trap? Fiona had went too far with what she said, but Rodger couldn't think of any sort of comeback to deliver. He just stood there, speechless.

“All right, that is enough!” Max shouted as he stood between the two arguing teenagers. They looked at him in anger and were about to say something, but they immediately shut their mouths when Max continued to yell. “I'm sick of seeing you two argue like this, and of all times, too! Caruso is injured and needs help, and all you guys care about doing is argue about what to do! Now is not the time to argue! Now either get your act together and agree on something or I'll decide for you! As your leader, I am not asking you. I'm telling you!”

Fiona and Rodger stared at Max, stunned by his sudden snap. They looked at each other for a few seconds, as if they were seeing if the other heard the same thing, almost hoping they were imagining it. Max hadn't snapped like that since he'd snap at Caruso. They looked back at Max, their eyes narrowed at first. They were angry that Max had interrupted their discussion, or argument as some might see it as. But they did realize that their leader was correct. They weren't going to get anywhere arguing, and all they've been doing was wasting time. What had gotten into them? They looked to the ground, slowly feeling ashamed about what they were doing.

“We're sorry...” Fiona and Rodger said in unison.

Max's expression softened and he groan softly, turning his head away a little. “Oh...I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to snap at you like it. It's just that....” He felt his voice fade away as he became unable to think of a response. He opened up his jaws to try again, but stopped when Rodger held out a hand, signaling him to stop.

“It's okay.” Rodger said calmly. “You were right. We shouldn't be arguing.”

“Yeah...” Fiona said, agreeing with what Rodger said.

Without responding to them, Max turned to Moynihan once again. He wasn't sure if he should be the one to decide if they should go dino or not. Moynihan had turned into a dinosaur herself, so maybe it would be a good idea. But then, the more dinosaurs there are, wouldn't that increase the chances of Victor finding them? Multiple targets increased the chances of one of them getting captured. But then again, in dinosaur form, they could more easily defend themselves and have a better chance of escape. And more importantly, it would help get Caruso back to the lighthouse quicker and safely.

He still decided to ask Moynihan for her opinion on these two choices. Max asked, “Professor Moynihan, which idea do you think could work better? Going dino or getting out of here in human form?”

Moynihan lifted her raptor head back a little, tilting it from side to side in a bird-like manner as she thought about this. At first, she didn't know why Max was asking her. He was the leader, so he should be the one to decide ultimately on which course of action to take. But she sensed the boy still felt a little lost and uncertain of himself. She didn't see anything wrong with him seeking help. That's a good leader quality, knowing when to seek help from others and ask for others' input.

'Well they both had very valid points.' Moynihan said, eyeing Rodger and Fiona. 'It might be safer to go dino if we want to get out of here faster, and have an easier time defending ourselves. But on the other hand, as Fiona pointed out, going dino might increase the chances of us getting spotted and having one of us captured.' She closed her eyes to think about an answer, but she was having a difficult time coming up with one. Both ideas had flaws that could have dark consequences. They either risk losing another one of their own to Victor or Caruso's death. 'I can see why Rodger and Fiona couldn't decide. Both ideas sound good, but they both could have dangerous results if they are executed incorrectly, I'm afraid.'

“So..you're stumped too...?” Max asked softly, feeling a little disappointed.

'A little, I'm afraid.' Moynihan nodded her head. She turned her head to the side and gave Caruso a sideways glance. She could see the pain in his eyes and the scent of blood filled her nostrils. She started to think that Rodger's idea was the best course of action. Caruso needed the most attention out of all of them. If they went with Fiona's idea, they risk Caruso's death, either by getting attacked by Victor's men or taking too long to get help. Rodger's idea was just as risky, but they would be able to better defend Caruso and would get out faster. Once she made up her mind, she turned to Max. 'I feel Rodger's idea would be the best thing, although it is still risky.'

The teenagers didn't argue. They simply nodded in unison, and looked at each other as their eyes started to glow. The room illuminated with a bright glow for a brief second and quickly died down. Soon the room was filled with the silhouettes of large dinosaurs, roaring furiously. Suddenly, they thunderously stampeded out through the wall. Rubble and rocks rolled down the sides of the large gaping hole as the group ran out through the building. They ignored the alarms that were blaring and continued crashing through the walls until they were out of the building.

* * *

As they disappeared, a dark figure stepped through the large opening in the wall to the room where Caruso was once held prisoner. The figure remained in the shadows, moving slowly towards the cage, taking short, deliberate steps. Their arms are behind their back, almost like they were bound there. The figure stopped beside the large cage, coming into the light. It was Victor Veloci. He had come into the room alone. Oscura and Michelle were nowhere in sight.

Taking a few sniffs, Victor said, “Hmm..seems like they were here...” His eyes narrowed as he looked at the cage that was wide open and surveying the empty contents inside. He knelt down near the area where Caruso was laying. He was staring at a strange, liquid substance that accumulated in several, small places. It was like dew on the grass. The liquid was very shallow, like a raindrop, and was colored a pale red, almost the shade of blood. But it distinguished itself from blood by having a mild glow to it.

Victor reached out with a hand and gently dipped a fingertip into the liquid. He lifted his hand back up and sniffed the liquid a bit. He could smell the distinct odor of the substance. It was very close to the scent of death. He had coated much of Caruso in this liquid for one purpose. He transformed his head into a raptor's and leaned forward. He sniffed at the air above the liquid, and picked up the scent he'd been hoping he'd catch. He shifted back, and a sadistic smile spread across his face, feeling very satisfied with the results.

“It begins...” Victor said, chuckling softly at first before letting out several louder laughs, as if this situation was so funny that he couldn't help himself.

* * *

The laugh echoed throughout the warehouse, reverberating across the walls, sound increasing in volume, and it exited through the large openings that the Dino Squad had made. Some owls were startled by the laugh and took off in flight. It didn't take the sound long to reach Caruso's ears. Despite his pain, Caruso snapped his head up in fright, eyes wide with fear. He looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. Although he could not see anything, or hear anything now, he started to shiver in fear. He knew who that laugh belonged to. He had heard that laugh several times while he was held captured by Victor Veloci.

Caruso gripped Moynihan's neck a little tighter and whispered fearfully, “P-Please...d-don't let him get me..again...”

Moynihan turned her eyes to try and look at the boy riding on her back. Her usual dinosaur glare softened up a little as she sensed the boy's fear. Tilting her head down a little, she decided to say something that she hoped would help make him feel a bit better. 'Don't worry... you're safe with us. He won't get you ever again... I promise.'

* * * 

Michelle slowly limped down one of the hallways in Raptor Dyne. Victor had ordered her to return here to discuss more of her punishment. Victor had struck her in the leg. He hadn't broken the skin, but he left a nasty bruise and it hurt to walk. Michelle winced with every footstep as she drew closer and closer to Victor's large room, full of liquid-filled cylinders accompanied by failed experiments. A few people she passed asked about her leg and some showed sympathy towards her. She didn't need to tell them it was Victor for them to know who did it. Michelle wondered why Victor felt the need to punish her more. Wasn't this darn bruise punishment enough?

She thought she was going to get away with this without harm. Victor might not have never known about it if she was very careful. But she did make a stupid move by chasing away Oscura. She should have known that Oscura would tell Victor about this, and twist the tale in any place she needed in order to get Victor angry with her. And since her actions threatened the plan that would ultimately lead to his victory, Victor was especially angry and wanted to make sure she wouldn't do it again. He said he won't eat her, but that didn't give her much comfort. She told herself that she would get Oscura back for this, somehow, someday.

When she reached the room, she stepped inside and sat down on one of the chairs. She took a look around the room. She was the only one in there at the time, so her only company was the monitoring equipment and the failed experiments. She looked at a few of them, many human-like in appearance, and scowled in disgust. She often wondered why Victor had all of these experiments here. Victor never really told her or Oscura what these creatures were exactly, other than failed experiments. Michelle could only guess that they were probably failed attempts in transforming humans and animals into dinosaurs. It would make sense.

She then glanced over at the monitoring equipment. The main computer was still on, along with the others. The multiple computer screens displayed mostly scans, colored a monochrome green. It was hard for her to read it, and she wondered how Victor could understand it. But he did design the equipment, so she probably shouldn't be surprised that he would be able to read it. She could see some blinking dots and she guessed that meant dino activity, and it was very close. Yeah, it had to be dino activity, more specifically the Dino Squad. Her thoughts went back to Caruso. She wondered if he was all right.

Something then caught her eye. A few of the monitors showed parts of the building. It was for security reasons, just like any other building. Victor set them up to help keep track of where his men were in the building and to make sure no one broke in. Despite his hatred of humans, Victor seems to have the same sense of insecurity as a human, or so Michelle thought. He wanted to make sure that no humans finds out he's a Velociraptor except the ones that work for him. Since the Dino Squad and possibly their families know what Victor actually is, Michelle started to wonder if Victor will find a way to deal with them. She gulped at the thought.

One monitor in particular caught her interest. It was of the rooftop of the building. This is where Victor would keep his helicopter stored. It was the same shade of red as Victor's skin in dinosaur mode, and the front of it was studded with sharp teeth to make it look more like a dinosaur. It surprised Michelle that no one found that suspicious. The same went for his truck. It also had a very dinosaur-like look to it, right down to the sharp teeth that decorated the front. It was like the guy was putting a label on himself and telling everyone to try and catch him. Michelle slowly shook her head as she thought about this. For a mad scientist, Victor isn't always so bright.

Michelle returned her attention to the monitor. Usually she would see the helicopter parked there since Victor didn't always use it. But now it was missing. Michelle narrowed her eyes. Why would the copter be missing? She didn't think Victor would use it because the warehouse was not that far away. His men couldn't have taken it unless they had a special key, which she knew Victor still had. She saw it in one of his shirt pockets not too long ago. And she was positives he saw the raptor copter before she left with Oscura. Michelle's eyes widened as she saw another signal on the monitor. She quickly took a guess at who it was.

“Victor...” If this was Victor in the helicopter, then he was moving in pretty fast behind the other dots, which she guessed was the Dino Squad. She told herself she could be mistaken about this, but part of her told her it was real, that she got it right. She gulped as she saw just how close he was getting to them. She quickly turned around, her eyes closed. She didn't want to see the outcome. She whispered one thing before walking away. “Good luck, Dino Squad.”

* * *

“I think we are in the clear.” Rodger said, looking back down at the dino tracker. So far he wasn't getting any signals. They were all in the SUV now. Moynihan was sitting in the driver's seat. She knew a particular stretch of road where Veloci's men are rarely spotted, so she decided to take that road, especially since she was the only one in the group who had taken this road before. Rodger was sitting in the passenger seat next to her, getting ready to fill in updates for her if the dino tracker detected anything. Max was sitting in the seat directly behind Moynihan while Buzz sat behind Rodger. In the very back seat were Fiona and Caruso. Everyone had their seat belts on, all except Caruso. Due to his injuries they thought it would be best he not wear a seat belt as the straps only dug into his injuries.

Max looked outside the window, scanning the horizon for any possible threats. Buzz was doing the same thing, although he was scanning the areas a bit faster and in a bit of a frantic motion. The two did know that the tracker wasn't picking up anything, and the others, except Caruso, had assured them that if the dino tracker picked up no signals, they should be safe. But one thing was on the two teens' minds. If Victor knew they had tracking equipment, he could easily cloak his own signal so that they wouldn't detect it. Max and Buzz didn't want to take any chances.

And they weren't the only ones a little paranoid. Caruso hadn't stopped shaking since they got in the SUV. Fiona tried to comfort him, but he kept looking away and pushing her away, complaining that it hurt when she touched him. He felt bad about the way he was acting, but he just couldn't help himself. Even sitting down sometimes hurt him. And he was constantly worried that Victor would show up at any moment to snatch him away. His eyes remained wide open as he looked at his surroundings, almost as if he doesn't truly believe he is where he was now. He was sometimes afraid to move in certain ways, afraid of feeling pain as if he was still wearing the bridle.

Feeling further distressed by Caruso's behavior, Fiona moved in again. She tried again to comfort him. She lifted up her arm and tried to wrap it around Caruso. But he just pushed her away again. She felt a little hurt by this reaction, but wasn't surprised by it. She then tried a more verbal approach. She leaned in towards him a little, keeping her distance as to not to frighten him. “Caruso..it's all right... you're safe now.”

For the first time since they got into the SUV, Caruso looked at Fiona. His eyes were still wide, but they held more than just fear now. They also held disbelief. “How can you be so sure...? For all we know, Victor could be...” He stopped himself, shaking too much to continue his sentence.

Fiona sighed and slowly shook her head. “Caruso, will you stop worrying so much? Victor's not coming after you. I doubt he even knows you are gone...”

Caruso looked away. “You don't know that...”

Fiona's eyes narrowed a bit, feeling concerned. As Caruso was talking, he kept wincing in pain. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He still wanted to communicate vocally, but anytime he tried to talk he would be in great pain. The cuts in his mouth must be driving him insane. Fiona wanted to comfort him, but what could she do? If she tried to hug him again, he'd just push her away. She could tell, by the expression on his face and the look in his eyes, that it may take him a while to fully recover from this. Victor really did a toll on the poor boy, both physically and mentally.

Suddenly a shadow, darker than the area around which they were driving, casted over the SUV. Everyone looked up in confusion, except Caruso and Moynihan. Then, without warning, there was a loud crashing sound just to the left of the vehicle.

CRRRAAASH!

All of a sudden, the entire SUV rocked violently to one side, nearly tipping over completely. Everyone inside screamed as the SUV nearly fell over. Their equipment went flying through the car, some of it crashing against the walls, a couple even breaking. Buzz, Rodger, and Max gripped their seats as tightly as they could and Moynihan tightened her grip on the steering wheel, turning it left to right in a desperate attempt to right the yellow vehicle. Rump crashed multiple times against the walls, and finally transformed into his dinosaur mutant form and used his jaws to clamp down on one of the seats and hold himself in place.

Because Caruso was not buckled in, he nearly went flying against the side of the vehicle as well. Thinking fast, he turned to Fiona and wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, whimpering a little as the vehicle continued to tilt in one direction. Fiona hugged him back and held on, careful not to touch any of his injuries, which was not an easy task. Quickly, Moynihan managed to right the SUV, with all four wheels back on the ground once more.

Rubbing his head a little, Max immediately looked out the window to try and find the source of the attack. His eyes widened when he spotted something large and red coming down towards them again. “It's VELOCI!” He screamed.

“Veloci...?” Caruso whispered, hugging Fiona tighter. “See? I told you he'd come get me.”

“We won't let him get you again. We'll escape...don't worry.” Fiona whispered, gently stroking Caruso's hair to try and calm him down. Caruso responded by burying his head into her shoulder. Fiona tried to keep herself from crying as she felt her shirt getting a little wet, realizing Caruso was crying now. The poor guy must really be afraid, and she couldn't blame him.

“Hang on!” Moynihan declared. “I'll try to lose him!”

With that, she swiftly jerked the steering wheel to the right, turning onto another road that she just spotted. She looked at her rear view window outside the driver's seat and could see Victor's copter not far behind her. Her eyes widened as she notice the message on the window. 'Objects Are Closer Than They Appear' it read. Without warning, she immediately turned to the left. As she did so, she felt the SUV move slightly and a loud scraping sound filled the air as the helicopter pushed up against the SUV. It then rose up in the air again, but stayed close to the SUV, moving over to the other side. The helicopter moved in again, ready to ram the smaller vehicle. Moynihan reacted quickly and moved again, narrowly missing the ramming attack.

Victor hadn't given up yet. He continued to pursue the Dino Squad. He rose up a little higher to try and give them a false sense of security. As he allowed more and more distance between himself and the smaller vehicle, he was smiling to himself. He had no real intentions in recapturing the boy. He was only doing this to make his plan look more convincing. He didn't want them to realize what he was truly up to. He waited for a few minutes before he made his next move, hoping that he might get in a hit or two. He grabbed the copter's steering stick and pushed forward. The copter went in for a nose dive. The SUV, however, swerved again and he missed. He quickly pulled the stick up to avoid crashing into the ground.

Moynihan looked out of the window and looked up. She could see the copter off to one side of the van. While she couldn't see his face, she knew Victor was probably scowling down at her, or smirking because of his arrogance. She narrowed her eyes and turned her attention back on the road. She slammed into the gas pedal and picked up speed. The kids hung onto their seats a little tighter as the van was suddenly moving at around sixty miles per hour. Moynihan knew she was probably breaking the speed limit, but right now she didn't care about that. All she cared about was getting these children to safety.

“Why are you going so fast?!” Rodger screeched, gripping his seat tightly and clenched his teeth in fear. He was frightened at how fast they were going now, and just as frightened that Moynihan is the one driving like this. He would have expected this kind of reckless driving from one of his team mates, namely Fiona. But an old woman like Moynihan? It didn't add up.

“I'm trying to get Victor off our trail!” Moynihan said to Rodger, her teeth gritted as she gripped the steering wheel even tighter as she felt her hands getting sweaty.

Victor cocked an eyebrow as he noticed the van was moving at an incredible speed, for a vehicle that size anyway. This surprised him a bit, but he shook it off. He responded by moving his helicopter a little faster. He was at the speed advantage. He was in the sky while she was on the ground. He could easily catch up to her out in the open. The only chance she's have at escaping is if she were to find some dense cover, which none was available here. He looked straight ahead. In the far distance, he could see a dense population of trees along the sides of the road. He narrowed his eyes a little. Moynihan might lose him in there, but then again, she might continue driving on. She might not even realize what a help those trees would be to her.

He shrugged his shoulders. It didn't really matter to him either way. He would have his chance with Moynihan soon enough. He just needs to be patient. Pushing the stick forward again, he nose dived again, this time at a bit of a faster speed, hoping to catch her off guard. And this time he did. The helicopter's nose slammed against the back of the SUV. He couldn't hear anything except the sound of metal scraping and scratching alongside each other. As he road back up into the air, he smirked evilly. “You underestimate me, Joanne...You will be mine.”

The SUV toppled over continuously, slamming against the ground with great force. Moynihan tried her best not to scream or close her eyes as she focused in trying to right the vehicle back on all four wheels. The children were wearing their seat belts at least, but she could hear their fear-filled screams echoing in her ears. Caruso tried his best not to topple over by hanging onto Fiona, who held him as best as she could, trying her best to save him from further injury. Moynihan tried as best as she could to right the vehicle, to not allow it to land on its side, but she felt like she was going fail, just like she almost failed Caruso.

No! She shouldn't give up! The kids in this van were counting on her to save them. She knew she must keep trying. She must not allow the SUV to land on its side, back, or front, or they would all get easily captured by Victor Veloci. She gritted her teeth. No, not this time, Veloci, she thought. She took a quick glance behind her, seeing the frightened teens as they held on for dear life. Poor Rump was starting to lose his grip, his eyes wide with fear as well. And the equipment was flying everywhere, occasionally hitting one of her students. Moynihan turned her attention back towards the road. She turned the wheel roughly to the right and then to the left and kept repeating.

Slowly, but surely, the vehicle started to right itself. After the vehicle made a few more violent jerks across the floor, it started to 'find its feet' and eventually got back on all four wheels. Moynihan wiped her brow and looked up at the mirror in the center of the front of the vehicle. She could see the children's faces. They were a mixture of fear and relief. Max, Rodger, and Buzz placed their hands on their chests and breathed in deeply and quickly, trying to settle down their speeding hearts. Caruso was still clinging to Fiona and it didn't look like he was going to let go anytime soon. Fiona didn't seem to mind and continued to hold him.

“No...no...” Caruso whispered.

“Shhh....” Fiona whispered, trying to comfort him. Caruso didn't look up at her, just continued to hold onto her, afraid to let go. Fiona looked at him sympathetically, anger building up inside of her towards the man responsible for Caruso acting this way: Victor.

Suddenly, there was another violent crash against the side of the SUV. It rocked violently to one side, but luckily didn't move far enough to cause it to roll across the floor like a barrel. As soon as the violent rocking had subsided completely, Moynihan saw another turn off. It was still out in the open, but she knew the helicopter was moving too fast to make a perfect turn, so maybe turning suddenly herself could throw Victor off a little and buy some time. As soon as the road came up, she turned the wheel to the left, turning quickly to get on the new road.

Just as she predicted, the helicopter sped several feet away from her before it finally turned. The additional feet had given her some more space between her and Victor. She pressed on the gas pedal again and started to move a little faster. She looked at the speedometer and realized the SUV was getting close to its maximum speed now. Her eyes widened and she looked in the mirror at the side of her car door again. Victor had managed to pick up speed quickly and was now a few feet behind her and getting closer. She struggled through her mind to figure out something she could do to buy more time or to get Victor off her tail.

She looked over towards the road they were once on briefly, just for a second, and she noticed there was a patch of trees over there that they could have hidden in. She slapped herself in the face with one hand and muttered something under her breath. What a fool she was! She could have just continued on ahead and lose Victor in the trees! Oh well, there was nothing she could do about it, she thought. She squinted her eyes to try and see what was ahead of her. It was hard to see in the darkness. She could see faint lights so she knew they were getting closer to civilization. Maybe that would ward Victor away. He wouldn't want to draw attention to himself, so he would veer off in another direction to avoid suspicion. But if he's persistent enough, he might just go in a different direction and just cut them off by surprise. Moynihan closed her eyes and wondered if she would be able to save the students.

Rodger looked out of his window and could see Victor lowering down near his side of the SUV. He narrowed his eyes as he saw Victor moving in to ram the vehicle. He immediately rummaged through a large bag he had with him in the front passenger seat. He soon felt the item that he was looking for. He pulled it out, revealing the Spiller. Rodger held the large blue gun in one hand and used the other to roll down the window. As Victor came in closer to try a sneak attack, Rodger readied the gun. He looked over at Moynihan, who glanced back at him, her eyes on the gun. She opened up her mouth to say something, but Rodger put a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. Although a little surprised, Moynihan complied and focused on the driving.

Rodger looked out the window again. He waited for Victor to get within a certain distance. He knew he would only have a couple seconds, if even that, to shoot Victor. The Chiller wouldn't hurt him, but it would do something else that just might save them. When he thought Victor was close enough, he immediately leaned out of the window, the Chiller readied in his hand. Moving as quickly as he could, he lifted the gun up towards the front window. Taking careful aim, he pressed the button. Suddenly a thick white cloud that looked like steam shot out from the nozzle. It made direct contact with the front window on Victor's helicopter. While the substance was mostly gas and wouldn't cling very long to the surface of the copter, it had already almost completely fogged up the front window, and with the addition of the darkness of the night, this almost completely blinded Victor, but it wouldn't last very long.

Startled by this sudden attack, Victor pulled the stick back and pulled up towards the sky. The fog blurred the vision he had towards the front. He could still see at the sides, but that wouldn't do him much good in this situation. He kept the helicopter as level as he could until the fog cleared up, which only took about a minute or so. But once it cleared away, he couldn't see any signs of the SUV. It had completely disappeared. Victor remained baffled for about a minute, and then he looked behind the helicopter. He narrowed his eyes slightly. The SUV had completely stopped and turned and was now moving in a completely new direction, back towards where they had started. The Dino Squad were pretty clever trying that trick.

He contemplated chasing them some more, but figured he should just let them think they've won. Smirking to himself, he turned his copter and headed back towards Raptor Dyne. He looked down at the radar and looked at one dot in particular, the SUV. Victor had created a jamming signal around his helicopter that completely masked his signal while it allowed him to see where the Dino Squad was. This was why they were not able to detect his presence until he had rammed into them. “Right back at ya, Joanne..” He said to himself. “Caught in your own trap...”

As soon as Victor disappeared into the horizon, the Dino Squad each let out a sigh of relief. They each started to calm down, her hearts now beating so fast they thought they were going to explode. Caruso shivered for a few more seconds, but as he realized that the danger had passed, he let go of Fiona, smiling nervously, as if he felt embarrassed for acting like he had. He tried to say something, but no words came out. Instead he just looked away, almost afraid to look back at Fiona.

“Is something wrong, Caruso?” Fiona asked, confused as to why Caruso suddenly moved away from her and wasn't looking at her now. He seemed a little afraid, but of what? She thought it was of Victor, but he had just left. They had escaped him. Could Caruso be afraid of Victor coming back later on and getting him?

“N-Nothing is wrong...” Caruso said quickly without looking at her.

But Fiona wasn't fooled so easily. Caruso's voice was still stammering, still filled with fear. She could tell. She would have tried to move closer to the boy, but she had her seat belt on and she wasn't going to unfasten it until they got back at the lighthouse. It was for safety purposes. So instead she reached out with one hand and placed it on Caruso's shoulder. Immediately, the boy gasped and tensed up. Fiona immediately pulled her hand away, shocked at Caruso's reaction. He'd never done that before, especially when he knew someone was there with him.

“Are...you sure you are all right?” Fiona asked, concern in her voice.

Caruso quickly said, “Yes! I'm fine!” Fiona was startled at Caruso's sudden snapping and Caruso immediately regretted talking with such force. He yelped in pain and placed his hand carefully on his mouth. Tears of pain dripped from his eyes and he stifled a louder scream.

“Caruso...” Fiona's lower lip quivered a little as she watched Caruso be in such pain. She wanted to reach out to him and comfort him. But she kept her hand back, afraid she would only frighten him more. She closed her eyes and turned her head away, hiding tears of her own.

Up in the front seat, Moynihan cast a glance towards Rodger. “That was a risky move, Rodg.” She scolded him, eyes narrowed slightly. “It could have easily back fired on you. Do you realize that?” Rodger didn't say a word, just nodded his head once. He didn't look very guilty though. He seemed convinced that he had done the right thing, and it worked anyway. Moynihan accepted this knowledge. She couldn't stay too upset with Rodger for very long. “Though I admit, that quick thinking did save us all. Thank you.” She offered a small smile.

Rodger smiled back. “Don't mention it, miss!” The smile faded as he placed the Chiller back in the bag. He sat back in the chair and looked out of the window. He asked almost absentmindedly, “So are we going to a hospital? Caruso does need those wounds treated and I'm not sure if we have the right material for that.”

Joanne shook her head. “No. We're heading straight for the lighthouse.”

Rodger snapped his head towards her, shocked. “But, Ms. Moynihan..we...”

Joanne held up a hand. “I know, dear. But I don't think we should risk it. They might need to take blood samples and discover he has dinosaur DNA. Then he might be in for a far worser fate than he had with Victor back there. No, we must treat him at the lighthouse. I'll go out and buy medication and whatever else we need.” She glanced towards Rodger. “Besides, even if that was not a factor, I do not think that it would be a good idea to take him to a hospital. Not now.” Moynihan glanced back at Caruso as she said this, trying to see if he was listening in on them.

“Why?” Rodger asked, trying to sound as calm as possible. He didn't want Moynihan to know he was starting to feel a little angry with her. A hospital would provide faster help. For a brief second, he didn't care that they would draw blood from the boy. They would at least help him get better faster than he and his friends could.

“Because, Rodger, look at him. He's clearly been through a lot. A hospital might only make him feel worse.” Joanne Moynihan explained. “And he might panic, and end up hurting himself even more. I want to take him to the lighthouse for his own good. Being surrounded by family and friends might help him recover faster.”

“Oh..” Rodger said, understanding where Moynihan was coming from. “That makes sense.”

Moynihan looked out the window briefly. It was still dark out, but in the distance she could make a very faint hint of light. It was going to be dawn in a couple hours. She really should allow them to get some sleep. The kids must be very tired by now. She looked over at Rodger. “Hey, why don't you and the others get some sleep?” She asked, smiling sweetly at Rodger. “You poor kids have been up all night. Get some rest.”

“But...” Rodger started to say. “I don't think...” Moynihan held up a hand to silence him before he could finish his sentence.

“No buts. I insist.” Moynihan said gently but firmly. She turned her head to look at the other students in the SUV. When she got their attention, she said, “You kids get some sleep now. You've had a hard day. I'll wake you up when we get back to the lighthouse.” The students nodded and tried to get comfortable in their seats. As they settled down to get some sleep, Caruso remained awake. He looked down at the floor, staring at nothing in particular. He was at a loss of what to do. Moynihan noticed his confusion. “Caruso? Aren't you going to sleep?”

“S-S-Sure...” Caruso said softly and slowly. “...I-I'll...just wait a little while f-fi-first...”

“All right... but please try to get some shut eye, all right, dear boy?” Moynihan said.

“Don't worry...I-I will...” Caruso smiled. When Moynihan looked away, his smile immediately faded away. Moynihan hadn't turned the radio on. It was almost dead quiet in the SUV now. He folded his arms against his chest carefully. He started to shudder a little as the silence seemed to surround him from all corners. He started to feel his heart race in his chest, and his breathing started to quicken. Suddenly he wanted to be close to someone, anyone. He looked for Rump, but the dog was sleeping in Max's lap. He didn't want to disturb the little mutt.

Then he glanced over at Fiona. Fiona's eyes were closed, but Caruso knew no one could fall asleep that fast. He struggled with deciding what he wanted to do. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared. He was scared out of his mind and he wanted comfort. Every time he closed his eyes, he could still see Victor's haunting face, laughing at him and his pain. He didn't want to disturb Fiona, though, and he wondered what she might think if he got too close to her.

Finally making his decision, Caruso scooted over towards Fiona, careful not to disturb her. He got close enough to where his side was touching hers, softly, almost barely. He started to settle down a little and he leaned back in the seat. After a few minutes, he managed to close his eyes. But he immediately opened them up again after seeing Victor's face again. He stifled a scream and almost instinctively moved even closer to Fiona, almost knocking into her. Worried, he looked over at her face, but her eyes were still closed and there was no sign of a reaction. Satisfied that he hadn't disturbed her, he leaned forward in the seat and made a little distance between him and Fiona.

He leaned back again and looked up at the car ceiling as thoughts ran through his mind. What were his parents going to think when they see him in this condition. He could feel his stomach tie in a knot as he imagined his parents shocked and horrified reactions. He also wondered if they were going to take him off the team. He glanced at the people in the vehicle and hoped that they would not make him leave. He still cared about his friends and Moynihan. He didn't want to leave them. He could only hope that, if this should arise, he could convince them to let him stay on the team. But that might be a hard thing to do. His parents can be hard to convince when it comes to his safety. His parents might want him to be happy, but if his life is at stake, it is usually about what would make them feel happy. And if their mind is set on a way to keep him safe, they'd try to keep it that way and it would be hard to convince them otherwise.

After waiting for another couple minutes, he relaxed enough to close his eyes again. This time he did not see Victor, just the usual darkness behind his eye lids. He took in a few deep breaths and allowed much needed sleep to take over. As Caruso slipped into unconsciousness, Moynihan glanced back quickly to see how the kids were doing. She smiled softly as she saw they were all trying to get to sleep, just like she had suggested. She turned her attention back on the road, mentally scolding herself for continuously taking her eyes off the road while she was in the driver's seat. She tried her best not to think about Victor and instead tried to focus on getting back to the lighthouse as soon as possible. She knew Caruso's life depended on it.

She didn't want to tell the kids, but there were a few injuries on Caruso, particularly his mouth, that could cost him his life if they were not treated properly. She did briefly consider going to a hospital, but for the same reasons she had told Victor, she decided against it. She had never treated these kind of injuries before, though, and she wondered if she had made the wrong decision. What if something were to go wrong...?

“I shouldn't think that now...” Moynihan told herself. “I must get back to the lighthouse...” With that she shut her mouth and focused on getting to the lighthouse as soon as possible. All the while she started to wonder how Caruso's parents would react. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle the heartbreak they were going to feel when they see, for themselves, just what happened to their son. But there was no turning back. And to deny them to see their son would be just cruel.

As Moynihan continued to drive along the road, Fiona slowly opened up her eyes. She tried to move, but felt something a little heavy on her. She looked over to see what it was and saw Caruso, leaning against her. His head was against the seat, but some of his body was pushing up against hers. Her eyes widened a little, and her first instinct was to push him away to give herself some space. But quickly remembering Caruso's condition, she refrained from doing so. She reached over and gently pushed a strand of hair from Caruso's face. Caruso moved his head a little and he let out a sigh. But he didn't open up his eyes. “Sleep well.” She whispered.

She smiled softly as she watched Caruso, for the first time since his capture, looking so peaceful and calm. Fiona thought about putting her arm around him, but she didn't want to wake him up. Plus, she didn't want to scare him again. She slowly pressed her head back down and tried to get some sleep. She was feeling very tired now and she wanted to get some shut eye before they got back to the lighthouse. And perhaps some sleep will help calm down their nerves. She slowly closed her eyes and let out a soft content sigh. Slowly, sleep overcame her. Darkness enveloped her senses, and eventually she slipped into unconsciousness, just like Caruso had just a couple minutes ago.

* * *

Suddenly a bright light shined in her eyes. She squinted and groaned, turning away from the light as best as she could. Then she felt someone grip her shoulder and shook her gently. Moaning in frustration, she slowly opened up her eyes and looked up. Her vision was blurry for a few seconds, but as it came into focus, she recognized the face of Max. Fiona brushed back a hair on her face and groaned, “Oh..what do you want, Max? I'm tired...”

“Wake up.” Max insisted, shaking her a little harder.

Fiona didn't realize just how long she'd been asleep. It felt like she'd only been sleeping for a few minutes, but a few hours have already passed. The SUV was pulled up against the lighthouse, next to Caruso's parents' car. The SUV itself was empty except for Fiona, Caruso, and Max. She pushed his hand away and growled softly, “Just let me get to sleep...why do you want to wake me up?”

“Fiona..we're here.” Max explained. He reached out to grab her arm, but thought better of it. “The others are inside the lighthouse already. Moynihan sent me out to wake you and Caruso up.” Then an almost creepy smile crept onto his face. “Although I have to admit, it was difficult for me to mess up this...romantic moment.” He chuckled softly.

Fiona, still not fully awake, simply laid her head back down and muttered, “What do you mean romantic...?” Then memories started to flood back to her and she remembered just where Caruso was when she had fallen asleep. Her eyes immediately opened up wide, and she jolted up. She quickly looked to her right and saw Caruso was leaning up against her, just like before. But this time, his head was resting on her shoulder. Shocked, she looked back up at Max, who continued to smile at her.

“That is what I meant.” Max grinned, pointing at the sleeping teenager.

“This isn't what it looks like...” Fiona quickly said, trying to defend herself. She was almost tempted to push Caruso off of her, but she stopped herself. Max continued to smile at her, the look on his face telling her he didn't believe her. “I-I was just trying to comfort him and...” She stammered, trying to think of something to say to make Max stop smiling at her like that.

“It's okay Fiona. You don't need to explain.” Max said, holding up his hand. “Anyway, wake up Caruso and come into the lighthouse. His parents would like to see him.” He pointed his thumb towards the lighthouse as he said that. His smile faded away as he pushed himself out of the SUV to make room for Fiona and Caruso to get out. He remained close by though, just in case Caruso might need more help getting out. He could barely walk on his own earlier, needing at least one other person to help him into the SUV.

Fiona scooted as close as she could to the side, despite how little room there was for her to move around, and reached over and gently gripped Caruso's shoulder. She shook it firmly but carefully and called out his name. “Caruso? Caruso!” When he didn't respond, she shook a little harder. Her persistence paid off eventually when Caruso cracked open one eye just barely and looked up at her. “Caruso, we're at the lighthouse now. It's time to get up.” She told him, smiling softly.

Caruso responded by putting his head back down and turning away from her so that his back was facing her. Groaning a few times, he grumbled, “Oh..can't it wait? Just a few more minutes...” He closed his eyes again and attempted to get to sleep again. But Fiona wasn't about to give up.

She gripped Caruso slightly tighter and shook him even more, careful not to hurt him. When Caruso didn't respond, she pulled him over so he was facing her and continued to shake him. “Caruso, get up!” She said, almost demandingly. “You don't want to keep your parents waiting, do you?” She asked firmly, shaking him a little harder. She wasn't about to let Caruso go back to sleep, in spite of how tired he must have been.

Upon the mention of his parents, Caruso's eyes snapped open and he looked up at Fiona. All of a sudden, he looked alert, straightening himself up in the car seat. “My parents...?” He said slowly, his voice full of disbelief. He had longed for his parents all the while he was with Victor. He felt terrible for what they must have been through. He wanted to talk to them, assure them that he was all right. He didn't want them to worry anymore. “My parents are here...?”

“Yes... They are here.” Fiona said solemnly. Running a finger through her hair, she started to explain to Caruso what happened after his capture. “After you were captured, we..called your parents and told them what happened. Oh, Caruso, they've been so worried about you! We felt terrible that we couldn't make them feel any better. They'll be so happy to see that you are okay.”

Caruso looked away, eyes closing slowly and tightly. “But..I'm not okay...” He said, his voice full of sorrow. Suddenly he didn't feel like he was all right. He could feel that something was wrong. He could not put his finger on it, but something was very wrong. Sensing Fiona's concern, he turned his head towards her. “I-I am sorry if I'm w-w-worrying you, Fiona...” He struggled to say through the pain in his mouth. “I-I-I just c-c-c-can't shake this feeling that this i-isn't over... Wh-What will my p-parents think if something else were to h-h-happen...?” He could feel tears forming in his eyes.

“Caruso...” Fiona started to say, but she wasn't sure what to say. Seeing that Caruso wanted to say more, she closed her mouth and permitted Caruso to continue.

“A-And what are they g-going to think when they s-s-see how I l-look now....?” Caruso said in a shaky voice, looking himself over and seeing all the injuries on his body. He dare not look in the mirror towards the front of the vehicle. He didn't want to see all the cuts on his once handsome face, and he was sure his parents would not want to see it either. And that was not the only thing he was worried about. “Wh-What if they t-take me away from you guys....? What i-i-if they t-take me off the t-team..?” He stammered, his eyes filled with fear and apprehension. “I-I don't want to b-be separated from you guys...n-not again...”

Fiona's eyes widened a little as Caruso told her this. She had almost forgotten just how much Caruso wanted to please his parents and make them happy. His love for his parents felt stronger than other child-parent relationships she's seen in the past. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy, not just for fear of how his parents might react to his condition, but also for the pain he must have been through while he was with Victor Veloci. “Oh Caruso...” She whispered, reaching out towards him and gripping his hand. “It's..it's going to be okay.” She wasn't sure if this was true or not, but she was hopeful it would be. “We'll convince your parents to let you stay...I promise.”

Caruso struggled to smile, but the pain in the corners of his mouth caused him to yelp in pain. So instead he showed his gratitude towards Fiona's comfort by wrapping his arms around and her and giving a weak hug. “Th-Thank you...”

Fiona smiled and opened up her mouth to reply, but Max's voice stopped her.

“Hey, are you two going to come out or sit there and have a romantic moment?” Max said in a teasing voice. Although he could easily see the two were talking inside the car, he wasn't hearing much of what they were saying. He did pick up a word or two, but for all he knew, they were probably talking about going on a date. While he didn't show it, he did feel a little jealous. For a while, he himself did have a crush on Fiona. But he cared about his friends deeply, and if this made them happy, it would make him happy too.

“We're sorry!” Max heard Fiona say. “Sorry we kept you waiting.”

Within about a minute, Fiona started moving towards the side door, which was still open with Max waiting just a few inches away. She had one arm around Caruso, supporting him as she led him towards the door. Caruso's steps were wobbly and shaky, and it looked like he was going to fall down any moment. If Fiona was not supporting him, he might have done so already. Carefully, she moved him towards the open door. Caruso slowly moved a leg forward to step onto the ground. But he quickly lost his footing and almost fell forward, but Fiona hung onto him and Max quickly grabbed the other, preventing him from falling down.

Working together, the two managed to carefully set Caruso onto the grass. As soon as his feet touched the ground, they slowly pulled their arms away, looking at him worriedly. They weren't sure if he was going to be able to walk on his own. But they were willing to let him try again. They took a step back and, using their hands, gestured for Caruso to try and walk on his own. Irwin complied, and started to take a few shaky steps. He managed to last longer than he did last time, but the pain was still there, excruciating with every step. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore and he dropped down onto his knees, whimpering in pain.

Almost immediately, Max and Fiona were at his side. They each placed a hand on his back gently, speaking softly to him to help him calm down. They suddenly felt guilty for allowing him to walk on his own. It was clear that he was still in pain and having him walk when he barely recovered was not helping him heal any faster. They each gently gripped one of Caruso's arms and carefully pulled him onto his feet.

“Sorry, Caruso...” Max said. “We shouldn't have encouraged you to walk in your condition...”

“I-It's all right...” Caruso said, offering a small smile. “I-I'm not upset...”

Hearing Caruso telling them that he wasn't upset with them made Max and Fiona feel a little better. “That's good to hear...” Fiona said, trying to smile to make herself feel better, but she couldn't shake off her guilt completely. “But still....” She wanted to say more, but Max raised a hand to silence her. She immediately closed her mouth shut.

Max said, “Fiona..not now...please...” He gazed down at Caruso. “Let's just bring him inside...” Fiona simply nodded, not saying a word. With that, they started to help Caruso walk across the ground. Progress was slow but steady. Caruso still yelped in pain once in a while, but he was managing much better now that he had some support. As they neared the lighthouse, they all had the same thought in their minds, the same worry filling their every thought. What was going to happen when they got inside...? How were Caruso's parents going to react...?

* * *

Zoom slowly opened up his eyes and let out a low moan. His vision was very fuzzy for several moments. He was unable to distinguish many shapes or colors. Everything was almost like a haze to him. As his vision slowly started to adjust, he tried to move, but for whatever reason he was unable to move his arms. It felt like they were stuck behind his back. As his vision cleared up completely and his mind stopped feeling so fuzzy, he pulled harder, trying to dislodge his arms. He started to panic when he realized his arms were not moving. He could feel some material around his arms, binding them together behind his back. Someone had tied him up!

Zoom looked at his surroundings. His breathing started to quicken when he realized he was no longer in his apartment. The room he was in was rather plain with a deep shade of red. In front of him was a door, metallic in appearance. He couldn't see any door knob anywhere. Even if his arms were not bound, he probably would not be able to get out. Next to the door, he could see what appeared to be a speaker of sorts. He craned his head up and he could see a ventilation shaft right above him, closed up tightly. He then gazed at the floor. There was nothing to see except dirt and a few cracks.

He opened up his mouth and moved his lower jaw around, testing to see if he had been gagged. There was nothing stuffed into his mouth and nothing covering his lips. Once he realized he wasn't gagged, he let out a deep sigh and gazed at the ground. Unlike his arms, his legs were not bound in any way. Wanting to stretch his legs, he started to get up off of his seat. But as he did so, the material binding his arms together started to glow. Almost instantly, a wave of electricity shot through his body. He screamed in pain and sat back down. The electricity immediately subsided. It only lasted for a few seconds, but his body wouldn't stop trembling for several minutes. He gritted his teeth as he realized this must be the reason why his legs were not bound at all.

Settling back down on the somewhat uncomfortable chair, he looked around the room again. He glanced up at the speaker and squinted his eyes a little. He could see what looked to be a small camera mounted on top, something he had missed the first time he scanned the room. He growled softly, eyes narrowed and teeth bared. He didn't like the idea of someone watching his every move. He wondered just how was watching him and if they were the ones who shocked him as soon as he got up off the chair. Whoever was watching them, what was holding them back? Why don't they show themselves? He wondered if he would ever see his captor, or if they would kill him before he could.

That thought brought about a whole horde of other terrible thoughts. What did his captor have in mind? Why had they taken him? Was he going to live or die? Was he going to be questioned or tortured, or both? Just who was his captor anyway? The last thing he could remember was sitting down on his computer desk. Then the next thing he knew, he woke up here. He shook his head, wanting so badly to rub it as he felt his head throbbing. He groaned again and shifted in the chair, trying to find a comfortable position.

As he did so, he heard a metallic clang. He lifted his head up right away. Looking in front of him, he could see the door starting to open up. It split down the center and each side started to pull into the wall. As soon as it opened up all the way, a dark silhouette appeared in the doorway. Zoom squinted his eyes, trying to figure out who it was standing there. The silhouette started to walk forward. As they stepped into the light, while they remained darkened, too shady for Zoom to figure out who it was, the shape itself revealed that it was, in fact, a woman.

Zoom's eyes widened as memories started to come back to him. Back at his apartment, he was suddenly visited by a mysterious woman who claimed to have been working for Victor. When he had turned his back on her, she must have clunked him on the head. He bared his teeth as he stared at the shadow before him in anger. His suspicions were confirmed when the figure pressed a switch and suddenly the room was lit up with a bright light and he could briefly see a glimpse of the same woman who visited him earlier in his apartment room. Zoom suddenly flinched, his eyes so narrowed that they were almost closed. The bright light was painful to his eyes, having adjusted to the darkness. When they eventually adjusted to the bright light, he opened up his eyes and gazed at the woman standing in front of him. He growled softly. This was definitely the woman who was an unwanted visitor in his home.

“You...” Zoom hissed, wanting to get up and punch her.

Kista grinned arrogantly, lowering her head a little as she gazed down at the man. “My, oh my... you aren't happy to see me?” She asked in a teasing manner.

“Why have you brought me here?!” Zoom hissed, ignoring the woman's question. He struggled again for about a second before snapping, “Untie me NOW!”

Kista laughed coldly, touching a fingertip against the underside of Zoom's chin. “I'm afraid you are in no position to order me around, exquisite imbecile.” Zoom flinched as Kista said that phrase. “From where I'm standing, I call all the shots here.” She emphasized her statement by pulling out a small device with a large round button in the center.

Zoom smirked. “And from where I'm standing, you are an idiot.”

Kista narrowed her eyes, resting her thumb on the button. “Do not tempt me, you simpleton...”

“Don't tempt you to what?” Zoom asked sarcastically. “Don't tempt you to keep saying words that don't make any sense to what you are actually trying to say?”

Eyes narrowed deeply, a sadistic smile spreading across her face, Kista pressed the button. Almost instantly, Zoom recoiled in pain as electricity was once again pumped through his body. Kista held the button down for several seconds, watching Zoom squirm in the chair. She released the button, and Zoom almost immediately slumped in his chair, shaking visibly as he stared at her in shock. He slowly eyed the device again and realized what it was for. It was controlling whatever was binding his arms.

“That was why you shouldn't tempt me, Zoomie boy.” Kista said softly. She pressed her thumb on the button again and Zoom immediately snapped his head back, eyes closed tightly as he expected to be bombarded by more electricity. When none came, he looked up at her, eyes narrowed again. “And I suggest that, if you want to live...you don't anger me again, you benevolent barbarian.”

Zoom opened up his mouth to ask Kista why she kept using big words that usually don't have much, if any, correlation to the current situation at hand. But he immediately shut his mouth, remembering the device she still held in her hand. She was right. If he did value his life, he wouldn't tempt her further by risking an insult. Thinking about what might happen to him if he pushed her over the edge caused him to involuntarily swallow hard. Kista seemed to be enjoying his fear, somewhat, and took a step forward. She placed an arm around the back of the chair he was sitting in and glanced down at him.

“Are you...afraid? Are you terrified? Are your teeth chattering uncontrollably?” Kista said, taunting him. Zoom gulped again and swiftly shook his head, trying to look as brave as he could. Kista's eyes narrowed slightly. “Well you should be afraid, my dear... You're in Victor's realm now.”

“Victor?” Zoom looked around the room. “Is he here?”

“No...but he will be. So you better have a good excuse for coming here.” Kista said.

“What are you talking about?” Zoom cried. “You brought me here!”

Kista laughed. “Well that is true...” She admitted, leaning her head towards his so they were right next to each other, only a couple inches apart. “But you know..I can be very convincing around Victor... And I am one of his most trusted henchmen. He's only seen you once before, if my superior memory is serving me right. But I doubt he'd remember you, and if he does, well, why would he believe you?”

Zoom struggled against his binds. “He has no reason to...”

“Oh no?” Kista pressed her face against his and delivered a harsh whisper into his ear. “You remember that edited photograph you gave to him, promising it would be worthwhile, but it turned out to be some kid? Do you? I'm sure you remember that!”

“The CD was switched! I swear it!” Zoom cried, trying to get away from Kista's grasp. But the woman only tightened her grip, not allowing the photographer to get away from her.

Kista snickered at Zoom's statement. She wasn't doubting what he was saying was true. She, in fact, believed him. But that wasn't the point she was trying to get across to him. He was clueless, this man. He has no idea what he might be in for. He has no idea just how vicious Victor could really be. She only knocked him out to bring him here so that he wouldn't know the exact location of this particular area. She had then decided to bind him and put him in his room for his own good, and to keep him from nosing around before Victor came back. She wasn't sure just how Victor would react to Zoom being here. If worse came to worse, they could always kill him. That's why she had the electrical restraints on him.

“That might be so...” Kista said, immediately releasing Zoom and moving away from him. “The CDs being switched might explain why you were confused. It would rule out acting, now wouldn't it? But..Zoom...” She turned around to face him, her face now serious. “Who do you honestly think he will believe? I worked for Victor for a good amount of time. Years even. I am one of his most trusted subjects. While you....you have never worked a minute for this guy and the only time you ever talked to him was during that edited photograph incident. Do you honestly think he'll believe anything you say? He'll trust me before he'll trust you.

Zoom moved his head back a little as he listened to her she was saying. She did have a good point. He had never worked for Victor before, and the only encounter he had with him only ended badly. If Kista were to say anything about what he did, Victor would surely believe her and consider him a liar. “So...what do you plan on telling Victor...?” He asked carefully.

Kista's grin reappeared on her face. “I'll tell him that you insisted in coming here and threatened to kill me if I didn't, so I complied and led you here.”

“What?!” Zoom cried. “He'll know you were lying if he sees these binds on me! He'll know you took me here against my will!”

Kista shook her head slowly. “No he won't.. If he asks about the binds, I'll just tell him that you were becoming too violent and I had to restrain you.”

“But...!” Zoom tried to say.

“But nothing...” Kista said. “Like I said, he'll believe me before he'll even think of believing what you say.” She held out the device towards him again. “And just remember who is calling all of the shots, you little ignoramus bub..”

Zoom wanted to make a retort about Kista still being an idiot for using such irrelevant words, but eyeing the device in her hand and realizing he was still wearing the restraints made him have second thoughts. He slowly shut his mouth and hissed, “Fine...whatever.” He turned his head to the side, not wanting to look at Kista. The very sight of her made him angry. He should have just pushed her out of the door and locked it when he had the chance. “So what do you plan on doing with me? Just keeping me tied up here?”

The woman shook her head. “No,” Kista said. “I could not risk allowing you to know the location of this place. That is why I had to knock you out.”

Zoom growled softly, wanting to rub the sore spot on the back of his head. “You could have just given me a warning...”

“Oh and where's the fun in that?” Kista grinned. “And if I told you, you would have dodged, now wouldn't you?” She didn't allow Zoom to answer. She quickly turned her back to him and went back towards the door. She looked through, trying to see if anyone had followed her there, or if anyone was close by. She was also keeping an eye out for Victor. If he found Zoom here without his permission, he'll go nuts. Victor worked hard in getting all this set up without anyone knowing, except those he allowed to know. And Zoom was not one of them. If he saw him there, he will not be very happy. He might even have Zoom killed just so that he won't go spread the word. Of course he might just let him go with a warning. That's what he did with Donald and Michael, the two boneheads who mistook Victor for one of the perfect dinosaurs. How they could possibly make a mistake like that was beyond her, not that she really cared.

“So...” Zoom started to say. “Are you going to untie me, or I am going to have to...” He immediately shut up when Kista whirled around all of a sudden and gave him a cold glare. Zoom snapped his head back, his eyes widened a bit, and he eyed the remote in Kista's hand nervously as her thumb pressed against the button again. Kista started to press the button a little harder. Gasping, Zoom quickly said, “No! Please!”

Kista smirked as she heard Zoom beg in such a panicked manner. She decided to ignore his pleads and pressed the button anyway for half a second, just enough to send a very brief wave of electricity through his body, just to shake him up a bit. She wanted to make sure that he knew she was in charge. But she didn't want to sink down to Victor's level and torture Zoom too much. She put the device away and walked over towards Zoom, standing right next to him. Zoom looked up at her with an expression of anger. “Don't look at me like that. You had it coming.” She sneered.

“I asked you to stop and you shocked me anyway... why?” Zoom growled softly. “Just for the heck of it?” He couldn't understand why Kista had decided to shock him that time. He had asked her not to. No, he didn't ask. He had begged. He shuddered at the thought of being forced to do something so out of his character.

Kista narrowed her eyes. She was becoming annoyed with Zoom talking back to her like this. “Do you want another one?”

Zoom's eyes widened quickly and he shook his head rapidly. “No! No!”

Kista's frown was quickly replaced with a dark smile. “That's good... Just watch your mouth next time.” She warned him, pointing an accusing finger at him. “I will not tolerate you talking back to me, and I will not tolerate you trying to threaten me or order me around. Do you understand me...?” Zoom growled softly but nodded his head to please her. Satisfied, she leaned in a little closer and playfully ruffled his hair with one hand. “That's a good boy.” She teased playfully.

Feeling annoyed by what Kista was doing, Zoom pulled his head away from her, glaring at up at her but not saying anything to provoke her. Instead he decided to change the subject a bit and ask about Victor. He was curious to know when he might have a chance to speak to the guy. “Where is Victor?” He asked cautiously.

Kista looked up towards the ceiling and scratched her chin. “That is a good question....” She reached up and scratched her head as she started to think of an answer. “I don't really know.” She finally said, shrugging her shoulders half-heartedly.

“What?!” Zoom snapped, shocked by what Kista said. She worked for Victor. Shouldn't she know where he was? She told him Victor was busy. She should know where Victor was and what he was doing. That's what Zoom himself believed anyway. “You are one of his henchmen. Shouldn't you know where he is? How can you not know?!”

Kista glared at Zoom. She didn't like the way he was talking to her. She thought she already talked to him about talking back at her. She was tempted to shock him again but figured he had enough of that for now. Besides, she wasn't out to break his spirit like Victor was with Caruso. She decided to ignore his attitude and said, “I might work for the guy, but that doesn't mean I know where he goes every second of the day! Sheesh, what do you think I do? Follow him around and keep a record of whatever he does?” She threw her arms in the air and continued to rant. “Do you want me to tell you how many times he goes to the bathroom? How many breaths he takes when he sleeps? How many calories he eats a day? How many times he blinks in twenty-four hours?”

Zoom cringed back in his chair as Kista ranted on him like this. He almost immediately regretted crossing her. He wondered why she hadn't shocked him that time. He almost thought about asking, but decided not to. He decided to consider himself lucky that she didn't shock him again. “I'm sorry. You didn't have to...” He stopped himself before he said something he would regret again.

“Just forget about it...” Kista raised her hand. “Perhaps it was a mistake to bring you here.”

“What do you mean?” Zoom asked softly.

Kista glared at him. “If you keep up that attitude you had with me while talking with Victor, you are not going to last very long. He'll chew you up and spit you out! Victor doesn't tolerate that kind of behavior. Anyone who acts like that are either chased away or immediately put into their place.” She explained. “So if I were you, if you still want to speak with Victor, stop talking like such a rufescent propensity.”

Zoom flinched at Kista's odd phrase, but didn't comment on it. “Fine...” He said, lowering his head a little.

“Good...” Kista said. “Now...” She slung her arm around him and pulled him closer. “..let's talk business, shall we? I would love to hear more about your brilliant plan.” She said sarcastically. “I'm sure a smart guy like you has more details to a plan such as this. So...complex...” Her voice lowered into a harsh whisper as she spoke into his ear again. “Or have you not figured out your plan entirely?” She asked teasingly. She moved her heard forward so that Zoom could see her face. A mischievous smile found its away onto her face. Zoom glared at her softly, but didn't make a response, nor did he attempt to. Kista's own eyes narrowed slightly as well. “Well...? Are you going to answer me or just give me the cold shoulder?”

“...did I mention the bomb?” Zoom asked out of nowhere. He had almost forgotten about this detail he had brought up with Peter earlier. When Kista shook her head, an almost sadistic smile appeared on his face. He spoke in a somewhat dark voice, hoping to frighten Kista a little, an attempt to get back at her for shocking him. “Well, imagine this. We plant a bomb somewhere, perhaps the middle of a city. Not a big bomb, but big enough to scare some people. Before we set it off, we lure those Dino Squad punks over near this location. When they are in just the right spot, BOOM! We set off the bomb. The dinosaurs get the blame.”

Kista stared at Zoom for several minutes, her mouth having dropped open when Zoom revealed this part of the plan to her. Part of her wondered if this guy was joking. To use a bomb as part of the plan, it seemed like he was going too far. A bomb was way too risky. Even Victor would refrain from using such a device. If anyone was killed, that would draw more attention and the situation could be investigated. They could be tied to the scene of the crime and get arrested, and that was a risk she knew Victor was not willing to take. The other part of her sort of liked the plan. It was risky yes, but it might force the 'perfect dinosaurs' out of hiding and they might be a little easier to catch. Or so that is what Zoom would believe.

“Are you...nuts?” Kista finally said. “I mean...what if it backfires? Something could go wrong. I am not sure if Victor would want to take such a risk.”

“Why not?” Zoom asked, still grinning. He was feeling a little satisfied that he had startled Kista somewhat. “It would...could help him catch the Dino Squad.”

“Yes, but too many people might get hurt, or even killed.” Kista explained.

“So?” Zoom asked, shrugging his shoulders as if it was no big deal to him.

Kista was taken aback by this. “What? You mean you don't care if some humans get hurt, or killed, in the process?”

“Why should I? Oh sure it would bother me if everyone was killed, but a few people?” Zoom chuckled. “Not as much. A minor setback is all it would be. After all, for the greater good, do we not all have to make sacrifices?” Zoom smiled as he remembered the time when he was willing to let that one singer get hurt just so he could get a good photograph of it. It was nothing personal, he had told her. It was just business.

“Victor wouldn't like it, I can tell you right now.” Kista said, folding up her arms.

“Why? I thought he hated humans.” Zoom asked.

“That is true, no doubt about that. But if we carried out such a plan and someone does get hurt...” Kista slowly shook her head. “..well they might not blame the dinosaurs. And they could tie this company to the attack. Victor would be into a lot of trouble and with how far he has gotten, I doubt he would want such a huge setback.”

“He's rich. He could come up with some kind of cover-up, couldn't he?” Zoom asked, shrugging again.

“Well...I suppose...” Kista said, scratching her chin thoughtfully. “He is a very powerful business man, after all...”

Zoom nodded. “That's right... So if the public does suspect Raptor Dyne of foul play, Victor could just pin the rap on the dinosaurs. I know he can't convince them they put the bomb there and set it off, but he could find a way to make it look like the dinosaurs set it off somehow. Where the bomb would come from might be irrelevant...no wait it wouldn't.” Zoom closed his eyes tightly as he tried to think of something he could do with the bomb's origin, how to explain it without putting the blame on Raptor Dyne. Then it came to him. He opened up his eyes and continued, “I've got it. We could say that Raptor Dyne was in pursuit of some kind of dangerous criminal who planted a bomb. They were about to apprehend the culprits and save the city, but then the bomb goes off when the dinosaurs show up. The company could blame the dinosaurs. The city would be outraged that these beasts caused such a tragedy to happen. And after all, who are they going to believe? Humans or some scaly beasts?”

Kista slowly blinked her eyes as she digested this new information. At first, she was at a loss of words. This plan did seem a little better than she thought it would have been. He seemed to have figured out a solution for the loopholes, unless there was one that he had missed. Perhaps she had misjudged him earlier. Maybe Victor would be interested in hearing this plan. “That plan sounds so...evil..so sneaky...” Kista said. She then leaned in closer to him, a dark smile on her face. “I like it...”

Zoom straightened up in his seat, holding up his head in an arrogant manner. “Well of course you like it.” He said, smiling. “That's because I am a genius!”

Kista glared almost playfully at Zoom. Did he just call himself a genius? Yes, she admitted that the plan was devious, but that didn't make him a genius. In her eyes, it just made him smart, perhaps even lucky. She was the true genius in this room. She regarded herself as being smarter than almost everyone in Raptor Dyne. She is amused sometimes when they think she is joking, although she does become easily frustrated when her intelligence is not recognized. And she feels Zoom has not fully recognized it yet himself.

“You? A genius?” Kista asked, eyes slightly wider than they were just a second ago. She then burst out laughing, unable to hold it back. “Yeah right!”

“What's so funny?” Zoom asked, feeling very offended by Kista's sarcastic reaction to his statement. What did she know about being a genius anyway? She was just some arrogant woman who thought she was so smart just because she used big, complicated words. All it was doing was making herself look like an idiot! But he felt that he, himself, had a good reason to gloat about his intelligence. “Why are you laughing at me?”

“Because you are so funny, rubicund.” Kista laughed, pulling her head back and stared up at the ceiling as she talked to Zoom. “You think you are so smart and such a genius. But your inferior intelligence cannot possibly match mine.”

“I'll say.” Zoom said, making Kista think, at first, that he was understanding where she was coming from and was agreeing with her. But when he continued, Kista quickly realized that this was not the case. Zoom narrowed his eyes, yet a dark smile came onto his face. Forgetting about Kista's previous warning, he decided to taunt Kista a little bit. “Your intelligence is about ten times worse than mine! Where did you learn to speak these words anyway? A geek convention?” He laughed.

Kista growled softly, forming fists with her hands as she straightened her arms at her side. “You better take that back, you peccant! If you do not, I shall....!”

“Or you shall what? Torture me with more of your so-called intelligence?” Zoom chuckled ignorantly.

It took all of her willpower and strength to keep herself from setting the shocker up higher and just killing this man right on the spot. She had second thoughts because she knew she would get into trouble with Victor if she killed him without his permission. And Zoom was a pretty popular photographer. His death would not go unnoticed. They might get unwanted attention and that was the last thing she and the others needed. But she still felt Zoom needed an attitude adjustment. He was just like many of the other people she has come in contact with. They feel they were superior and above everyone else. She straightened a few of them out, the ones that worked for Victor that is, which was only a small handful out of them all.

Perhaps it was time for her to straighten out Zoom. It was obvious the shocker was not working. She couldn't set it up to a higher setting without causing serious damage to him. If she were to do that and set him free, he might sue and inform the public of what she had done to him. She might end up on a wanted list or something. Instead, she had something else in mind, something she knew was going to work. Zoom might be cocky, but no matter how brave and smart he acted, he wouldn't be able to resist screaming once he got a load of this plan of hers. She grinned evilly at the thought. She delighted in the idea of revealing to Zoom one of her most heavily guarded secrets. This was going to be fun, she thought.

She knew she might get into trouble with Victor for doing this, but for something like this, she didn't really care. No one ever tells on her anyway. After all, who would believe them? She had been scolded by Victor about this before, but she didn't really care. She tried to explain to him that there was no danger in using this plan, since the people she does it with end up so scared they don't tell anyone, and even if they did, they would sound like a complete idiot anyway. But Victor was still such a spoiled sport. He didn't want her to do anything to jeopardize his plan, and to him, what she was doing was too reckless. But Kista decided to ignore what he said.

Kista moved away from Zoom and walked out in front of him. She backed up towards the door and tried to position herself almost in the middle of the space between Zoom and the door. “I didn't want to have to do this..but you left me no choice...” She hissed in a threatening tone, eyes narrowed dangerously.

Zoom, however, remained unfazed. “What are you going to do?” He asked half-heartedly. “Lecture me? Bore me to death? Use more of your smart words?” He laughed to himself, eyes closed, as he said that. He was starting to pity Victor for having this woman on his team. He was amazed that Victor hadn't gone crazy with this idiot walking around acting smart by using big words. He prepared himself for what Kista was going to do. He felt there was nothing that she could do that would really frighten him. There couldn't be anything worse she could do other than shock him, and if she wanted to kill him she would have done so already, wouldn't she? No, there was nothing she could do to surprise him.

But then, he felt a shadow cast over him. He thought this was unusual because there was nothing big enough in this room to block out the light completely. When he opened up his eyes, he gasped. Eyes bulged open up in fear as he stared at what laid before him, he quickly regretted when he said to Kista earlier. He cringed in his chair, shaking visibly. He couldn't think of anything to say. His mind was almost numb with fear. The only thing he could manage to do was what anyone would instinctively do when faced with this kind of situation. He screamed.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!


	13. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“Are you sure he's all right?” Jack asked cautiously to Moynihan.

He and his wife were relieved when they saw the SUV pull up beside the lighthouse. They were starting to worry about the team and wondered if something had happened to them. They were gone for some time. Jack had tried to call Moynihan again, but couldn't bring himself to fully dial the number for fear he would get that one person again. He was still angry about what happened, but he did his best to hide his feelings. His wife was concerned about him, but agreed to not bring it up again. When the door opened up, she was the first one to get up and move towards the group to ask about Caruso. Moynihan and the others had said he was all right, but they wouldn't say anymore.

Both Jack and Amanda were suspicious of this claim. They were not doubting that Caruso would have been all right. The team hadn't said or did anything that would have make them think that anyway. But something must have happened. They did seem hesitate to tell them more when they asked the first time. They just remained quiet and say that they'll find out when Fiona and Caruso come inside, and then try to find something else to talk about. Max was recently sent out to fetch Fiona and Caruso so they should be expecting to see Caruso within a few minutes.

Once again Jack's question was ignored. Moynihan looked at him, wanting to answer his question but hesitating to do so. She really did want to tell them what happened, but she feared that if she told them now, they might overreact. But she was even dreading bringing in Caruso in the current state that he was in. She had specifically told the other students to not say a word until Caruso came in and to answer any question that Caruso's parents ask them unless they were out of line or too accusatory. In this case, she would answer for them and try and keep the couple from chewing anyone's heads off.

She looked towards the door, waiting for it to open up. Max was only gone for about five minutes, so he should be back very soon. It didn't take that long to walk out to the SUV and fetch two people, did it? She looked back towards Jack and flinched as she saw that he was glaring at her now, looking very annoyed that she had ignored his question yet again. She breathed in deep and exhaled, feeling guilty about purposely ignoring him. She opened up her mouth to say something, but no words came. She wasn't really sure what to say to him. She wanted to say something to reassure him, something to make him and his wife feel better. The only thing that she thought she could say was say that Caruso hadn't suffered any fatal injuries. But then they might inquire on what injuries he does have, and that was a topic that Moynihan wished she could avoid talking about with them, but she knew she would have to once Max came back with Fiona and Caruso.

Jack's voice snapped her from her thoughts. “Why are you ignoring me?” He asked angrily. “I've asked this before, so did my wife, and we were both ignored, And not just by you, but by your students as well. What's the big secret?” He asked, arms up in the air as he looked around the room, also addressing the students as well. “You tell us that Caruso is all right, but if we asked what happened to him or ask if he really was all right, you all refuse to answer us!”

Amanda stepped up to agree with her husband. “Yeah! What's going on? Are you guys hiding something from us?” She asked in an accusatory tone of voice, hands on her hips and her foot tapping impatiently on the ground. “We're his parents! We have the right to know!”

“I'm sorry...” Joanne Moynihan said, holding up her hand to silence Amanda Caruso. “We did not mean to upset you. It's...it's just that...”

“It's just that... what?” Jack asked.

Moynihan let out a soft sigh. “It is true that he's all right...but....” She swallowed hard as she prepared to tell them what happened. She was not going to enjoy this, but she didn't want to further upset Caruso's parents by withholding this information. They were right. They did have the right to know, being Irwin's parents and all. “I don't think you're going to like what I'm about to tell you, but...”

Much to her relief, her sentence was stopped abruptly when the door to the lighthouse swung open and Max called out, “Okay, I'm back!” He quickly pushed a door stop towards the door and wedged it so that it would stay open. He appeared to be holding something with one harm. It was hard to make out, but as he moved inside, it soon became apparent what he was actually holding, and he wasn't the only one hanging onto it. Fiona was helping him as well.

They almost hesitated coming inside the lighthouse. They considered stopping, taking their time. But what kind of friends would they be if they did that? They knew Caruso really wanted to see his parents again. He hadn't seen them since he left his house in such a hurry that Saturday morning. And they knew his parents have waited all this time to see him again. They couldn't back down now. They tried to ignore the fear eating away at their stomachs as they moved forward.

Fiona and Max walked inside the lighthouse. In between them stood Caruso. He was being supported by the two teens, who each had a grip on one of his arms and held him up. He looked as if he had a limp as he walked forward and his face sometimes, briefly, contorted in pain. Even supported by Fiona and Max, it was a challenge for him to just walk. And he couldn't scream in pain. The cuts on his face prevented him from doing so. His head was turned towards the ground, as if he was afraid to see the expression on everyone's faces, especially his parents.

Just what were they going to think when they saw him? He wished he could run away. He wanted to get away from here and hide, to never let his parents see him like this. He loved them too much to distress them with what had happened to him. But he was in too much pain and too weak to try and struggle free. And he didn't want to let his parents down, nor his friends. He wanted to please them and make them happy. He didn't want them to feel sad because of what happened to him. He still wanted the comfort and the reassurance from them, but he didn't want to see them suffer mentally when they saw him in this condition. He wanted desperately for things to be back to the way that they were before. But somehow, he knew that things would never be exactly the same ever again.

Amanda and Jack turned towards the door to see their son for the first time since that fateful Saturday morning. Their hearts raced as they prepared for the worst, minds racing like a speeding train. They could not have prepared themselves for what they were faced with as they saw Irwin Caruso coming into the lighthouse, supported by two of his friends. Jack stifled a gasp, his body going stiff as his eyes widened in shock. He tried his best not to react, to be strong for both his mother and his own son. But the sight before him made it almost impossible for him to keep himself from screaming in shock and fear.

Irwin Caruso's body was covered in bruises, cuts, and dried dark blood. He had multiple cuts on his body, the most noticeable being the one that snaked along his arm. They could see multiple bruises on his body, as well as some scorch marks where the bridle burned him. But the worst of wall was his head. It was full of deep gashes where the bridle cut him, especially on the lips and cheeks. There was a lot of dried blood on the top of his head where Victor delivered his last blow. The bleeding must have recently stopped because they could still see some redness to them and it looked sticky. There were cuts along his forehead as well, though they were almost completely covered up by the blood coming from the wound on the top of his head.

Amanda couldn't control herself as she started to break down at the sight of her son in such a horrible condition. Her lower lip started to quiver uncontrollably. She felt a river of tears flow from her face as she started to cry. She moved slowly towards her son, reaching out towards him multiple times, but lowering her hand every time, worried that this was just an illusion. Part of her wished that it was, not wanting to see her son like this. But the other part of her hoped that this was for real. She didn't want to be disappointed again. She continued to move towards Irwin, her husband walking slowly behind her, ready to offer emotional support of she needed it. When she got within a couple feet from Irwin, she reached out again. As she did so, Irwin tried to smile at her, and she almost sobbed as she saw his face contort into pain as he attempted to smile.

“Irwin...” Amanda whispered in a soft, shaky voice as she gently touched his cheek, careful not to cause him pain. What had that monster done to her son? She could see the pain in his eyes, the emotional trauma he must have been through. She moved her hand from his cheek and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. Fiona and Max immediately released Caruso and moved away to give them some space and let the family reunite.

“M-Mom...” Caruso managed to say through his pain. “I-I-It's good to s-see you again...”

“My baby...what's happened to you...” Amanda said, not able to stop the tears from flowing down her reddened face. But she was not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“N-Nothing...I-I'm fine...really I am...” Caruso lied, trying to make his mother feel better. But he knew it wasn't working after he felt his mother tighten her grip slightly on him.

“Don't lie to me, Irwin...please...” Amanda whispered softly as she continued to hug him. She didn't notice her husband coming up right behind her, standing only about a foot away. “I'm your mother...I know when you are lying...”

Caruso gulped as his mother said that. It made him start to feel a little guilty about attempting to lie to her. He could feel his stomach tie up in a knot. He contemplated telling her the truth. He wanted to tell her everything that had happened. But seeing her like this, and now seeing his dad staring down at him with that expression of pain on his face, he was not sure if he could bring himself to tell them. He didn't want them to be more hurt than they already were. What kind of son would he be if he just made his own parents' already saddened mood even worse?

But then, what kind of son would he be if he just lied to them and tried to tell them everything was all right? They could see, as plain as day, that he was lying. He couldn't hide the injuries on his body that he received from Victor. He couldn't hide the pain that was constantly overwhelming him, especially in his mouth. He could not hide the blood stains that covered his clothes and body. His parents could see that very clearly, he knew. But even though he knew he could not lie, he still was hesitant to tell them everything Victor did to him. How were they going to react?

There were multiple ways he could think of that they could do, and not one of them was good. There was two things that stuck to his mind that he feared the most, and hoped they wouldn't go for either reaction. They could go nuts and try to go after Victor themselves. They might become so angry at what he's done to him, and he couldn't blame them if they did either, and try to take matters into their own hands. Caruso didn't want to see his parents risking their life seeking revenge for him. And what could they get done anyway? They might be able to sue Victor, but they had no proof tying him to Caruso's injuries. And Victor could always come up with something to say to make himself look innocent. Who are people going to believe? A powerful billionaire or a young couple they don't know? Caruso gritted his teeth, knowing what the answer was.

And then there was the other option that they might try. They could try to protect Caruso themselves, and take him off the squad. While this option would not put his parents in as much danger as the first, Caruso himself would feel more vulnerable. He does not think that his parents wouldn't be able to protect him, but he felt safer with his friends. He knew that, like his parents, they would do anything to protect him from danger, and after what happened to him, they would try harder next time to keep him safe. Despite what happened, he still loved being on the team, and he still cared about his friends. He didn't want to get separated from them. He hoped his parents wouldn't see his friends as failures and try to remove him from the team.

“M-Mom...I...” Irwin said, trying to say something to comfort his mother, but he couldn't think of anything to say. He closed his mouth, wincing slightly in pain as he put pressure on the cuts on the corners of his mouth.

“I-I was so worried about you..Irwin....” Amanda said, not able to stop herself from crying. She was about to continue talking when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She gave a sideways glance at her husband, who was standing right next to her now, his hand firmly gripping her shoulder. “Jack...” She whispered before turning her head away to hide her tear-stained face.

Jack stared at Amanda, unsure of what to say or do. He turned to Irwin and was horrified by his condition. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't tear his gaze away from the boy. His eyes slowly scanned the boy's body, taking note of all the cuts and bruises and scorches that covered his skin. He looked at Irwin almost helplessly, looking like he really wanted to help but was not sure how to go about it. He finally managed to move his gaze away from Irwin and back onto his wife. He reached out towards his wife and gently stroked her hair with his hand, trying his best to help her calm down. But she just continued to sob, her body shaking a little with every cry.

Amanda looked up at her husband again, her tears making her face so moist that the light in the room reflected off of it and almost lit up her face. She wanted to wipe them away, but she feared letting go of her son. She tried to say something to Jack, but she stopped when she felt his finger wiping away the tears on her face. “Oh Jack...” She finally managed to say.

“Amanda....” Jack replied in a comforting tone of voice, hoping to calm down his wife. He cupped her chin gently and tilted her head up a little. He wanted to say something to make her feel better, but he was at a loss of words. He didn't like to see her crying like this. When he managed to come up with something to say, he whispered softly, “Please don't cry....”

“I-I can't help it...” Amanda said in a shaky voice, closing her eyes and feeling the moistness of her tears as they trickled from her eyes and down her cheeks. She could feel her nose stuff up as the tears kept coming. She managed to bring herself to release one arm from Irwin and wipe away the tears that stung her face and eyes. “..with what happened to Irwin....”

“I know...I know...” Jack said comfortingly as he wrapped his arms around both his wife and his son and pulling them close to him. He was careful not to hug too tightly because of Irwin's injuries. He did his best not to cry himself. It was hurting him to see his wife in such distress and his son in such condition. He loved them both dearly. He could feel his heart ache as he saw them this way. He believed he had to be the strong one, to be the one shoulder they could lean on for comfort. Many thoughts were running through his mind now, trying to figure out just what they should do next. What course of action should he take?

One thing that he knew he wanted to do was get even with Victor for what he's done. Nobody hurts his son like this and gets away with it! Jack wanted to be sure that Victor regrets every second he spent with Irwin was his hostage. He wanted to beat down Victor himself and give him all the injuries that Irwin had on his body. But he knew that, if he did that, regardless if Victor's convicted or not, he himself would be in trouble as well. He knew he would have to refrain from hurting Victor if he were to see him, but he also knew it was not going to be easy for him. The very thought of Victor made his stomach knot up as the feelings of anger overcame him.

He knew what his wife would want though. She would want them to sue Victor for all that he's got. But would that be a wise choice? It did not seem any smarter than attacking Victor head on. The guy was still a powerful billionaire, even if he was just pretending to be a human. He had a lot of people on his side, and a lot of supporters from around the world. If they were to accuse Victor of something, he could easily get a great attorney and find him not guilty. They wouldn't win a case in court with Victor. There was just no way. And even if they prove him guilty, then what? Victor might seek revenge on them. He might capture them all and hurt them, or even worse, kill them. No, he did not want to take that chance.

Amanda herself was also thinking as well. She was thinking about Irwin and how they might protect him in the future. She feared so much for his safety and well being. He was back at home, well the lighthouse, but she felt that he was still in danger. Victor might come back for him. Although she cannot be too sure about this, she didn't want to take that chance. She wanted to do something to make sure he stayed safe. She had one idea in mind. But though she knew her son would not like it, she felt it had to be done. She didn't believe he was safe here anymore.

Amanda turned her head so that she was facing Irwin the best that she could. He looked at her like he was expecting her to say something. And she could see a slight tinge of fear in his eyes, like he was dreading what she was going to tell him. This caused her to hesitate in her statement for a few seconds, wondering if she should really go through with it. She snapped back to reality, telling herself she had no choice. “Caruso...I think it's time you left the Dino Squad.”

Caruso's eyes widened and he felt a sharp pain in his heart. There was a similar reaction among the Dino Squad as well. This was the very statement they were all dreading to hear. It was what they hoped Caruso's parents would never consider. Caruso looked at his mom in shock, his lower jaw trembling as he tried to come up with something to say. He could only manage a slow shaking of the head. He wanted to back away from her, but she and his father held on too firmly.

Fiona put a hand to her mouth as she gasped sharply at what Caruso's mother had said. She couldn't mean that, could she? It had to be a misunderstanding, or perhaps just her being so desperate that she said the first thing on her mind. Yes, that had to be it. There's no way she could be serious about removing Caruso off the team, could she? She looked up at Moynihan. “She..she can't be serious...could she?” She asked carefully.

Moynihan looked at Fiona, and let out a sigh. “I'm afraid she probably is... She truly sounds serious.”

“But..she can't take him off the team! She just..can't...” Fiona said urgently.

“I'm afraid she can...” Moynihan replied, turning her head away. “She's his mother.”

“S-Still, isn't there anything we can...” Fiona tried to ask, but she couldn't think of how to finish her question without sounding stupid or selfish. She immediately shut her mouth and got quiet. She looked out towards Caruso, who was staring back at her. He had the same look on his face as she did, which was the look of fear. He wasn't afraid that his parents were going to hurt him. He was afraid that he might not see his friends again. Fiona didn't like the idea of not having him around anymore, but she wasn't sure what she could do to keep his mother from going through with this decision.

Jack was a little surprised by what his wife said, but he was almost expecting it. He knew how worried she was and her saying something like this was probably the result of all that stress that she had experienced. Jack understood why she would think of making such a decision, but he wasn't completely for it. Part of him wanted to take Irwin away. After all, just being on this team had made him a target for Victor since day one. But on the other hand, these kids could probably protect him better than they could, even though they had failed to save him from being captured before. But he felt that they had tried their best and he knew they felt terrible for failing his son.

Irwin slowly shook his head, trying to pull away from his mother despite the fact that he could barely stand without support. “N-No...please... I don't wanna leave...” He begged his mother, hoping that she would change her mind.

“I'm sorry...but it's the only choice we have.” Amanda said solemnly.

“What do you mean?” Irwin said, shaking his head a little faster. “Of course there's another choice! Th-There's got to b-be!”

“I'm sorry, Irwin...But my mind's made up.” Amanda said, gripping her son a little harder so that he wouldn't run away. She saw the way he walked in here. He couldn't possibly be able to walk on his own. She didn't want him to hurt himself more than he already was. And besides, she wasn't sure if this Dino Squad team could protect him. After all, their failure resulted in him getting this way in the first place. “It's obvious your friends can't provide the adequate protection that you'll need if that..madman tries anything again.”

Max's eyes widened when Amanda made that statement. Was she accusing them of being too weak and too inefficient to protect their own friend? He started to feel angry and upset that Caruso's mother would think that way about them. It's not that they didn't care. They had tried their best to save Caruso that Saturday morning. If it weren't for that Oscura character, they would have succeeded. “What are you talking about? We can protect him from Victor!”

“Like how you protected him a few days ago?” Amanda asked almost coyly, and immediately regretting it. She didn't mean to sound so cold to the boy.

“...we tried our best.” Fiona spoke up, taking a step forward. “We can't begin to tell you how guilty we felt when we weren't able to save him. We tried...we really did try....”

Amanda sighed softly, closing her eyes. “I'm..sorry. I didn't mean to sound cold.” She looked towards her son once more, and started to feel bad as he stared back at her with an expression of emotional pain. “Please..understand..Irwin..I-I only want what is best for you.”

“By s-s-separating me from my f-friends...?” Irwin asked. “H-How is that b-best for me...?”

As Irwin started to struggle a little more in his mother's grasp, she tightened her grip a little bit and tried to hold him still. As she did this, her husband released her, unsure of what to do now. He looked over at Moynihan and then back at his wife and watched her try to hold Irwin still. But the more she tried to hold him, the more urgently he struggled. Why was he struggling? He resisted the urge to slap himself in the face. Of course he was struggling. He didn't want to leave his friends. But he would have to leave the building sooner or later. He couldn't possibly live here. It was not his home.

After finally working up the strength to say something, Buzz lifted up a finger in the air to try and get attention. He cleared his throat and started to speak. “Are you sure taking him away from us is a good idea?” He winced when Caruso's mother shot him a look. He gulped. “W-Well..I didn't mean to...” Buzz stammered nervously. “It's just that...I don't think it is a smart idea for him to..lose the protection he has with us.”

“What protection?” Amanda said coldly, although she did not intend to sound like that. Nonetheless, her glare towards Buzz hardened slightly as she added to her statement, “You all tried your best to save him and you still failed. Frankly, I don't see a difference whether he stays with you or if he leaves. He isn't safe either way.”

“But...” Buzz started to say. But someone silenced him by placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Moynihan, who was looking at him sympathetically, then turned to Amanda.

“I must suggest that you reconsider your decision, Mrs. Caruso.” Moynihan said in a firm but gentle voice. She knew she couldn't force the woman to do what she doesn't want to, but she could at least try and get her to reconsider taking Caruso off the team. Moynihan knew that the boy would be more vulnerable if he were to leave this group. “Taking him off the team at this time is a huge risk, I'm afraid, what with Victor still at large...”

“Is he truly safer on this team?” Amanda asked, her expression softening a little bit. She did feel guilty with how she spoke to Buzz. “Are you certain?”

“I can't be one hundred percent certain.” Moynihan said, adjusting the glasses on her face. “But what I am certain of is that if Victor were to come after Irwin again, or if something does occur, he would be safer with us because we would be capable of protecting him. Should he leave the team, well, what if something happens and you, his parents, aren't able to save him? What if a mutantsaur attacks?”

Amanda narrowed her eyes dangerously. She felt Moynihan was accusing her and her husband of being incompetent to protect their only son. What did she know anyway? She wasn't the kid's mother! What would she know about protecting an offspring? Where did she come from, telling them that they won't be able to protect Irwin from some kind of monster? They would find a way. She knew that, if they worked together, she and her husband could fend off any mutantsaur that would dare come close to her son. She wanted to walk over to Moynihan and give her a piece of her mind, but when she saw the look on her son's face, her own expression softened up a bit. But when she looked back at Moynihan again, she couldn't help but glare once more, still feeling angry with the old woman.

Upon seeing the hardened expression on Amanda's face, Moynihan closed her eyes and looked away. She understood the woman's frustration. She just wanted to protect her son after all. But Joanne wished that Amanda would listen to reason. Her intentions were noble, but she and her husband just aren't capable to fend off mutantsaurs, and they especially would not be able to fight Victor or his henchmen. Thinking again, Joanne realized there was a way for them to protect Caruso from mutantsaurs, but it would involve using weaponry. Joanne had forbidden her students from harming the mutants, and she expected the same with the parents who know their secret. Hurting the mutantsaurs would only create more problems. Joanne had forbidden weaponry not only because she cared about life in general, but there was another reason, one that she had not told anyone.

While primordial ooze does die off after the host is killed, there is still a chance that it would be scavenged by predators, looking to satisfy their appetite with a little carrion, before the ooze died off completely. If the primordial ooze was ingested, it would transform the creature as it would if it made contact with the skin, and it would be harder to get rid of. The primordial ooze would be centered in the stomach rather under the skin. She had developed a weapon of sorts to deal with this, but she regarded it as too dangerous and had it locked away somewhere. She had hoped she never would have to use it, and she didn't want Amanda doing something that would force her to use that weapon. Perhaps she should just explain this to Amanda. Perhaps it would help her understand why she cannot harm the mutantsaurs.

“Look...” Moynihan spoke up, although her voice was still soft. “I know how you probably feel right now, but...”

“How can you possibly know how I feel?!” Amanda snapped suddenly, cutting off Moynihan. “You are a Velociraptor! How could something like you understand how I feel?!”

Moynihan's eyes widened in shock and she took a step back. She opened up her mouth to say something, but couldn't think of a good response at first. But Amanda's statement repeated itself over and over again inside her mind, and Moynihan felt herself become a little frustrated as well. She could not deny that she was a Velociraptor, but sometimes it did bother her, even upset her, to know that many humans think Velociraptors were heartless monsters as they are usually portrayed in movies. She took a step forward.

“Now you listen here.” Moynihan said sternly. “I might be a Velociraptor. But that does not mean I don't understand the emotions of humans and what humans can go through. Before you make a stereotypical statement involving my race, try to think about what your race as done!”

The room fell silent. The only sounds anyone could hear was each other's breathing. All eyes were glued on Moynihan, wide with shock, and, in some, fear. Moynihan had never snapped like that before. And she had never spoke about mankind like she had just now. She had not said anything directly. It was what she said indirectly that scared and shocked everyone. Moynihan had said that she loves the human race due to their diversity, even stating she finds the species interesting. She hadn't really said anything negative about humans, although she would like them to find a better way to live that would benefit the planet. But just now, she had just implied that humans were a far more savage race than Velociraptors, which may very well be the case, but she'd never say that deliberately.

Moynihan's harsh breathing, a result of the anger she felt when she made that statement, slowly died down, and she quickly realized what she had just said. Her expression faded immediately, replaced with one of shock and horror. “I-I didn't mean what I said...” She said, looking at everyone in the room. “I was just upset and...”

Max raised a hand and Moynihan turned towards him. “I understand, Professor. This is no different than how I reacted back at the warehouse. You're probably just stressed from all that has happened, aren't you?”

Moynihan nodded. “Correct, Maxwell. But it was not only that.” She looked at Amanda. “I got upset when you made that prejudice remark about my species. It felt like you were placing judgment on my species, even though none of you humans have met many Velociraptors. I felt it was very unfair of you to judge raptors in such a manner. But I do deeply apologize for what I said. It was not right.” She said in a guilty tone. “I'm sorry.”

Amanda was at a loss of words because of the harsh statement Moynihan made. When the old woman spoke up again, Amanda narrowed her eyes and was fighting the urge to punch the woman. She didn't want to listen to Moynihan making any other accusations of her species. Just what was wrong with humans anyway? She admitted that humans had some flaws. They start wars, they sometimes hate each other, they even kill each other just for fun. But Amanda couldn't comprehend how humans could be any worse than Velociraptors. After all, Velociraptors were the cold-hearted monsters of the Cretaceous, running around disemboweling their prey.

Amanda's expression softened up a bit when Moynihan started to apologize for her behavior and explained why she had reacted in such a manner. Amanda started to feel guilty herself, realizing the old woman was right. She shouldn't judge the raptors so harshly based on what she's seen in the movies, especially if she's never met many Velociraptors before. She agreed with what Max said. It was probably just the stress that was making them act this way.

“I'm sorry too.” Amanda said, lowering her head a little in shame. “I guess I just..overreacted. I didn't mean to judge your kind like that.” She still felt uneasy about Moynihan's species, but she wondered if it was time to let go of the stereotypical facts she'd seen in movies. Moynihan was a Velociraptor herself. She would know about her species, what was true and what was not. But that didn't comfort Amanda too well, knowing that another Velociraptor, Victor Veloci, was out there, and he did this to her son.

Feeling uncomfortable about what just happened, Jack decided to change the subject before another argument would break out. He was a little shaken by what Moynihan said, but he's heard worse before. “So...” He spoke up, cautiously approaching Moynihan. “What do you propose we do?”

Moynihan turned her attention to Jack. She wasn't entirely sure what they were going to do, but she couldn't just refuse to answer. She would have to come up something, and fast. After all, she had insisted that the parents reconsider wanting to take Caruso away. She'd have to come up with a plan about how to protect the boy, one that they would agree with and feel comfortable with. Inhaling and exhaling slowly, she said, “Here's what I had in mind...”

* * *

“I wonder when Victor will arrive...” Michelle asked herself as she leaned against the desk. She was no longer in front of Victor's large monitors. She was sitting at a long table where the scientists would sometimes perform experiments for Victor. She didn't feel comfortable being so close to the tanks with the creatures inside of them, but she couldn't sit near Victor's computers. He might get upset with her, and that's the last thing she wanted to happen, what with him already being angry at her.

She started to wonder again about the Dino Squad. She was worried about the fact that Victor had gone after them. She wondered if they got away from him and if anyone got hurt. The radar continually showed Victor getting dangerously close, and it looked like he made contact several times as well. Michelle had a hard time watching it and had to move away from the monitor. But glancing back over at the monitor now, it looked as if Victor had left the squad alone. While she felt relieved that they probably got away, this meant that Victor must be heading back right now. He could be back any minute, and she was not looking forward to seeing him.

THUD!

Michelle jolted in her seat, stiffened, and lifted up her head as she heard the door suddenly open up. She looked over to see who it was. Upon seeing that it was Victor, she almost fell out of her chair. Victor hadn't looked at her yet. His expression was soft, almost emotionless. He just walked in slowly, heading towards his computers like he always does when he comes in. He glanced up at the monitor, nodding a few times as he looked at the stats and radar being displayed on the large screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Michelle. He looked over at her, expression remaining the same. Michelle wasn't sure if she should be relieved or fearful.

Victor, as he approached the teenager, contemplated on what form of punishment he should give her. He had already struck her in the leg earlier and left her a pretty nasty bruise. But he didn't think it was punishment enough, and he told her that. He wanted to think of one more thing to do to her, something worse than merely hitting her. And when he came up with the right punishment, he came into this room to deliver it. He hoped that the consequences that the girl will suffer will teach her a lesson about going against his wishes.

Michelle watched him approach her warily, a cautious look on her face. She clenched her teeth, expecting that, any second, he would grab her and throw her to the ground, or strike her with his claws. But he did neither as he stood next to the chair she was in. She craned her head to look up at him in the eyes. She tried to speak, but her voice failed her. She was too afraid to say anything. Victor seemed to sense her fear, and he just smiled. His smile frightened Michelle, and he knew that well.

“Hello, Michelle.” Victor greeted, as if nothing was wrong. But Michelle knew better. She could see the look in his eyes. There was nothing friendly about the way he was looking at her. She could see the anger in his eyes. When Victor leaned in closer, Michelle instinctively moved back, almost falling out of her seat. “That's right..be afraid.” Victor taunted in a light voice. Then when he spoke again, it was darker, more menacing. “Because after what you did, you should be lucky I didn't kill you!”

Michelle fell out of her seat this time, landing on her back with a loud thud. Victor just pushed the chair out of the way and stalked over towards the downed girl. “I-I'm sorry!” Michelle cried, holding her arms in front of her in a feeble attempt to protect herself. “I'll never do it again! I swear!”

Victor stood over her, his cold eyes, filled with anger, staring down at her. “You better not! Or next time, I won't hesitate to have you for my lunch break!” He watched the girl shake and shiver in fear on the ground for several seconds and said, “Get up off the ground!” Upon hearing him bark the order, Michelle immediately got off the ground, albeit trembling uncontrollably, and looked up at the mad scientist in fear. “You have greatly disappointed me, Michelle. What you have done jeopardized the mission! You were lucky that the plan still went through!”

Michelle closed her eyes tightly, wincing at every harsh word Victor spoke to her. “I'm sorry...I didn't mean to...I...”

“Quit your graveling!” Victor snapped. “Oscura had told me that it might be better off if I kill you...” He leaned towards the girl. “And I am starting to wonder if she was right....” He slowly raised a clawed red hand. Michelle's eyes widened and she quickly turned her head away, expecting him to strike her at anytime. But after several seconds and no blow came, she opened up her eyes and cautiously looked up. Victor's expression softened, but only slightly, and he moved his hand away. “..but I've decided to give you one more chance.”

Michelle smiled nervously and backed up a little. “Thank you sir! I won't disappoint you this time, I promise!” Thinking that she had been dismissed, she turned around and started to walk away. She wanted to get out of this room as soon as possible, and she was feeling a little hungry. Perhaps a bit of breakfast would do her some good. But she didn't get too far. She suddenly felt something grab her tightly. A red scaly arm wrapped around her neck and pulled her back. She yelped in surprise and tried to look at Victor.

Victor had transformed completely into his Velociraptor form. He towered over the girl, holding her in place with one raptor arm. He lowered his head, positioning it next to Michelle's. He opened up his mouth slightly in a dinosaurian grin. 'I did not tell you that you could leave. I told you that you were going to get more punishment.' He told her in a menacing voice. Michelle started to struggle in his grasp, but he just held in tighter. He was a lot stronger than she was. There was no way she could escape his grasp. 'Struggling will do you no good. Now just hold still, or this will hurt more than it has to.' He warned her.

“What are you going to do to me?” Michelle asked fearfully.

'You'll find out..' Victor said coldly.

He then opened up his jaws, his sharp teeth glinting in the light, saliva dripping from them. He opened his mouth very wide, and he could feel the muscles in his jaw muscles stretching almost to their limit. He bent his neck forward, positioning his snout just above Michelle's shoulder. Hesitating only a second, he moved his head forward swiftly. His jaws slammed shut around her shoulder at lightning speed, the teeth sinking into her skin. He clamped down tightly, grinding his teeth into her flesh, tasting the human's blood as it poured from the wounds. When he could feel this teeth hit bone, he started to twist his head around a little, something he would do when he wanted to tear flesh off of prey. But with Michelle, he did this at a lower rate and with less intensity.

Michelle's eyes snapped open as wide as they could get and she let out a very loud scream. She could feel Victor's teeth grind into her skin, and with every second the pain grew stronger and stronger. She felt tears come to her eyes as the overwhelming pain shot through her body. She struggled a little, but the more she struggled, the worse the pain got, and she feared that if she struggled too hard, she would cause Victor to rip part of her flesh away. She let out another scream of pain when Victor started to twist his head a little more. She wondered how long this was going to last. She felt warm blood stream down her shoulders. She could see some blood already showing up on her shirt and she whimpered.

When Victor felt Michelle had enough, he immediately released her. Michelle ran forward a few steps before stopping and turning around. Her shoulder was shredded, several lacerations appearing across her shoulder where his teeth were. Her shoulder was almost entirely red, the blood soaking her skin and her shirt. Michelle tried to touch her shoulder, but the pain was too much. Just one slight touch, and she had to pull her hand away before she screamed. She looked at Victor with a horrified expression, and it looked like she wanted to ask him why he did that, but was refraining from doing so.

'Quit looking at me like that. You know full well why you received that injury.' Victor said, sneering down at her with his cold raptor eyes. 'I gave you that injury because I felt it was punishment fit for someone like you. I expected better from someone with dinosaur DNA.' He took a step forward and leaned his head so close to Michelle that she could feel his breath hitting against her face. 'May this teach you a lesson...' With that he transformed back into his human self. Without a word, he turned and walked away towards his computer. He flung his hand at her, signaling her that she could leave. Right now he had something else to worry about.

Michelle took Victor's signaling as her chance in getting out of here. She turned towards the door and started to make her way towards it. The progress felt very slower for her. And it was increasingly difficult for her to trek towards the door, even though it was only a few feet away, due to the injuries she has. The large bruise on her leg was still very painful to the touch, and she continued to limp. Her shoulder was agonizingly painful as well, preventing her from moving the arm efficiently enough to walk to the best of her ability with the bruise on her leg. She constantly had to fight the urge to cry out in pain. She looked back at Victor, whose gaze was fixated on his scanners. She glared at him, but quickly looked away to avoid being seen with that look. She didn't need another punishment.

As she approached the door and started to reach for it, she heard the sound of the knob turning. She quickly pulled her hand away and tried to back up as best as she could as the door was pushed open. The figure that stepped through was a sight that Michelle had gotten all too familiar with. It was one of Victor's henchmen, dressed up in the same outfit that most of them adorned. They wore a gray outfit with a dinosaur-like helmet. Not one centimeter of skin was seen, and their faces were hidden behind the reddish masks. All of Victor's men looked the same to her, but she knew some of them by voice. When this one spoke, she recognized it as Adam, one of Victor's longest working henchmen, among one of the first to join him.

Michelle wondered why he was here. During this time, his duties were usually done in another part of the building. Adam was in charge of keeping records, organizing them and updating them. Victor often relied on Adam whenever he needed to look back at a past experiment. Adam was not the only one who would keep track of everything, but Adam, working longer than most members, had records that went back to the early days. Some information at this time was vital for some of Victor's recent works. But despite how valuable this man was to Victor's study, he was not usually permitted back in this section, although Adam knew full well what was going on. Michelle couldn't help but glance a cautious look to Victor, wondering what he was going to do if he saw Adam in here.

The man walked passed Michelle, taking slight notice to her injuries, and made his way towards Victor. Michelle walked towards the door way. She wanted to leave, but something was compelling her to stay and watch what was going on. But she didn't want to make herself appear as though she were spying. She exited the room and started to close the door, but carefully left a tiny crack open. She hoped Victor and Adam would not have noticed the door was still open. She peered through the opening, watching as Adam got Victor's attention and the two started to speak to one another. Michelle had to lean in closely to hear exactly what they were saying.

“What is it, Adam?” Victor asked, looking up as he was typing something into his computer. “I'm a bit busy right now.”

“Sorry sir.” Adam said, standing as straight as he could in a dutiful manner. He sounded a little urgent and almost scared as he spoke. “But this is important. And..I don't think you are going to like it.”

Victor arched an eyebrow. “Perfect, just what I need. More bad news.” He sighed in a frustrated manner and moved his hands away from the large keyboard. He swerved his chair over to face Adam. Placing his head on his interlocked hands, elbows resting on a leg, he asked Adam, “What is it you need to tell me, Adam?”

“It's Kista, sir. She brought in a..visitor.” Adam said in a cautious, careful tone. Victor's eyes started to glow a little bit, and, in an attempt to defend himself, he quickly added, “None of us knew about it until we checked one of the isolated rooms. She must have snuck him in, somehow. We don't know how she was able to get the visitor inside without any of us knowing.” But nothing he was saying was lessening Victor's anger. Rather, it was increasing it. Adam could see the sharp teeth in his mouth, and the cat-like pupils in the eyes.

Victor took in several deep breaths to calm himself down. There was no use for him getting angry now. What good was it going to do him anyway? He already got angry at Michelle and had punished her. He was not in the mood to punish someone else. And unlike Michelle, perhaps Kista had a good reason for what she had done. “Who did Kista bring?”

“I don't know his name.” Adam said quickly. “But he appears to be some sort of..photographer.”

Upon hearing the word photographer, Victor's eyes widened slightly. He wondered if it was the same photographer he had met about a year or so ago. If it was, then he was going to have a serious talking to with Kista for bringing that idiot into his headquarters. He remembered how the photographer claimed to have had a very interesting photograph, one that would prove that some pop star was really a dinosaur. Victor found it hard to believe, but he wanted to see the photograph for himself. But when he bought it from Zoom and looked at it, it was some punk kid blowing raspberries. He had been furious with Zoom. While there was a chance that someone might have switched the CDs, Victor found it highly unlikely anyone had done it way out there in the middle of nowhere. He was hoping he'd seen the last of that photographer. He had been wrong.

“Why did she bring this visitor over here?” Victor asked thoughtfully.

“She said that the visitor wanted to talk to you.” Adam said carefully. “He apparently is interested in joining Raptor Dyne.”

“Oh really?” Victor asked. This caught his interest. He wondered what kind of services this human, this photographer, could offer him. “And what use would he be?”

“...I honestly don't know. Kista didn't say, and the guy was too frightened to...” Adam started to say.

“What?” Victor cut him off. “Why is he too afraid? What frightened him?” Adam looked at him as if he knew what to say, but was afraid to say it. The look on his face wordlessly told Victor what had happened. Victor groaned softly, slowly shaking his head left and right twice. “Don't tell me she...” Before he could finish his question, Adam answered with a slow nodding of the head. Victor growled angrily and slapped his face with the palm of his hand. “Just great! As if things weren't complicated enough with a stranger here without my permission, Kista had to go do that!” He turned away from Adam and stared at the keyboard. “How can things get any worse?”

“I don't think it can, sir. Anyway what are you going to do about this photographer?” Adam asked carefully. He knew Victor was angry and he knew he had to be cautious around him during this moment. “He already knows about this place, and your secret...”

Victor closed his eyes and started to think about what to do. Currently, he was not really looking for any extra help. He was going to get help soon anyway. He just had to be patient. He didn't want the help of another human. He's got plenty of those already. Humans weren't really all that reliable, but they were numerous. In fact, they were so numerous that nowadays, in order for a new human to be hired, Victor would have to take note of any special qualities they might have, and they have to be very good. He didn't know what he would want to do with a photographer. What good could he possibly be? Why would he need a bunch of photographs?

Part of him just wanted to do away with the photographer. He just wouldn't allow the human to leave and then he'd go down in the room he was at himself. It wasn't hard to slay a human. Their skin was so easily broken, not as thick or strong as dinosaur's. All he'd have to do is cut a neck vein and it would be all over. He could report it as a suicide attempt, perhaps say that the human slit his throat and he just happened to find him. Killing the human would be the easiest path to take, he thought. It would spare him the decision of how to place him in his group or releasing him while forcing him to keep it a secret.

But that could backfire on him. The other part of him didn't want to kill the human. After all, he might be a well known photographer. His death wouldn't be taken that lightly. There might be investigations, and they might find out his death was not fake after all. Victor would risk getting himself sued and he didn't want that, especially now. He was so close to achieving his goal. Perhaps he should permit the human to live. But if he did, just what was he going to do with him? Perhaps he should humor himself and listen to what this human has to say. Maybe he should go down and pay him a visit and get him to tell him why he wants to join and what services he could provide. Who knows? He might have a good idea after all.

But still, he was going to have a word with Kista Bakar after this. She, out of all the people here, should know the rules. No one was allowed to bring in any strangers unless they spoke to him first. Victor had made this rule years ago in order to prevent unwanted visitors in forbidden sections of the building. He made this rule after an incident a few years ago, when one of his client's siblings, who didn't work for him, almost stumbled upon one of the rooms where the primordial ooze was being processed. Kista was pretty good with obeying the rules, so it shocked Victor to learn she had disobeyed this time. For her sake, she'd better have a good excuse.

“...I'll speak to him.” Victor said finally, rising up from his chair and turning towards Adam. “Go down to Kista and tell him to bring her little..friend up here.” He smirked darkly. “He just may prove useful...”

Adam nodded and saluted Victor in a dutiful way. “Yes sir!” Without hesitation, he turned and walked towards the door.

Michelle's eyes widened a little when she saw Adam walking towards her. She quickly moved out of the way and ran down the corridors. She could hear the door opening behind her and she flinched, expecting him to yell at her and then give chase. Eavesdropping was taken very seriously in this building. Victor made it very clear that only he was allowed to eavesdrop because he was the man in charge. If he caught anyone else doing so, especially around him, he was swift to punish them to make sure they never do it again. He's even once or twice threatened to rip someone's ears off.

To her surprise, however, there was no shouting, no sudden pounding of footsteps, nothing. She stopped in her tracks and turned around. She squinted to try and see the door where she'd just come out of. Adam must have taken another direction. But why? This hallway was, more or less, one way. There was a little hallway close by, but it only led to a bathroom. She blinked a few times and then shrugged it off. She turned her head and continued her way towards the elevator. She felt no need to run anymore. What was the point? No one was chasing her, and Victor was back in his room. She should get to the medical room and treat her wounds anyway.

She opened up the elevator doors, seeing the familiar 'Access Approved' messages flashing on the little screen. And the familiar sound of the doors swooshing open filled her ears. She stepped into the elevator and closed it. The medical room was on the middle floor, so she selected that. As the elevator rumbled to life and started to move, she leaned back against the elevator and started to think about what she was doing.

Was it really worth it to do all this? Should she continue to act like this and work for someone who might kill her as soon as he looked at her? She started to ask herself, over and over, why she was doing this. She told herself it was for the money. But what good was money if, pretty soon, there would be nothing to spend it on? In the end, was it truly all worth it to do this? She sometimes, especially recently, had second thoughts, and wondered if she was better off leaving Raptor Dyne. She chuckled to herself at the thought. Leave Raptor Dyne? She wasn't sure if that was an option. If she left, Victor would surely find someway to force her to keep everything she saw while working for him a secret. And since she would no longer be bound by Victor's rules, she would be fair game to Oscura.

She narrowed her eyes. Just where was that girl, anyway? She hated it when she disappeared like this. She wouldn't know where she was, and then she'd sometimes appear at inconvenient times. And recently, she's worried that Oscura would disobey Victor and try and kill her without his permission. Oscura might have worshiped Victor. She might idolize him and have a crush on him. But Michelle had her doubts that Oscura would always listen to Victor. She knew how much that girl hated her. And she believed that, had the punishment been left up to her, she'd be dead right now. Oscura would probably have her killed just for tying her shoes at the wrong time, or anytime.

When the elevator stopped, the large sliding doors opened up slowly. Michelle stepped outside while looking back at the elevator, thinking about Oscura again. She was wondering if she was hiding on top of the elevator, ready to ambush her when she got the chance. But Michelle soon realized she should have kept her attention towards the front, not the back, because within a few seconds, she bumped into something soft and big. She took a few steps back and looked up to who she had run into.

“Kista!” Michelle gasped, backing up a little more. The woman stared down at her somewhat coldly, but it didn't look like she was too upset. Michelle had to think of something quick to say, but at the same time try not to sound too suspicious. She didn't want to let Kista know she knew why she was coming down here. “I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going and....” She said quickly, but she stopped herself when she saw that Kista was about to speak.

“Do not worry about it.” Kista said quickly, raising up her hand to swiftly dismiss the teenager. She moved quickly past her, brushing up against her briefly as she hurried towards the elevator. “I've gotta go now.” She was acting as if she was in such a big hurry to get somewhere in time. She stopped only to look over her shoulders and call to someone else. “Come on, Zoom!”

Michelle looked over towards the door at the end of the hallway. She noticed someone else in the hallway, a man, walking at a slower speed. She tilted her head in confusion. There was something odd about his arms. They looked as if they were ripped off. But when the figure got closer, she realized that they were behind his back. She wasn't sure, from this angle, whether or not they were bound or if he had them there by choice. The man had blond hair, almost the same shade as Kista. Michelle realized that this must be the photographer that Adam had brought up with Victor.

The man looked a little scared, particularly when Kista looked over at him. Michelle felt a little sorry for the guy. He probably just found out what he was in for when he wanted to talk to Victor. She couldn't blame him for being afraid of Kista either. That woman could be scary sometimes, despite her unusual habit of using big words where they do not belong. The man looked over at her, taking notice of her. His expression of fear turned into curiosity. Slowly, Zoom opened up his mouth to speak.

“A-Are you...the o-one that..Peter t-told me about? One of them?” Zoom asked, reaching out towards her slightly, as if he were mystified or confused by her. His voice was shaky and stuttering. He was shivering as he was cold. Zoom had never seen this girl before, but he did remember that Peter had told him about two teenagers who were among Victor's ranks. Could this girl be one of them? “Are you....”

“Am I what?” Michelle responded coolly, putting her hands on her hips.

Zoom gulped, a little afraid to finish his question. “Are you...one of them?” He asked again, this time in a calmer, less shaky voice. “A-Are you..one of the dinosaur transformers...? Are you one of the two teenagers...who can turn into dinosaurs?”

Upon hearing that question, Michelle's head snapped back in surprise. He had only just met her now, and already he was asking such a personal and secretive question. She wondered if she should answer him, or just turn and walk away. She looked over at Kista, who simply shrugged at her. Michelle rolled her eyes. Kista wouldn't care if she showed her dinosaur form or not. That was typical of this blond woman. She didn't really care what anyone else does, so long as it does not hinder what she wants to do. Then again, weren't many people like that?

Michelle decided on what she was going to do. The man, Zoom, obviously knew Victor was a dinosaur. And if he already knew that she was a dinosaur, then what was the harm in showing it to him? What was he going to do anyway? Hit her with his camera? Michelle chuckled at the thought. She looked at Zoom straight in the eyes and took a step forward. The man instinctively took a step back, probably worried that she was going to transform and attack him. What was probably frightening him the most is that he does not know exactly what she can turn into, far as she knows.

Michelle gave Zoom a scary smile, a smile that was almost reminiscent of Victor's smirk. She leaned in even closer, and she could tell she was starting to freak Zoom out a little. “..how did you guess...?” She asked coolly. Before Zoom could even think to answer, Michelle closed her eyes and started to glow. Instantly, she shifted into her full Guanlong Wucaii form, holding her head back with her snout pointed to the ceiling. Slowly, she turned her head towards Zoom. She opened up her mouth in a dinosaurian grin, eyes narrowed further. She instantly opened up her mouth and let out a threatening screech just to scare the man, drool dripping from her jaws. Zoom screamed in horror and backed up against the wall, almost falling on the ground as he did so. Michelle chuckled, the laughs coming out more like grunts than laughing sounds. 'Well..you wanted to know....'

“I know you are having fun there, black dino,” Kista said, rubbing her forehead. She was sounding a little frustrated. She didn't want to keep Victor waiting for long. “..but Zoom and I have a date with Victor.” She got a weird look from both Zoom and Michelle. “You know what I mean! Sheesh!”

'Oh all right...' Michelle said, sounding a little disappointed. She instantly shifted back to her human form and made her way towards the door. She glanced back at Zoom, who eyed her fearfully. She decided to ignore his apprehensive look and continue on towards the door. She opened it up and walked through, leaving Zoom alone with Kista.

Zoom wasn't sure if he should be happy or afraid. He watched her leave, watching the door shut behind her. Had he seen what he just thought he saw? That girl just turned into what looked like some large black and red monster. The jaws were lined with teeth so sharp he thought they could slice through a piece of hair down the middle. And those claws, so wickedly hooked, had frightened him. He wasn't sure to be afraid of the claws more, or the teeth. He couldn't help but wonder one thing. When she turned into a dinosaur, does she gain the dinosaur's savagery, or is her mind still all human?

Kista cut off his train of thought. “Come on, Zoom!” She said loudly. “Victor is waiting! You wanted to speak to him, didn't you?”

“I-I..of course I did...” Zoom said, still a little shaken up by the female teenager.

“Then come along!” Kista snapped. “Or Victor might decide to eat you just for being late!”

“All right, all right!” Zoom said quickly, walking towards Kista with a swift pace. “I'm coming! I'm coming!” He certainly didn't want to see Victor, or Kista, in a foul mood, especially now. As he and Kista stepped into the elevator, many thoughts were racing through his mind. Was he going to get out of this alive? Was Victor going to take his plan seriously? And above all, was he going to be able to get his revenge on this kids..?

* * *

“So..do you understand?” Moynihan asked as she sat back in her chair. She had just gotten finished negotiating with Caruso's parents. She wasn't sure how long it actually took. It might have been just a few minutes or half an hour even, but it felt more like a few hours for her. She was discussing different ideas on how to protect Caruso with Jack and Amanda. Protecting him while he was with his parents was not going to be an easy task, and might prove more difficult than when he was to be with the Dino Squad. Moynihan thought about talking about the weapons she had stashed away in the lighthouse. But she feared questions that the Dino Squad might ask her, since she had kept it a secret for so long. What would they think of her if she told them that she had dangerous weaponry that she never told them about all this time?

Moynihan had made some suggestions to be followed until Caruso was well enough to defend himself. He would need a week or two of healing time. But even if they wait that time, there was no guaranteeing that Irwin was going to be mostly or completely better. He might need more time to heal. She was particularly worried about his mouth. She wasn't sure what to tell his parents about how to treat that. She recommended that they keep him as quiet as possible, as often as possible. It seemed talking increased his pain and might be making it harder for the cuts inside to heal properly. She also said that Caruso should stay home from school until they felt he was ready to come back. Max was assigned to bring in his homework during the days of his absence.

The old woman had made it clear to Jack and Amanda to not hurt any mutantsaurs that might enter their home. She told them that Irwin should have his own set of Chiller and Spiller, as each of the other kids do, so if they do spot a mutantsaur, they were to find those weapons and return the creature back to normal. She also wanted them to tell her about the creature so she could get an idea of Victor's recent activities and such. She advised them to lock their doors at night, although that was probably a no-brainer. When Caruso was not at school or with his friends, she wanted one or both parents with Caruso at all times. At home, one parent or both should remain at home. If they both had to leave, they should take Caruso with them.

And the most important thing she kept on stressing, which she knew was annoying the man and woman, but she knew how important it was, involved what would happen if Victor showed up. Victor was a very dangerous being, more than a match for the two. If Victor were to get in the house, there would not be enough time to attack him. And it would all be in vain, too. Victor has grown wise to human behavior, and he would be able to figure out a trap when he sees one. Even if Jack or Amanda got a hold of a knife and stabbed him, Victor's size would enable him to withstand a simple kitchen knife stabbing and he'd be able to knock them away before they could try again.

Moynihan stressed that, if they saw Victor, they should run away and hide right away. They were not to try and pursue him. They were not to try and fight him. They were not to try and chase him away. They were to run and hide and that's it. Victor's sense of smell, however, would make it difficult for them to hide. It wouldn't be impossible. No matter what Victor might say, the laws of physics still played a role in his body's functions and abilities. If they stayed downwind, they might not be detected by Victor because the scent would be swept away. He might pick it up later, but it just might buy the family precious time to get away.

Moynihan was not sure if Victor was going to go after Caruso or not. But the chase that she had narrowly escaped gave her reason to be cautious. After all, why else would Victor attack them? They couldn't be too cautious, she thought. He had continued to ram into the vehicle, as if he was determined to get something. Although, there weren't many reasons for why Victor would go after Caruso. But of the reasons there could be, each one would be a good reason, at least from Victor's perspective. The biggest reason Joanne could think of is that Victor wants to continue testing on Caruso. She doubted that Victor would want to kill the boy. He had perfect dinosaur DNA and that had attracted Victor's attention, even before he knew the truth of the 'perfect dinosaurs'.

As she waited for the couple's response, Joanne started to think of the plan she had set up for when Caruso was with them. He would be a little more protected, as each of his four friends, along with Moynihan herself, could transform into a dinosaur. And they were all armed with the knowledge of how to fight this enemy. Victor might have the upper hand on them for now, but he would not succeed again. They were going to see to that. Moynihan still has to fix the computers upstairs, but right now she was more concerned about Caruso. She had made it clear to the Dino Squad that, until Caruso's injuries have healed, they were not to leave his side. One of them must stick with him.

She also wanted to be sure that everyone does not neglect their own safety. The last thing she wants to happen is someone else getting captured. If that were to happen, Victor might go to another location. He would not be stupid enough to use the same location again. And where his new location would be might be more heavily guarded. Moynihan was surprised that the hideout he kept Caruso in was not that heavily guarded. It was almost a breeze compared to what she had expected it to be. But then again it was out in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps Victor used more sparse security in order to prevent attention to be drawn to it. After all, for humans, a lot of security meant that something of interest must clearly be in the enclosure. The temptation might have driven some humans into trying to break into the place. Victor surely wouldn't want to have to deal with a bunch of unruly teenagers or nosy adults, now would he?

Jack Caruso thought about what Moynihan had suggested. He pretty much agreed with what she had told them. It made sense, and she knew more about Victor and mutantsaurs than they did. Moynihan hadn't touched up on what to do if one of Victor's henchmen showed up, so he assumed it would follow the same principle as if Victor had turned up, and that is to run and hide. He felt relieved that one of Irwin's friends would be with him at all times while he was away from home. And he knew that he and his wife need not be told to stick by their son while he was at home. It did annoy him a bit when Moynihan kept telling them not to fight Victor. But he understood the urgency in the message. And he couldn't really blame her.

“Yes, I understand.” Jack said, finally answering Moynihan's question. But there was something else that was still bothering him, and he was a little surprised, shocked in fact, that Moynihan hadn't brought it up. “How do we treat his wounds? Not the ones in his mouth, but the ones on his body?”

“Yeah...” Amanda said softly. “How?”

“Oh...” Moynihan said, a little surprised herself. She had forgotten to tell them how to do so. She had told them that she wouldn't be able to tell them how to treat the wounds in his mouth. And she had told them that they would probably heal in a few weeks. But she had failed to tell them how to be sure that the wounds heal properly and don't become infected. “When you take him home, rinse out the cuts and gashes with warm water and bandage them up the best that you can. Make sure he takes pain killers and if you have any antibiotics, give him those. It'll help kill any infections he might have gotten. I would also recommend him eating plenty of fruit and vegetables to help speed up the healing process.”

“Perhaps we should treat his wounds now.” Max said, butting into the conversation. He felt that Caruso could really use the treatment now. He wasn't sure, but he felt like some of the wounds were already very infected. The boy was not able to bandage up any of the wounds he got, and many of the injuries were a few hours old. He wasn't sure if Caruso should wait until he got home to be treated. And Moynihan did have medication and other stuff in the lighthouse that they could use. She was able to treat Rodger's injuries he received from the red Troodon pretty well. So perhaps she could treat Irwin's wounds.

“That is a good suggestion, Maxwell.” Moynihan said, feeling impressed that Max made that suggestion. It had completely slipped her mind. “Why don't you go up and get the supplies?”

“Sure.” Max said, turning to walk away. He stopped, however, and looked back, feeling a little stupid. He had forgotten to ask her what to get. “What should I get?”

“Get some bandages, surgical tape, aloe, some antibiotics, some...” Moynihan paused, trying to think of what else she needed. She believed there was something else, something that she was missing. But her mind was too full of different thoughts related to recent and current events that she could not think of it. She quickly gave up. “On second thought, just bring in the First Aid kit that I have. It's up in my bedroom. You know where that is, don't you?”

“Yes.” Max said, turning towards the stairs and walking towards them. “I'll be down in a few minutes!” With that, he quickly ran up the spiral steps, disappearing onto one of the higher floors.

Irwin Caruso winced a little, still in pain from his injuries. He was laying on the couch. Moynihan had suggested he lay down in order to avoid any further blood loss. It seemed that some of his wounds were still bleeding, and the gravity from standing up would increase the bleeding. Laying down might reduce the amount of bleeding. Rodger had done his best to stop the bleeding, applying pressure to certain spots. He managed to slow the bleeding, but it hadn't completely stopped. Before he laid down, Moynihan had set down a large towel in order to prevent any blood from soaking into her furniture. Moynihan had also given Caruso a blanket as he was feeling a little cold, probably due to the amount of blood that he lost, and probably also from fear. The blanket was relatively light, however, because she didn't want to put too much pressure on his wounds.

Sitting next to him in a chair pulled up to the couch was Fiona. She had barely left his side since they came into the lighthouse. She glanced down at him sympathetically as he continued to twitch and writhe in pain. He was trying to find a comfortable position to lay down, but it just wasn't working for him. She wished she could do something to alleviate the pain, but alas there was nothing she could do except whisper comforting words or gently stroking his hair or face, or even hold his hand.

Fiona felt a shadow cast over her. She nearly jumped, but when she looked up, she saw it was only Buzz. The punk teen was looking just as worried about Caruso as she was. Buzz opened up his mouth to speak. “How is he...?” He asked carefully.

“Still in pain.” Fiona said, stating the obvious. “He hadn't stopped writhing like that since he laid down. And it doesn't look like he is going to stop anytime soon...” She closed her eyes, trying to keep her tears from falling. She couldn't help but feel so much mental pain as she watched Caruso in this condition. She wanted to take his pain away. “I hope Max hurries up with that First Aid kit. I don't know how much more he can take.”

Buzz nodded, feeling her pain. “I don't think the pain will go away right away. But at least the kit will help speed up the healing process. The pain might go away faster.”

“I sure hope so.” Fiona said in a pained voice. “It just hurts so much to see him like this.”

Buzz wrapped his arms around the girl, realizing that she probably needs a hug to comfort her. “I know..I know..”

Fiona didn't resist the hug. In fact, she welcomed it. She hugged Buzz as she cried, not able to stop herself. She wasn't sure why she was like this. She doesn't recall feeling like this before. She had always thought she was strong. She said in a shaky voice, “I-I don't know why I feel this way..I'm supposed to be strong...”

“You are strong. Just because you cry doesn't make you weak. I believe that it takes a stronger person to cry than to suck it up. Remember that.” Buzz said in a comforting tone of voice.

“Thanks...” Fiona whispered softly.

“Don't mention it.” Buzz grinned solemnly.

Although he could hear every word being spoken, Caruso kept both his eyes and his mouth shut. He had already been told not to speak a whole lot. And for now, he didn't really want to talk. He was still shaken up by what had happened earlier and the pain in his mouth was still stinging, even though it had been some time since he last spoke. Just lifting his tongue gave him a lot of agonizing pain. The only comfort from it was listening to his friends and family speak, even though they were on touchy, serious topics. Just hearing their voices made him feel a little better. It reassured him that he was no longer in that terrible prison of a place anymore.

He kept his eyes closed because, for some reason, it hurt to have them open. He wondered if it was because of the blow to the head, or the multiple cuts he had on his face. But nonetheless, it didn't hurt so much when his eyes were closed. He would only open them up once every few minutes in order to keep himself from drifting off into sleep. He didn't want to sleep, not now, despite his fatigue from the loss of blood. He tried his best to settle down on the couch, but he was in pain no matter what position he was in. And while he could not see their faces, he could sense that it was hurting his friends and family to see him like this. He started to feel a little guilty, knowing that they were upset because of what happened to him.

He managed to get himself to open up one of his eyes, just a crack, to reveal a blurry image of mixed colors. This only lasted for a fraction of a second. His vision quickly came into sharp focus. He could see Fiona hugging Buzz, probably for comfort. Caruso tried to scan the room the best he could from his position. He could make out three other figures, which he identified as his parents and Moynihan. They looked like they were still talking, but he could just barely make out their speech.

“Do you think that Victor might send one of his men after our son?” Jack asked almost fearfully. He knew Victor had a lot of men on his team and they might all be very formidable in battle.

“I doubt it.” Moynihan said. “But it's not completely out of the question. He might send them if he wanted to use stealth. Remember, Victor's men are not going to be wearing their usual outfits, instead wearing disguises. They might look like everyday people, or like officials from different companies or professions. Some of my students have been fooled by their disguises.” She recalled the time when Fiona and Caruso were both fooled by two of Victor's men when the pets were sprayed with primordial ooze.

“How would we recognize them?” Amanda asked.

“You probably won't, I'm afraid.” Moynihan said, shaking her head, eyes closed. When she opened them up again, she continued, “However, you might have a chance at catching them in a lie by the way they are talking or by the way they are acting. If they stammer too much, if they struggle with what they want to say, if they won't leave you alone, they might be working for Victor. But even then, they might not be. I'm afraid there's no foolproof way of knowing until it's practically too late. I'm sorry.”

Jack and Amanda looked at each other, each one with an expression of worry on their faces. If they weren't going to be able to recognize one of Victor's men, could this mean that there was a chance that Victor could get their son again? No, there just had to be a way to distinguish friend from foe. There just had to be! Perhaps keeping the boy away from strangers from a while would work, only permitting him to be around friends. And they didn't think it would be hard to convince their son to follow that rule. The poor kid was probably still scared to death. After that experience, why wouldn't he be?

But even if they enforce that 'no strangers' rule, there might still be a chance at an ambush. Victor could easily find a way to sneak around this, and come in for the capture. He was quite cunning, as he had proven himself over the past few days. He just might come up with a way if he had enough patience. And he doesn't easily give up, unfortunately for them. So what were they going to do now?

“What are we going to do?” Amanda spoke up, her eyes slowly downcast to the ground. If the squad could be so easily fooled by one of Victor's disguises, what hope did they, the parents, have against identifying a possible threat? And if they couldn't identify the threat, they could not protect their son.

“Just be very cautious.” Moynihan advised solemnly. “I'm afraid that is all you can do. Mutantsaurs and Victor would be easier to spot. Luckily, Vic does not have many disguises, just his human and Velociraptor form. But he has so many men working for him, I've lost count. Most of their faces are hidden by those masks he makes them wear.” It was because of this that Moynihan had not been able to identify many of Victor's men. The red Velociraptor probably knew that she might be spying on him, and thus would disguise his workers so that he still had the element of surprise with him. Although, there might be another reason.

“That is very comforting...” Amanda said sarcastically, eyes narrowed a little.

Jack placed a hand on his wife's shoulder. “Don't start up again.”

“I know..I'm not trying to start anything.” Amanda's expression softened up. “I'm just...worried, you know? I mean, if we can't recognize a threat, how would we protect our son from it?”

“We'll do the best we can.” Jack said, trying to comfort her. “I promise.”

They then heard someone shouting from the stairs. “Okay, Ms. M!” Max said as he quickly descended the staircase, holding a large silver container. There was a large sticker on the top. It was green with a white cross, which was the sign of First Aid. “I got the First Aid kit!” He said as he stepped off of the stairs and made his way towards Moynihan. He held it out to her, and without hesitation, Moynihan grabbed onto the kit.

“Thanks, Max.” Moynihan said as she made her way towards Caruso. The boy's eyes were still closed, and she wondered if he was in a deep sleep. She noticed one of his eyes opening up. That proved he was still awake. Good, now she didn't have to wake him up, she thought. Some of the injuries to be treated would require Caruso to move in certain ways. “Kids, you all get over here. I am going to require some assistance.” Max, Fiona, Rodger, and Buzz all gathered around closer, awaiting for their next order.

Joanne Moynihan decided to focus on Caruso's oldest injury, which seemed to be the one on his arm. Although she still had her human nose, she could still smell the infection. The skin closest to the wound had turned an ugly dark purple, and the center looked black. There didn't seem to be any signs of bleeding, but the scabbing looked fragile. She felt that this wound should be treated first because it was probably the most infected. It was exposed to open air the longest, and was one of the deepest wounds he had. Very carefully, she lifted up the injured arm, which, luckily for her, was the arm closest to her, near the edge of the couch. She looked towards Rodger. “Rodger, get a small cloth and put a little bit of aloe vera on it.”

Rodger obeyed. He opened up the tube of aloe vera and coated the small cloth with some of the gel inside. He knew about aloe's healing properties and understood why Moynihan wanted to use it. There didn't seem to be much they could do for this wound except coat it in aloe and hope it'll heal faster. He handed the cloth over to Moynihan. “Here you go, Ms. M.” He said.

“Thanks, Rodger.” Moynihan said as she took the cloth from his hand. She inspected the cloth to be sure that there would be enough to coat the long wound on the boy's arm. Still gripping the boy's arm, she said to Caruso, “Okay, Irwin. This might hurt a little bit. But it's for your own good.” Caruso's eyes were now open, looking up at her in fear as she lowered the cloth towards his cut. He shut his eyes tightly and looked away. When the cloth and gel made contact with the injury, Caruso cried out in pain, but quickly settled down to allow Moynihan to rub the gel across the wound. Moynihan felt bad about doing this, but it was the only thing she could think of to try and help it heal. She continued to move the cloth from one end of the cut to the other until she felt there was enough aloe on it. She quickly moved the cloth away. “There, that wasn't so bad, was it?” She got a nasty glare from Caruso.

“Y-You've got to be k-kidding me...” Caruso retorted, but immediately regretting it as he recoiled in pain.

Moynihan frowned. Perhaps she should try treating the injuries on his face next. “Please be careful, Irwin. You don't want to hurt yourself even more.” She turned to Fiona. “Fiona, could you hand me some dressings for the wound?”

Fiona obeyed, reaching into the kit and grabbing some sterile bandages and surgical tape. She handed them to Moynihan. “Here.”

“Thank you.” Moynihan took the material from her and turned her attention back towards Caruso. She quickly set to work, wrapping up the wound in the sterile cloth to protect it and to keep the gel from being wiped off his arm. Caruso winced several times in pain, but didn't cry out again, although tears of pain were forming in his eyes. Moynihan wrapped the cloth tightly around the wound, and then took out some surgical tape and put it on the dressing, keeping it in place. She released Caruso's arm, who immediately pulled it back and inspected the arm, and then looked back at her, looking almost grateful.

“Should we treat the wounds on his face next?” Buzz asked, wincing as he looked at the multiple cuts on Irwin's face. Just looking at them made him wince in pain, almost feeling the agony that Caruso had gone through.

“Yes. I was going to do that next.” Moynihan said as she put the surgical tape back in Fiona's hand, who promptly put it back inside the kit. This was to keep it as sterile as possible. “But it's going to be trickier than the wound on his arm, I'm afraid.”

“How are we going to treat it?” Max asked.

“We're going to need to put some disinfectant on them, to kill the infection that might have settled in.” Moynihan explained, pointing towards the kit, signaling one of the children to pick up a bottle of disinfectant from the kit. When they did that, she turned her attention towards the parents. She then addressed them. “The wounds on his face will have to be washed out with warm water and soap. Could one of you two please bring some over to me?”

Without hesitation, Jack started to make his way over to where he thought the kitchen was. He stopped in his tracks, realizing that he had no idea where the kitchen actually was. He looked back at Moynihan for help. “Just..where is the kitchen?” He asked slowly, a confused look on his face. “I don't know where it is.”

Rodger smiled softly and walked towards him. “Follow me. I'll take you to the kitchen.” He lead the man up the stair case. Caruso's mother followed close behind, wanting to help too.

While they were gone, Moynihan looked towards Max. “Max, could you hand me a couple sterile pads? I am going to try and stop the bleeding.” She noticed that Caruso was still bleeding from some of the wounds on his head, especially the one above his eyes. Max didn't waste any time in fetching the sterile pads for Moynihan. She gently picked them up and reached out towards Caruso's head. The boy watched her leaning towards her, pads in hand. “Caruso, I'm going to treat the cuts on your face now. Please be still. This might sting a little.” Caruso watched as the pad drew closer and closer to his face. He quickly shut his eyes, waiting for the stinging pain to be felt. As Moynihan pressed the cloth gently against the deep cut just above his eyes, Caruso suddenly stiffened in pain. He screamed in pain and started to struggle on the couch, swiping Moynihan's arm away. He started to kick his feet as the pain started to become unbearable.

“Irwin!” Fiona yelled in surprise, frightened by Caruso's change in behavior. “What are you doing?!” But she got no response from the thrashing teenager. She didn't know what was going on.

But Moynihan did. “He's panicking!” She said urgently. “Hold him still before he hurts himself!” The teens immediately obeyed the order. Max and Buzz both grabbed and held down Caruso's legs while Moynihan and Fiona held down his arms. They were being as gentle as they could while at the same time being firm. They knew the poor kid was in a lot of pain, but if he struggled too much, he was going to just hurt himself more. They had to calm him down. “Irwin, if you continue to struggle, it will only make the pain worse!” Moynihan said in a loud tone of voice, hoping to get through to Caruso.

But Caruso didn't stop struggling. Instead, his struggles just increased. His head tossed rapidly from side to side, eyes shut tightly and his teeth bared and clenched tightly. He constantly tried to pull his arm away, or a leg away, but his friends were holding him too tightly for him to shake free. The pain on his head was starting to drive him mad. He tried to shake a leg free and kick Buzz or Max in the face to get them to let go. He wanted to push Fiona and Moynihan away. But tried as he might, he just wasn't going anywhere.

He looked up at his friends again, eyes wide with pain and fear. There was a slight hint of glow in his eyes, but it was very faint and hardly noticeable. But his pupils were almost completely dilated, the pupils so small they were almost dots. He looked away, continuing to struggle. As the pain continued to overwhelm him, he started to become even more panicked. His mind was starting to play tricks on him. When he looked up at his friends a second time, the image was distorted and blurred in his mind, contorting into something that it was not. Instead of seeing the faces of loved ones, he was starting to see Victor, standing over him, laughing insanely as he gripped him with a scaly red hand. Caruso gasped as he saw this, and screamed again, this time in a mixture of fear and anger.

His struggles suddenly increased. His thrashes became more violent. His pulls and tugs became more urgent, filled with more energy. He was starting to become vocal, uttering moans and groans, and even hisses and growls. His behavior was starting to scare the team. They continued to hold him firmly, hoping he would calm down. But it only made him behave worse. Seeing him glaring at them so hatefully, the lips curled back into a snarl, was scaring them greatly. They couldn't understand why he was acting this way. But they were too afraid to ask, especially when he started to snap towards them. Fortunately they kept too great a distance for his jaws to make contact with their skin. But it still frightened them.

“Caruso! What's wrong with you?” Max snapped, feeling frustrated, scared, and angry all at the same time.

“Stop struggling! We're only trying to help!” Buzz cried out, almost losing his grip on Caruso's leg.

“What's wrong with him, Moynihan?” Fiona asked, terribly frightened by Caruso's erratic and seemingly unexplained anger.

“He's panicking.” Moynihan said in a serious tone. “The only thing we can do is let him wear himself out. He'll settle down eventually.”

Fiona looked back down at Caruso. He continued to stare at her with those large, hateful eyes. Her lower lip quivered for a few seconds, wondering what could have made Caruso act this way. All they were doing was helping him. He was starting to struggle when Moynihan was trying to help, and that was going to hurt him. So they decided to hold him still to get him to calm down. But that seemed to only make his behavior worse. Why was that? Fiona wondered, briefly, if it had anything to do with what Victor had done to him.

“Let me go!” Caruso yelled loudly, ignoring the pain in his mouth as he spoke harshly to his team mates, whom he is now mistaking for someone else entirely. His friends would not let him go, however. They continued to hold him down, upon Moynihan's request, who didn't want them to let go until he's settled down completely. Caruso's eyes narrowed angrily and he shouted in a harsh tone of voice, “I said let me go...! Or I''ll KILL you!”

The statement sent a wave of shock through everyone. They couldn't believe what they had just heard. They wondered if it was just their minds playing tricks on them, or that they just heard things. But noticing the looks on each other's faces, they hadn't imagined it. Caruso had just threatened them with death. Caruso, one of their closest friends, just threatened them in such a way. The situation was taking a turn for the worse. This was more serious than they had previously thought. They thought he was just reacting to the pain he was feeling. But the root of his behavior might be more psychological than physiological.

But nonetheless, they did not release him, despite his threat. They knew that he had to wear himself out, and they didn't want him to hurt himself doing so. They continued to hold him down, hoping this bizarre and frightening episode would pass very soon. But unfortunately it did not. Caruso's eyes started to glow brightly. The teeth inside his mouth grew larger and started to look more pointed, just like how they were in his Stegosaurus form. Even though they were meant for tearing plant material, they were still formidable in battle, and Caruso was not afraid to use them. The muscles in his legs and arms started to bulge and grow larger and stronger. He yanked his leg free from Buzz's grasp, and then Max's. He quickly kicked them both in the chest, sending them flying back.

Quickly, Irwin shot up in the couch, pulling away from Moynihan and Fiona and then jumping off the couch. Despite the pain, he ran several feet away, and then stopped. He slowly turned back, his eyes still wide, glowing bright yellow. He breathed in slowly and harshly, growling softly and threateningly. “You will never hurt me again...” He said under his breath, his eyes narrowed dangerously. He started to stalk his way towards the group, whom he was seeing as nothing but his worse enemy, Victor. “You hear me, Veloci...? You'll never hurt me again...”

“Caruso...” Fiona whispered, taking a step back. “What's wrong with you?”

“Caruso, stop this!” Max demanded, standing closer to Caruso than the others dared to. He stood straight up, pointing at Caruso and tried to enforce his authority, his leadership, through forceful statements. “I said stop! Do you hear me?!” But Caruso did not listen. He continued to slowly stalk towards the group, baring his sharp teeth. His eyes were still wide and glowing yellow. “Stop! Stop!”

“Begging won't help, Veloci...” Caruso said in an eerie voice, a creepy smile spread across his face. He started to chuckle, but there was nothing humorous about it. The laugh was filled with coldness, sending chills up their spines. “I have you now...” As he spoke, his skin started to take on a bluish hue.

“But we're no Victor!” Buzz shouted, horrified by Caruso's behavior. “Why are you doing this? Come on, don't you recognize us? We aren't your enemies! We're your friends!”

“It's us! Your friends!” Fiona shouted, joining in with Buzz's statement. “Come on...please! Caruso, stop acting like this!” She begged, but Caruso was not effected by her or Buzz's words. He continued to mumble about Veloci and getting him. He acted as if he hadn't heard anything they had said. “What's wrong with him...?”

Moynihan remained standing where she was, frozen in shock by what Caruso was doing. She had never seen him acting like this before, and neither had his friends, and she was certain neither did his parents. She glanced up at the stairs nervously, wondering how they were going to react if they saw their son acting in such a manner. This was so unlike Irwin. There was only one thing she could think of that would contribute to him acting like this. He must be more traumatized about what happened while he was Victor than she previously thought. It must have been horrific for the poor kid for him to be acting like this. Moynihan realized that when she touched his forehead, she must have unintentionally sent him back, mentally, to when Victor must have delivered that blow. Realizing what she had done, she couldn't help but lower her head in shame and guilt.

Max worked up the courage to take a few more steps closer to Caruso. But the closer he got, the more vicious Caruso was starting to look and behave. As Max neared him, Caruso lowered his head and brought his hands forward, arched in a threatening manner. His lips pulled back further and the color of his skin started to darken more. Max wasn't sure why he wasn't transforming right away, but was glad that he hadn't yet. He reached out with one hand, trying to see if he could grab Caruso and try and restrain him before he hurt himself. But as he brought his hand closer, the blue-haired teen growled loudly and then, with a jerk of the head, snapped his jaws shut only centimeters away from Max's fingers. Horrified and frightened, Max screamed, pulling his hand away swiftly. He took a few steps back, putting space between him and Caruso.

Suddenly they heard the sound of heavy footsteps hurrying down the staircase. “What's going on here?!” A masculine voice sounded out, sounding very urgent. It was Jack. Running close behind him was his wife and Rodger. Amanda was holding the soaked cloth, but when she saw what was going on, she almost dropped it from her hands. Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing. It looked like his son was threatening Moynihan and her other students. But why? “What is he doing?”

When the trio reached the floor and got off of the stares, Irwin started to behave even more violently. Feeling further threatened, he started to let out ferocious roars, sounding every bit like they would in dino mode. He looked at everyone in the room with the same wild look in his eyes. His expression softened for no one. His growls and snarls only increased in intensity and frequency. He stopped advancing, but only briefly. He continued to make his way towards the group, taking very slow, deliberate steps. “You won't hurt me...”

“Hurt you?” Amanda asked softly. She handed the cloth to Jack and walked towards the boy. “Come on, Irwin...it's me...” The boy's eyes widened as she reached out towards him, and he cringed back, as if he was expecting a blow.

“No!” Max shouted, remembering what happened when he tried that himself. “Don't do it! He'll try to bite you!”

Amanda shot a glare at Max, offended that he would say such a thing. “He's my son! I'm his mother!” She shouted, eyes glued on the jock. “He wouldn't even think about...” When she turned back towards her son, she was horrified to see that he was in mid-attack. Jaws split wide, if she had not moved her hand away at that time, Irwin would have bitten her. She took several steps back, looking at the boy with an expression of hurt and shock on her face. Why had he done that to her? The idea of her son actually attacking her was too painful for her to bear. She didn't fight back the tears that streamed down her face as she said, “Irwin...why...?”

Jack, horrified by what happened, immediately moved over to his wife and tried to comfort her. “Dear..are you all right?” He asked as he placed an arm around her shoulder.

“Y-Yes..I'm fine...” Amanda said, her voice full of pain. “But..why..did he attack me?”

“I don't know...” Jack said softly, feeling just as lost and confused as she did. “I just don't know...”

Rodger walked up to where Max was and stood next to him. The african-american stared out towards Caruso, studying the expression on the boy's face. What caught his interest were his eyes. There was something very strange about them. It wasn't that they were dinosaur eyes. He had grown familiar with those. It was the way he was looking at them. Caruso's widened eyes had no hint of recognition. He was glaring at them as if he didn't know who they really were. He quickly realized what was going on. Caruso was not recognizing who they were. As the boy cast a dangerous glare on everyone in the room, he wasn't acknowledging them as friends, and perhaps he wasn't even acknowledging them as individuals either. It was like he thought everyone was just one being.

“Why is he acting like this? We're his friends..” Max said, his voice shaking a little. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.

“Dude...” Rodger said solemnly. “He doesn't even recognize us... Look at his eyes.” He pointed out to Caruso and everyone did as he said. They could see the way the boy was looking at them. His eyes were wide with fear and anger, but there wasn't even the slightest hint of recognition, no comfort, no sense of relief. Whatever he was seeing, it surely wasn't them.

“Then how do we get him to recognize us?” Fiona asked quickly, coming up to Rodger. “How do we let him know that we're his friends?”

“I...don't think we can...” Rodger said, shaking his head.

“But there's got to be something we can do!” Max spoke up.

“We can only wait, I'm afraid...” Rodger said sadly. “I've seen this before, in animals actually. There's nothing you can do to stop it. It has to run its course, no matter how painful it may be to watch.”

Irwin Caruso continued to look around the room, feeling frightened beyond belief. His body started to shake and quiver in fear. He took a few steps back, but continued to push himself forward. His eyes, widened as big as they could get, continued to feed him false information. As he looked around the room, all he could see was pitch blackness. There was no ground or ceiling. It was like he was floating in midair. All around him, all he could see was Victor. It looked as if Victor had teleportation powers. He could only see one Victor, but constantly that image would change position, taunting him, laughing at him. Every time one of the group reached out towards him, Caruso's mind was telling him that Victor was reaching out to harm him. Every time they spoke, his mind told him Victor was laughing at him and taunting him as well.

The images of Victor continued to flicker across the blackness of the room that he was seeing. He started to panic even further, his body shaking even more visibly now. He wanted to run away, to get away from here. He did not want to be hurt again. But the boy also wanted to stand and fight. He wanted to make sure that Victor would not hurt him ever again. And as he saw Victor walking slowly towards him, mouth contorted into a wicked smile, Irwin accepted his challenge, walking towards him slowly, fingers still arched as if he was going to strike.

“Victor...you think you've won...?” Irwin said in a haunting, scary voice. “You have another think coming... I'll kill you!”

The person he was advancing on was actually Fiona, who had approached him too quickly, wanting to try again to comfort him and calm him down. But Fiona had gotten too close, and now Caruso quickly advanced on her, his intentions made very clear. Fiona was forced up against a wall, backed into it by Caruso. Fiona pressed he back against the hard wall behind her, looking at Caruso in fear. “Please...stop this...” She begged. “You're scaring me...”

But Caruso did not listen. Instead, upon hearing her request, he laughed coldly. “Now you're begging for your life, Veloci? How does it feel...?” He asked threateningly, eyes narrowing further. “Tell me..HOW DOES IT FEEL?!”

Fiona screamed in fear as Caruso's voice grew loud so quickly, increasing how threatening and scary he was sounding. “Irwin! Stop! Please!” She could easily transform and push him out of the way, but fear was stopping her. She didn't want to hurt him, and she was too frightened anyway to think straight. Going dino was not crossing her mind.

“Never again...will you hurt me...” Caruso spoke softly, almost a harsh whisper.

“Irwin, stop this immediately!” Max demanded, trying again to gain control of the situation. He rushed towards where Caruso had backed Fiona up and placed his hand on Caruso, knowing full well of the risks involved. Caruso's eyes widened, and he stiffened in place. “As your leader, I command you to stop!”

There was a brief silence that lasted only a couple seconds. Suddenly, Irwin shouted, “NEVER AGAIN!!” Immediately after he said that, he whirled around quickly. He snapped his jaws at Max once again, narrowly missing again. Max screamed in fright and backed up, horrified about what happened. He quickly turned around to face Fiona, his eyes wide with anger still.

“Please...” Fiona whispered. She took a step forward. To her surprise, Caruso moved back a little, starting to look more frightened than angry. She wondered if he was finally coming out of it, if he finally realized who they actually were. Smiling softly, hoping it would soothe him, Fiona drew a little closer, reaching out towards the boy with one hand. “It's me..Fiona...don't you remember me? You're among friends now...”

But it quickly became all too clear that Caruso was still hallucinating, still in a panicking state of mind. When Fiona's hand got too close, he snapped at her. Fiona quickly pulled her hand back, too scared to cry out. But Caruso was not finished yet. Determined to stop whom he thought was Veloci from reaching out towards him again, he lunged forward. Fiona was slammed against the wall and a sharp pain overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes tightly and screamed in pain.

When she was finished, she slowly opened up her eyes to see what had happened. She was horrified to see what Caruso's jaws had made contact with her skin, digging in deeply. More specifically, he had bitten down on her shoulder, very close to her neck. His Stegosaurus teeth worked their way in through the fabric of her claws and broken through the skin. Caruso bit down harder, determined to tear away flesh. Blood poured quickly from the injury, and both Caruso and Fiona were getting stained with red blood. And while he was biting her, his hands gripped her arms tightly, preventing her from being able to struggle. His nails started to dig into her skin.

Everyone in the room witnessing the incident gasped collectively. Horrified expressions stuck to their faces. Words failed them, no matter how hard they tried. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Caruso had actually bitten Fiona. And it was not an accidental bite too. He was driving his teeth into her purposely, holding her still as he worked his teeth in. He ignored the blood that was starting to stain his lips, face, and shirt. He continued to growl, tasting her blood in his mouth, mixing in with his own.

“C-C-Caruso....?” Fiona whispered under her breath, trying her best to ignore the searing pain in her shoulder. She could feel the long sharp teeth tearing into her muscle, pain increasing in intensity every second. Tears of pain strolled down her face.

Caruso ignored her, just biting even harder and growling. The wild look was still in his eyes. As he bit down, he felt his heart rate slow down. His eyes slowly stopped glowing. The feeling of triumph was relaxing his body. His mind was slowing down, no longer racing. His vision started to come into focus. Images of Victor faded away, replacing with other images, the ones that were actually there. He slowly realized that it was not Victor he was biting into. The person was too small to be Victor. He saw the familiar brown color of Fiona's shirt, and his eyes widened again, this time with no glow in them. He slowly looked up, and saw that it was Fiona he was biting.

Immediately, shaking involuntarily, he released her, letting go of her arms as well. He took a step back, looking at Fiona in horror. Still shaking, he reached out towards her, but she cringed, and he immediately pulled his hand back. He couldn't believe what he just did. And he was even more frightened by what he almost did. He almost killed Fiona, his best friend. His eyes slowly moved to her wound, and he couldn't look away. He assessed the extend of the damage. He could see several red punctures in her skin, blood seeping through. The puncture wounds looked so deep that he thought that, if he had bitten a little harder, Fiona would have lost a lot of flesh from that one place. All around the area, the skin had turned a deep purple. The bruising spread a little onto her neck as well. Caruso was horrified at just how much damage he had caused.

Caruso took another step back, slowly shaking his head in denial. He didn't want to accept this. He just didn't want to. He just could not accept it. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't! He looked at his hands. He could see that they had a little blood on him. He gasped and looked back at Fiona. He had gripped her arms so tightly that it had pierced through her skin. Decorated across both of her upper arms were a series of small, bloody cuts. But what was hurting him the most, mentally, was the expression on Fiona's face. It was a mixture of hurt, shock, and a sense of betrayal. What had he done...?

Fiona slowly looked towards her shoulder, seeing the torn up skin and the blood. Her lower lip quivered as she slowly looked back at Caruso. Even though she knew he didn't mean it, she couldn't help but feel betrayed by him. “Why...?” She asked softly.

“Fiona...” Irwin whispered, his voice filled with pain. He took a step forward, trying his best not to cry as he saw her back up against the wall again. “Fiona...I'm sorry...I'm so very sorry...” Caruso said, trying his best to ignore the pain in his mouth. Without thinking or hesitating, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, careful not to touch her injured shoulder. He didn't know what else to do. Unable to hold back his tears any longer, he started to cry as he hugged her, his tears soaking into her clothing.

“..Irwin...?” Fiona whispered, unsure what to do. The only thing she could think of to do is hugging him back. Moving her shoulder hurt her though, so just simply hugging Caruso caused her pain. But she fought through it anyway, hugging him back to try and comfort him the best that she could. “It's all right...”

“What's wrong with me...?” Caruso whispered under his breath, not letting her go. Fiona was not able to answer him. All she could do was speak comforting words to him and hug him, hoping that he'll stop crying soon. But she wondered the same thing. What was wrong with him?


	14. Damages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Back at Raptor Dyne, Victor Veloci was scolding Kista for her actions. He had asked her why she had done it and why she would risk doing such a thing. He told her that he had also thought he made it clear to her, and some other individuals, that they were never ever supposed to do that to anyone that was not on the team unless he gave them permission to do so. Kista just shrugged it off, explaining that nothing bad happened, other than Zoom freaking out. She had only intended to scare him, to show him what he was in for when he joined Raptor Dyne. She tried to justify her actions by saying that Zoom should have seen it coming. She herself did not see any problem with doing what she did.

But Victor did not accept her accuses. He told her that she should have known better herself. She was one of his most trusted henchmen, and he trusted her more than even some of his oldest members. Kista was not with him from the very beginning. She had later on after Victor found her somewhere in the city. He enjoyed having her on the team, being very useful at times. But her arrogance and her habit of looking before she leaped bothered him at times, even driving him insane. And today was one of those days. Kista would disobey a rule, albeit rarely, and when he'd confront her about it, she'd make up some sort of excuse to justify her actions.

It was not going to work this time, Victor told himself. He was going to find some sort of punishment for Kista. He'd just have to think of something, although he didn't think he had to do it now. There were more important matters at hand now. But then again, if he didn't punish her now, the punishment would not have any effect later on. Although, Kista would probably not react too well to the punishment. She'd just shrug it off. Or maybe she would just make some crude joke about it. It would be just like her to do such a thing.

Victor looked over at Zoom, wanting to get his mind off the punishment subject. Kista had told him the photographer's name. Upon laying eyes on him, he immediately recognized the man. Much to his disgust and dismay, it was the same photographer he had run into before, the same one who almost sold him that stupid CD of some stupid punk kid. Victor had snarled at him as soon as he saw him. He was almost pleased when the man cringed a little. At least he knew his place. Kista had explained to him about Zoom's idea. Victor could not help but laugh at them. The ideas seemed so ridiculous, he doubted that they would work. But as she explained further, he started to wonder if they were onto something.

He started to wonder if he could use some of the ideas to flush out the Dino Squad, make them come out of hiding. He already knew where their hideout was. But since they knew that he knew where they were, perhaps he should use a different method. He couldn't simply go to the lighthouse again. They would be more prepared, or perhaps they even relocated. What he would need to do is get them in a different location, a place where he would be waiting without them knowing. Their equipment was probably still fried, so they would not be able to detect him. And even if they did get it working, he could simply create a protective shield to avoid detection. Moynihan was not the only one who knew how to block signals.

The one question he was trying to answer himself now was what to do with Zoom. He personally believed that he did not need him. He had all this advanced technology and many followers to give the job too. What would make this photographer so special? After all, he had not even taken that photograph, as he found out recently. It had to be Buzz. He had seen him, briefly, in human form. After remembering how that punk kid tricked him with a photograph of some dog, it seemed logical that he would be the one to have taken the photograph. Victor was not sure if Zoom had even taken any photos of his own before, and how good he actually was. He did say that he was really good at editing. Photomanipulation, Victor had heard of it before, and seen it himself. But how was that supposed to help him? What was he going to do? Trick the humans into thinking the dinosaurs robbed a bank?

The idea was amusing, he admitted to himself. He had objected to the bomb idea, however. He did not want to draw any attention to himself. And he also did not really want to hurt any humans unless he saw a good reason, even though he loathed them. And he was not sure how he would set up such an elaborate scheme without raising suspicion. He might use a similar idea, but it would have to be more subtle. Victor was not sure, yet, how he was going to pull it off. He glanced at Zoom again, and started considering perhaps allowing him to join. There didn't seem much harm in letting him join, although he was worried that the photographer might take pictures of what he shouldn't, or stick his nose where it did not belong.

He sighed, turning back towards Kista. He frowned as he saw the same arrogant look on her face. Victor folded up his arms and said, “Well, is there anything else you would like to add?”

“..Yes...” Kista said, smiling darkly. “I did not do anything wrong, you pyrophoric firmament!”

Victor snapped his head back in surprise. He was not surprised that she talked back to him like that. He was expecting it, actually. What had taken him aback was her statement. He guessed he should have gotten used to it by now. She often made statements like these that made no sense. He often wondered if she even knew what she was saying. But after dealing with her for years, he learned to just ignore her statements. If he questioned her about it or tried to explain it to her, she would go on a rant on how he's just jealous that she's so smart and how his intelligence was not great enough to comprehend the statements she made.

“Well okay.” Victor said, still a little surprised by the unusual statement. “Well anyway, back to the subject at hand.” He turned and looked at Zoom. “I'll consider your idea, photographer. In fact, I kind of like it. But I have a question for you, and I want you to answer me truthfully. Do not try to lie, or you'll be sorry...” He smiled as he saw the man's expression turn into fear. “Tell me...what use would you be? Sure, you could take photos and edit them for me. However, I could easily get one of my men to do it. Tell me, why should I permit you to do the task?”

Zoom looked a little confused by the question. He was not sure exactly how to answer. And having Victor stare at him like that was scaring him, making it hard for him to concentrate. He was afraid that, any second, the man would go raptor on him and kill him with one swipe of that hideous sickle claw. He swallowed hard and nervously said, “W-Well..s-s-sir..I'm very good at..stealth photo-photography...a-a-and I could do..other..things...?”

Victor's eyes narrowed, leaning in closer to the blond-haired man. “If you want to join my team, you will have to do better than that. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you.”

Zoom gulped, eyes wide with fear. His mind started to race quickly, trying to come up with something to say. But as he stared into Victor's eyes, seeing the anger and impatience in them, Zoom was starting to have second thoughts on joining this team, if he could even call it that. Did he really want to sit around and be bossed around by someone who could easily have him for lunch? Just what was he thinking when he came here? Wait, he didn't come here at all. He was dragged here by Kista.

Zoom looked to his side where Kista was standing. He frowned at her arrogant smile. She was the one to blame for all this! He just knew it. She was the one who knocked him out in the first place. He could still feel the soreness of the blow where she struck him. He had let himself fall prey to her, allowed her to get the advantage over him. He had turned his back on her and left himself vulnerable. Now she has taken him here, knowing full well of the consequences that might have risen. She probably did this on purpose just to watch him squirm. Perhaps she knew Victor would not accept him. Maybe she just wanted to feed Victor. Zoom shuddered at the thought of a Velociraptor biting into him.

Kista stared back at Zoom, her twisted smile fading into an angry frown. She didn't like how the man was staring at her. Exactly how was this all her fault? He was the one who wanted to see Victor in the first place! All she did was help him a little by taking him to the hideout. If he was still sore about her whacking him in the head, well he can just get over that. She had only done that to ensure that he does not find out the exact location of Raptor Dyne.

“Well?” Kista asked impatiently. “Aren't you going to answer him?”

Zoom growled under his breath, glaring at Kista. “I just did...” He retorted in a sarcastic attitude. “You think he did not hear me? Perhaps he is deaf, or is too busy to listen to me.” He was ignoring Kista's angry expressions as he said this. He just didn't care if he upset Kista or not. He felt she deserved the sarcastic remarks to her question. “I'm not stupid okay? I know Victor had heard my answer! Didn't you? Or were you too busy wandering around in your own world to even register anything said in reality?”

“Why you....” Kista growled.

“What are you going to do about it?” Zoom taunted. “Run to Victor and ask him for help?”

However, he had seemingly forgotten that Kista was not the only one in the room. Victor narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the way the photographer was talking about him as if he was not there. He also did not like the way he talked at about Kista or himself. He did not like the man's tone of voice. He was starting to remind him of another annoying human he recently had to deal with, that Irwin Caruso kid. He wondered briefly if the two were somehow related. He leaned forward and gripped the man's shirt, forcing him to avert his eyes away from Kista and onto him. Zoom's cocky look was quickly replaced with fear and realization at what he had just done.

“You have a lot of guts to be making such remarks, especially in your current position!” Victor snapped, his face so close to Zoom's that the man could feel Victor's breath against his face. Victor had to use a large amount of his strength to keep himself from transforming. If he transformed now, he probably would not be able to convince Zoom to join him, even if he wanted to. Victor wasn't sure if he truly wanted Zoom on the team, especially after such remarks. But perhaps he could tame the man, just like how he tamed Caruso.

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry!” Zoom quickly said, his original demeanor gone. The courage he had so briefly was gone just like that. Unlike Caruso, he did not try and make another sarcastic remark just to get on his nerves. Victor was a little surprised, at the same time a little disappointed. He was hoping to have a little fun with the guy. But no matter, it would just mean less work and less time wasted. He released his grip on Zoom. The photographer looked up at him in surprise, but said nothing.

“All right then....” Victor said, turning his back to Zoom. He interlocked his fingers behind his back, looking up at his monitor in an almost absentminded way. “I'll let you join my team....”

Zoom almost jumped out of his seat in shock. And he would have done so too if he weren't tied to the chair. Kista had insisted on doing it, although she never explained way. Perhaps she was afraid he would get up and run away. “Really?!” He said excitedly. He quickly cleared his throat, and then spoke again, this time in a calmer tone of voice. “Really...?” It was hard for him to conceal his excitement at joining the team.

“Under one condition...other than the one about not telling anyone about this, that is...” Victor raised a finger to get his attention. He gave Zoom a sideways glance, giving the slightest hint of a glow in his eyes as he spoke. Zoom remained still in his seat, waiting for Victor to continue. “You must not harm the 'perfect dinosaurs', not one of them, unless I say so.” Victor said. “They could be of some use to me...”

“But...” Zoom objected. “But after what they've done to you, and your experiments, after all the times they have apparently thwarted you... why would you even want them alive?” It didn't make much sense to Zoom. If he were in Victor's shoes, he would try and have the dinosaurs annihilated so they would not interfere anymore. That was the way most bad guys worked, wasn't it? It was just like the movies...except this was not the movies. It was reality.

Victor shot him a glare. “Isn't it obvious to you, Zoom O'Donnell?” He asked in an almost icy voice. Zoom did not answer, just staring at him in confusion. Victor chuckled a little to himself, a bit amused at the man's inability to answer. “Well it's quite simple really.” Victor turned towards the blond man and walked towards him. He stood a couple feet in front of the chair the man was tied to, towering over him with a dark smile on his face. “Because they seem to be so clever... I mean, think about it. A bunch of teens being able to thwart some of my most ingenious plans without even being detected by me... If they could do such things while working under cover...” He leaned closer to Zoom. “..imagine what they could be like if they were to join me...”

“..but..they're your enemies! Why would they even want to join you?” Zoom asked.

“I could always find a way to force them to join me.” Victor explained, turning away quickly. “And besides, even if they refuse to join me..I could always find some other use for them. I could use them for experiments, or just take their blood so I can perfect my primordial ooze.” Victor still had that blood sample he had gotten from Caruso. He was keeping it in cold storage. It would prove so valuable when he starts to upgrade his primordial ooze. But to perfect the ooze, he would need more than just Stegosaurus DNA. “Whether they like it or not, whether they know it or not, they're helping me complete my plan to bring back the dinosaurs!” He laughed.

“But...are you sure it's even going to work?” Zoom spoke up again.

“I'm sure it will...” Victor said in an arrogant way. “And even if it does not, I can always come up with another way to make my dream come true...” He then looked over at Kista and began to address her. “Kista Bakar!” He said loudly, getting her attention.

Kista straightened up and stared at Victor, awaiting for her orders. “What is it, Victor?”

“Untie Zoom,” Victor said, “..and then take him down to the Employee's Lounge. Tell him about how things are run here and be sure to get him a card so he can access this laboratory. But do not leave his side, understand me? I don't want him snooping around where he should not be. Only when he earns my trust will I permit him to nose around whenever he wants.” That, of course, would be never, as Victor almost never lets anyone snoop around without being accompanied or without him knowing ahead of time.

“Yes, sir.” Kista said respectfully, which was a little strange given her earlier behavior. That was Kista all right. One minute she would act all arrogant towards anyone, including her own leader, and then the next minute she would act a bit more respectful and not talk back. She turned to Zoom and walked behind his chair. Very quickly, she managed to untie the ropes that bound him. As Zoom rubbed his wrists, she said, “Come on you. Let's go to the Employee's Lounge. You just might meet some...very interesting people there.” She chuckled.

Zoom got up without question. He brushed himself off, and started to act as if he were never bound to the chair or frightened by Victor. He started to walk towards the door, Kista standing right beside him. He looked at her, and smiled, trying his best to forget about their shaky and disturbing meeting earlier, or how she had scared him earlier, and how she knocked him out with his camera. If he was to get a chance at vengeance on that stupid little punk kid, he should at least push aside mild, less important grudges. “Oh really? Interesting? Like who?”

“You'll find out when we get there.” Kista smirked as they walked through the doors and shut them, leaving Victor in the room all alone.

Victor quickly turned his head back towards his computer. The large screen was still displaying a map of the world, colored in shades of green. The scanners, although turned on, weren't picking up any dino activity, at least not anymore. While talking with Kista and Zoom, he had noticed that there was a dinosaur signature coming from the lighthouse. He wasn't sure who it was at first. He, at first, thought it was Moynihan, but realized that didn't make any sense at this point. When he checked on the signature, he realized it was Caruso. Victor wasn't sure what was going on until he realized the boy was panicking. He found it quite amusing, but was not able to investigate further. Kista would not stop talking, and he was too upset with her to bother keeping an eye on the scans.

The scans no longer picked up anything, and Victor was a little disappointed. But he didn't care too much about it at this point. He put his hands to the keyboard and typed in a few commands and words. The screen started to flicker a little, and then switched to a solid black screen. It looked like he had turned he computer off, but then a loading bar showed up with the word 'LOADING...' flashing right underneath it. The loading bar was solid white with a dark blue color filling it up. When it finished, there was a low beeping sound, and soon multiple images flashed into the screen.

Most of the stuff showing up on the screen were document files. Many of them had the name Moynihan on them. These documents were filled with information that both he and Moynihan had typed up when they were a team. A few of them were also from when she had started to have doubts of their plans, and a few more about how she had betrayed Victor and joined the humans' side. Despite how angry Victor was about the situation, he refused to delete any of these files. He knew they were going to prove useful one day, and today was that day.

But he didn't have time to read through them yet. He pressed one key, which caused the document files to be put away into a bright red folder that was at the top right corner of the screen. He then moved his cursor over towards one of the few icons on the black screen. It looked like a raptor, but colored solid green. When he clicked on it, a diagram of what appeared to be a Velociraptor and a human appeared. It was a diagram of Joanne Moynihan. The forms were solid black with the outline and a few details drawn in by gray lines. Information was displayed at a side panel beside each form. Both sides were also accompanied by an image of a DNA helix.

Right underneath the larger diagrams were miniature versions. The raptor icon was solid black and looked almost transparent against the black background. The other one, the human form, was colored a solid red and stood out like a sore thumb. Victor frowned at this, obviously angry that the human icon was red but not the raptor icon. He looked almost disgusted by it. But his frown disappeared as he started to read the signatures being given off by the diagrams. Almost immediately, there was a chance in the icons. With a quick bleep-like sound, a single line of black replaced a line of red on the human icon. At the same time, a line of red appeared at the very bottom of the raptor icon.

As he watched this, Victor couldn't help but allow a twisted smile stretch across his face. This was obviously good news for him. It meant that his plan was starting to take effect. He rubbed his hands together in an almost excited way. “You will be mine....Trust me...you will be mine soon...” He whispered, closing his eyes, and when he reopened them, they were his Velociraptor eyes, glowing brightly. And as he said this, another sliver of red and black interchanged with one another on the diagrams...

* * *

“What happened to him....?” Amanda asked as she watched what was going on. Irwin had only recently stopped hugging Fiona. He seemed so distraught and so upset with himself over what he'd done..it just hurt her inside. Fiona, as well as everyone else, had done their best to cheer him up. They tried to boost his confidence, tried to calm him down, and they tried to make him laugh even. But nothing seemed to work. They could only wait until he cried it all out before he started to settle down enough to let Fiona go. The redhead still seemed a little nervous to be around Irwin and Amanda could not really blame her that much. She'd just been bitten after all.

Jack had gone back up into the kitchen. He didn't say why he was going up there. Amanda assumed that he was just taking the rag back up there. After Irwin's episode not too long ago, they felt it would be best not to continue treatment of his injuries, even though they knew he really needed it. Amanda felt a little upset about that. She didn't want her son running around with open injuries, and she almost snapped at Moynihan because of it. But Moynihan did try to reason with her by stating that normally she would want to continue treatment, but Irwin's reaction to her touching his forehead was so shocking and so severe that she felt that, if they continue further treatment, they would only frighten Irwin more and put more stress on him. It would only hurt him more mentally. This was not good enough of an explanation for Amanda, and she let Moynihan know that.

But Moynihan was not changing her mind, although she did tell Amanda that, if she wanted to, after Irwin went home today, she should schedule an appointment with a doctor to take a look at Irwin's injuries and have them treat them. But she warned her that she will be responsible in keeping her son from panicking during the procedure. If they needed to, if it was really bad, they could knock him out with anesthesia so they could treat the wounds without incident. Amanda was a little hesitant to accept that choice, but she eventually agreed, since it would be for Irwin's own good.

Moynihan wasn't sure why Amanda was asking her that question about what happened to her son. She thought that she had already answered that. “What he had experienced at that shed must have left him so traumatized that any time he experiences something similar, even if it's not nearly the same situation or putting him in any danger, he just loses it. I have heard of this before. The victim suffering from this sort of panic attack has to settle themselves down as they are, essentially, too far gone to be reasoned with.”

“So there is..nothing at all I could do...? I mean..if it happens again..nothing I could do?” Amanda asked, her apprehension increasing as she thought about her son going nuts in the house and she would be unable to do anything.

Moynihan slowly shook her head. “I'm afraid not.” She understood Amanda's concern about Irwin having a panic attack while at the house. Moynihan is more familiar with this kind of symptom and understood more about it than Amanda probably did. She learned about it in Psychology class, but she did not think she'd be able to teach Amanda enough. And she couldn't help but wonder if Amanda would even remember anything she told her. She'd probably be too overwhelmed anyway. “In order to prevent Irwin from having another episode, just be careful how you approach him and how you talk to him. And try to avoid physical contact if at all possible. I know it might be hard for you to not be able to treat him like you normally would, but it's for the sake of both of you.”

Amanda groaned and rubbed her forehead. She decided not to argue with Joanne about that. She was getting tired of debating with the old woman about Irwin Caruso. “So how long do you suggest we keep this up?”

“I'd say just a couple days.” Moynihan suggested, hoping that it would make her feel better. “After a few days, try approaching him a little differently. Do whatever you feel is the right thing to do. If he still hasn't fully recovered, try waiting a little longer.”

“And what if he still hasn't recovered?” Amanda asked, folding her arms a little. She didn't want to appear angry or frustrated, but she couldn't help but feel that way towards this old woman. Amanda did not like the idea of having someone else tell her what to do with her son.

Moynihan frowned a little. She quickly picked up on Amanda feeling frustrated with her. If the look on her face was not hint enough, the tone of her voice would have easily given her away. “I do apologize if me giving you advice frustrates you. But I assure you that I have Irwin's best interest at heart, and the same with you and your husband. Just please...understand that. Can you do that?” Amanda hesitated, but nodded slowly. Moynihan nodded as well, trying her best to smile. “Now moving on, if Irwin still shows signs of severe anxiety, still has panic attacks, the only thing that I can think of is for you to take him to a psychologist.”

Amanda almost immediately objected to the idea. “No! If you think I'm going to take my kid to some..shrink, you got another think coming!” She pointed an accusing finger at Moynihan, her teeth clenched and bared. “I can't believe you actually suggested that! Do you want him to be made fun of?!”

Moynihan took great offense to that statement. She immediately gripped Amanda's hand and pushed it down and released it. She stood up from her seat. Even though Amanda was taller than she was, she still stood as if she was actually the taller person. She stared straight into Amanda's eyes, trying her best not to lose her temper. “Now you listen here! There is nothing wrong with going to a psychologist for help! You have a lot of nerve demeaning a profession that is intended to help people with psychological problems....”

“Ms. Moynihan!” Max cried out in horror. “What are you doing?!”

Moynihan shot him a glare. “What are you....” But when she looked towards Amanda once more, she soon realized the reason behind Max's horrified cry. At some point when Moynihan was yelling at Amanda, she had gripped the woman's arm as if to emphasize her words. She had gripped the arm so tightly that she could see the marks as she released the arm. That combined with the fact that she had yelled once again frightened Moynihan. She gasped and took a step back. “I-I-I...” She stammered, not sure what to say. It seemed Caruso was not the only one with a behavorial problem. She gripped her head tightly. “What's wrong with me...?” She whispered, turning away. “I'm sorry, Mrs. Caruso... I'm so sorry...”

Amanda normally would have yelled back, but for some reason she just remained frozen in fear. The woman had such a strong grip and she feared that, if she yelled back, she would get another demonstration of the woman's strength. She started to wonder if it was truly safe to be around this woman. Even though she hadn't been around her that much, she knew Irwin would hang out around her almost every day. Irwin would not hang out with Moynihan if he knew she could be dangerous. Amanda had a feeling that something was wrong and that's why she couldn't really get very mad at Moynihan. She almost felt sorry for the woman.

“It's...okay...” Amanda managed to say. She was starting to feel uncomfortable with the silence that had fell onto the room. “I'm sorry too... I should not have snapped at you like that. I know you were just trying to help... I apologize.”

Moynihan smiled the best that she could. But she couldn't really feel much better about what happened. She didn't know why she was starting to lose it lately. That was the second time she had snapped at Amanda in such a short amount of time. For some reason, she just started feeling more irritable than usual. It felt like she could more easily snap at anything, no matter how trivial. And as she turned to the teenagers, their expressions didn't comfort her much either. They all stared at her in horror. They did not try to run away. They did not look like they wanted to get away from here. They just looked like they had a hard time accepting what had happened. They looked just as confused as she did.

Just what was wrong with her, anyway? She couldn't understand it herself, and she knew the kids did not either. She started to feel a little strange ever since they found Caruso at the seemingly abandoned warehouse. Did she breathe in some unsual chemical there? She shook her head at the thought. That was impossible. When she went in, she could not detect any chemicals at all other than the ether, and they had outrun that. Perhaps she was just stressed and needed some rest. Yes, that had to be it, yes. It would be understandable and would explain her unusual behavior. Maybe after a few days, when things have settled down, she'd feel a lot better and things would return to normal.

“Moynihan...what's wrong with you?” Max asked, working up the courage to move towards his mentor. Even though Moynihan had apologized, somehow, Max could sense that she could snap again anytime soon. There was something wrong with her.

“Nothing, dear boy...” Moynihan said quickly. “It's just..stress... We've all went through a hard time lately. Some of us are bound to get a little grumpy for a while.”

“Yes, but...” Max started to say.

Rodger interrupted him. “I don't think it's anything to worry about, Max. As she said it's probably just stress. I'm sure she'll feel better in a few days.” He explained to the jock, hoping to relieve whatever tension Max might be feeling. “Try not to concern yourself with it too much.”

Max couldn't help but give Rodger a weird look. Wasn't he the least bit concerned about how Moynihan snapped within a short amount of time? “Rodger, doesn't it worry you at all that our teacher had snapped at someone twice in the same day?”

“No.” Rodger shook his head. “Why should it?”

“Well...” Max said, rubbing the back of his head. “...it's just that, she's always been so..unflappable. It just seems so unusual that she would act this way..so suddenly. It just worries me, that's all.”

“Even the most controlled person will snap under pressure, Max.” Rodger explained, placing his hand on Max's shoulder. “I'm telling you, it's nothing to worry about. Try not to get too worked up over it. The last thing any of us need right now is more stress.”

“If you say so...” Max said softly, looking away from Rodger and back towards Moynihan. Despite Rodger's reassurance, Max still couldn't help but feel uneasy. But maybe Rodger was right. Maybe he shouldn't get too worked up over this. Maybe it was just stress and that it would go away soon. How many more times the woman might snap or if anyone else would do the same, Max was not sure.

Caruso had sat back down on the couch again to rest. He was feeling a little worn out from going nuts not so long ago. He was still feeling bad about what he had done to Fiona. And it was not just that he was upset about. He had reacted harshly against practically everyone in the room, including his own parents! He couldn't explain, even to himself, what happened. He had truly believed he was seeing Victor in the room, and he only found out too late that it was just an illusion. And before he could find out, the damage was already done. He came back to his senses with his teeth in Fiona's shoulder. He wasn't sure if she'd completely trust him again, and he wouldn't blame her if she didn't. He didn't think he could trust himself with her either.

He looked up to see Fiona moving towards him. She was approaching him rather cautiously. The way she was positioned suggested that she was getting ready to dive out of the way in case he lunged at her. Caruso started to feel even more guilty now. He started to wonder if he could ever forgive himself for this, or if Fiona or the others would ever forgive him.

“Hey..Caruso...” Fiona asked as she stood directly in front of Caruso. “How are you feeling..?”

Caruso opened up his mouth to speak, but quickly covered it as he felt the stinging pain on his tongue and lips. He pulled his hand away and looked at his finger tips. There was a slight tinge of red on them where the blood soaked in. The bleeding still hadn't stopped, although it seemed to have slowed down significantly. The pain hadn't let up though. But despite the severe pain, he managed to spew out one word. “Fine.”

Fiona was not so sure. She slowly sat down next to Caruso, even though she was still afraid. She knew that Caruso did not mean to bite her earlier. “Are you sure...?” Caruso simply looked away and did not answer her. Even though he was not looking at her directly, Fiona could still see the look in his eyes. He seemed almost...lost. She scooted a little closer to Caruso, despite her fear of being bitten again. “Look, if you're upset about biting me...I'm not angry with you.”

Caruso refused to look at her. He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, his mind on many things, including the pain in his mouth and the guilty feeling rising inside of him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be this close to Fiona, not after what happened. He could still taste Fiona's blood on his teeth. He tried to wipe it off, but the blood seemed almost glued to the hard enamel. And it was not just her blood he was tasting. He could still feel the salty blood trinkling from the wounds inside his mouth. Even though the bridle was off of them, he could still feel the sharp spikes scraping along his tongue and gums.

He tried his best to resist the temptation of pushing Fiona away. It would hurt her, both physically and mentally, but he would do it for her own good, and for his own good. But he couldn't bring himself to really want to do it. He would feel terrible if he did it. She was his best friend after all. He knew she just wanted to help him feel better. But he couldn't really enjoy her presence completely, not with his sudden snapping. He was afraid that, any second now, he was going to lose it yet again and hurt her like he did a while ago. And the memory of the fresh would on her shoulder was enough to keep him from looking at her. He couldn't bear looking at her with the horrible injury that he had caused.

Caruso could feel the couch shifting and knew that Fiona was inching even closer to him, probably in an attempt to make him feel better. But the reality was that it was making him feel worse. He was increasingly edgy and paranoid as she got closer. He dug his fingernails into the couch and he clenched his teeth tightly. He would have tried to move away from her without getting up, but he was already leaning against the arm of the chair. He couldn't move any further away from Fiona.

But even though Caruso could not move any further away, Fiona could sense his tension as she got close to him. She started to feel a little hurt. But she also started to feel a little bad too. She should have known better than to get so close to him. She thought that he would feel a little better knowing that someone he cared about was close by. Caruso probably wants to be close to someone, but he probably still feels bad about biting her. He must be very confused, and lost, unsure of what to do with himself.

Even though she knew he probably didn't want to be this close to her, she still felt the need to comfort him. She slowly lifted up her arm and placed it around Caruso's shoulders. Caruso stiffened up, jolting in shock. Fiona winced, but didn't move her arm away. She could see Caruso starting to shake and she wasn't sure if it was from anger or from fear. Still, she refused to let go of him. He wasn't struggling or trying to push her away. He just seemed a little uncomfortable. “Look, Caruso. I know you feel bad about biting me. But I'll be fine...really...” She said in a comforting tone of voice. “Anyway, I don't think we should dwell on that any longer. Right now, I think we should focus on you, and your recovery. You suffered more than any of us had.”

Caruso tried to smile a little, hoping that it would lighten the mood a little bit. “Yeah..I know...” But he still couldn't feel any better. How could he feel better? “Still...I...I should not have attacked you like that... I-I-I shouldn't h-have turned on my friends..and f-family like that.” He worked up the courage to face Fiona, doing his best not to look at the injury on her shoulder. “How c-c-could you stand to be near me... a-a-after what I d-did...to you...?”

Fiona's eyes widened a little at the question. But it quickly faded into a small smile. “Oh, Caruso... You're my best friend.. I could never turn my back on you..” She couldn't help but pull Caruso closer in a sort of half hug. “And besides, I know you didn't mean it. You weren't yourself. It was not you who bit me.” She said. “It was your fear that bit me.” She was only partially telling the truth, though. She only wanted to believe what she was saying. She knew, full well, it was Caruso who bit her, and that it was not an accident. She believed he'd done it on purpose, although it was not her he wanted to bite. Still, a case of mistaken identity does not change the fact of what he had done to her. And she was still afraid of him, but she cared too much for him. Despite her fear, it was hurting her more to see him suffer. She hoped her partial lie would help him feel a little better.

Caruso, however, could see through her lying. “H-How could you say that...?” He asked, looking at her with a bewildered expression. “Y-You saw what I did...”

Fiona smiled the best that she could. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she reached out towards Caruso's face and placed her hand on his cheek comfortingly. “I could say that...because you're my friend... And I care about you.” As she gently caressed his cheek to try and soothe him, she accidentally brushed against a small injury. Caruso immediately shut his eyes and yelped in pain. Panicking a little, Fiona immediately withdraw her hand, looking at Caruso with a mixture of shock and fear.

“I'm so sorry!” Fiona said quickly. She reached out towards him again, but thought better of it and immediately withdraw her hand. She looked around nervously, hoping no one was watching them. Luckily for her, the others were too busy chatting amongst themselves to have noticed what was going on. She felt relieved. She didn't want to raise even more concern.

Caruso, feeling terrible for worrying Fiona, just looked away again. Fiona's arm was still across his shoulders. He thought about pushing the arm away, but then thought better of it. Despite his fear and his paranoia, he was enjoying the physical contact. It was making him feel a little better, albeit not by much. “I'm...sorry too. I shouldn't have yelped like that.”

“...did it hurt?” Fiona asked cautiously, her eyes on the cuts that lacerated the boy's face.

Caruso looked back at her, his eyes wide with pain. “..only a lot...”

Fiona started to feel guilty again. She hadn't meant to cause him pain. She was only trying to make him feel better. “I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you....” She whispered, wanting to comfort him but not sure how to do it. She wasn't sure if she could even cheer him up now. He needed rest and time to recover from his injuries. But it was not just his physical wounds that worried Fiona and the others. His emotional wounds might take even longer to heal. “...did the pain stop..?”

Caruso slowly nodded his head. “Yeah...it feels a little better now...”

“I'm glad to hear that...” Fiona said. She was soon at a loss of what to do next. She was afraid to try and hug him now, fearful that she would hurt him again accidentally. And she didn't feel comfortable allowing his jaws to get that close to her injured shoulder again. It took all of her courage the last time and she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to do it again. As much as she cared about Caruso, she could not shake off this newfound fear rising inside of her.

“Look...” Caruso said, looking away. “If you don't want to be around me...you could just leave...” Part of him wanted her to go. He was feeling apprehensive around her now, and he knew that she was feeling the same way.

“...no...” Fiona said sternly. “I won't leave you...”

“Fiona..please...It's too dangerous to be near me anyway.” Irwin said, his eyes closed. “P-Please go...please...” He reopened them, looking at the girl straight in the eyes. “Wh-What are you waiting f-for...? Just go...please...”

Fiona stared at him in shock, at a loss of words. She understood why he wanted her to leave. He didn't want to hurt her again. But she still couldn't help but feel hurt. She still wanted to comfort him and she didn't want to just leave him there. She continued to sit down next to him, refusing to let go of him. In response to his statement, she just gripped him a little tighter, firmer, and leaned closer to him. “I already told you...I am not going to leave you. I...”

But Caruso was not going to take no for an answer. He immediately whirled around and quickly placed his hands on Fiona. Using as much strength as he could muster, he shoved her away. Fiona stumbled back, rolling off the couch and onto the ground. She wasn't hurt badly, but she was still horrified by what Caruso had done. It was not as bad as sinking his teeth into her, but still, she could not believe he had just done that. She could not hide the hurt look on her face. Caruso stared back at her, a similar expression on his face as well. He opened up his mouth to speak, but no words came. He could only look away, closing his eyes as a few tears strolled down his cheeks.

“Caruso...” Fiona whispered. Her voice was filled with hurt and she was not attempting to hide it. She slowly rose to her feet. “How could you...?”

Caruso's eyes closed even tighter and he gritted his teeth. The pain in Fiona's voice was hurting him. For some reason it was hurting him even more than any physical wound Victor had inflicted onto him. And he could not understand why. He never felt like this around her before. He had never felt this hurt by her. Why was this all happening now? “I'm sorry, Fiona...” He managed to say through his own pain and confusion. “It was for your own g-g-good...”

Fiona looked at him for a few seconds before narrowing her eyes. “If you wanted to protect me, you didn't have to shove me away like that!” Caruso stared at her in shock. Her eyes widened and she quickly took a step back. She hadn't meant to snap at him like that. She quickly apologized, “I'm sorry, Caruso. I guess...I'm just as stressed out as Moynihan.”

“..perhaps...” Caruso said slowly. He flinched when he heard Moynihan's name. She had snapped at his mother twice earlier. Caruso was starting to feel rather strange about his teacher. Before he could always trust her with almost anything. But now, things seem to have changed. He was starting to fear her, starting to become afraid of her, his own mentor...and he was hating every second of it. What was upsetting him even more is that he swore there was something he knew about what was going on, but that blow to the head must of caused him to lose some memories of what happened.

He and Fiona were suddenly interrupted when someone approached them. They looked up to see that it was Irwin's father. Jack was holding the same rag in his hand, and it looked like it was soaked with water and soap. He was eyeing Fiona's wound with a concerned expression. “I went upstairs to soak the rag in warm water and soap to clean that wound.” He would use it on his own son as well, but considering his condition, he thought better of it. He didn't want to drive his son insane with pain. Although he would probably do the same thing with Fiona. He hoped she wouldn't go nuts like Irwin had not so long ago. He reached out towards her with the soaked and soapy rag. “Now hold still...” He told her.

Fiona tried her best not to cry out as the man pressed the piece of cloth against her wound. But it was hard to resist screaming. The pain was extremely intense, feeling like someone was putting a hot iron against her skin. Now she understood why Irwin had snapped earlier. This kind of pain would drive anyone mad. Fiona was forced to bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming. The pain was worse than how it was when Irwin was biting into her. She kept imagining a flame burning her skin and she was trying her best not to try and put it out, even though it would be very easy. She would end up hurting Irwin's father. And that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Jack continued to press the cloth against the wound, watching the blood soak up into the cloth. He continually removed the cloth and pressed it back on, trying to clean the wound the best that he could. He was trying to be extremely careful, knowing that Fiona, just like his son, was in great pain. He was impressed with Fiona's resistance to the pain, not allowing herself to give in and attack the source of what was causing her to feel that way. This is what an animal would do and this is what he believed may have contributed to Irwin attacking. He was part dinosaur, and dinosaurs were animals. Fiona was also part dinosaur, but she did not let the instincts take over. But then again, she did not suffer under the cruelty of Victor Veloci like Irwin had.

Jack looked at Fiona's face, which was contorted into pain. He couldn't help but sympathize with her. He stopped applying as much pressure to the cloth, but still held a firm enough grip that it was soaking up the dark red blood. “Just hold on, girl...” He said calmly. “I'm almost done.”

“I'm...trying....!” Fiona said through tightly clenched teeth. Just how much longer was this going to last?

Her question was quickly answered when the pain suddenly subsided. Confused, she opened up her eyes and looked at Jack. He had withdrew the cloth away from her and she could see how blood soaked it was. To her shock, it was almost entirely soaked dark red. She glanced down at her wound. There was still blood seeping through, but it looked mostly clean. Her eyes slowly traveled onto her jacket and shirt, which was stained a dark red as well where the blood seeped in. A familiar yet almost new scent filled her nostrils, the scent of blood. She'd have to get cleaned before she got home. What would her parents think of she walked in with blood soaked clothing?

“We're going to need to bandage that up...” Jack said, examining the wound with concern. He managed to clean it out a bit, but it was still open to infection. Bandaging it up was going to be tricky, but if he didn't do so soon, Fiona could get very sick.

Fiona shook her head, knowing that bandages would also catch her parents' attention. She didn't want to frighten or worry them. She especially could not allow her sister, Terri, to see the bandages either. That little sister of hers would inform their parents right away. That girl could never keep a secret, especially if she knew it would get Fiona in trouble with their parents. Fiona still loved Terri, but sometimes she got on her nerves. “Sorry, I-I can't...”

“What...? Why not?” Jack asked, frowning. “Don't you realize how infected that injury will get if you don't bandage it up?”

“Yes, I know...” Fiona said. “I just...I just don't want to worry my parents.”

“Don't you think they'll be worried if they notice you moving in a strange way as a result of the injury? Don't you think they might be a little upset knowing that you did not tell them about it?” Jack asked. “I know I would feel the same way if Irwin did not tell me about his injuries.”

“N-N-Not that I could hide them a-anyway...” Irwin said weakly, trying to smile. “Th-These a-a-are l-like acne... They're a-almost impossible n-not to n-notice....” He attempted a weak laugh, but it hurt too much and he had to stop. He was trying to make a joke to lighten up the mood.

Unfortunately, his father did not see anything funny about his attempted joke, especially given the current circumstances. “This is no laughing matter, Irwin.” Jack said in a partially scolding voice. “This is serious.”

“I-I know, dad...I was just trying to l-lighten up the mood a b-bit...” Irwin said softly, being very careful not to hurt himself more.

“And please...try not to talk.” Jack said, averting his gaze away from his son. “You'll just hurt yourself even more. The more you talk, the harder it will be for your mouth to heal.” Irwin opened up his mouth to respond, but, abiding by his father's wishes, quickly shut it. He could only give a small nod. Although his dad could not see it, he sensed that Irwin had understood why he had asked him to be quiet. He smiled softly. “Thanks, Irwin.”

While Jack was with Fiona and Irwin, the others were sitting around the table near the spiral staircase. Moynihan, Max, Rodger, and Buzz all sat at the chairs, pulled up against the desk as far as they would go. They all looked over at Amanda with a worried expression. The dark-haired woman was pacing back and forth only a few feet away. Her mind was rather troubled and she was trying to walk it off, and trying to sort through her thoughts. She had been doing this for a few minutes now. Hearing Fiona scream hadn't exactly lightened her mood either. Moynihan had tried to get her to sit down, but Amanda refused to listen to her. Moynihan wondered if it was because of how she yelled at her twice today.

Max and Rodger glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing. The poor woman was going to stress herself out if she did not sit down somewhere and calm down. They were unnerved by the screams as well, but they tried their best not to react to it. They were afraid that they would make matters worse. When Jack went over there, they started to calm down, but just a little. While he seemed competent enough to keep things under control and to treat their wounds, they couldn't help but still worry about what could happen. They knew, and Buzz and Moynihan and everyone else knew, that they needed to get back to training soon. They needed it, especially now.

Victor Veloci knew that they were humans now. They could no longer train for a short time almost every day. That amount of training was no longer enough. They would need more time. Their training was going to need to be taken to the next level. They would need to learn how to fight Victor. They remembered their first fight with the Velociraptor. And it had gone poorly. They believed they could win. After all, how hard could it be to fight one Velociraptor? Their size and numbers should have given them the advantage. They had initially blamed his two transforming teenaged comrades on their failure. But they realized that even if those two girls weren't involved, they still would have lost.

Veloci might have been smaller than them, even in dino mode, but he was still smarter, and he was still faster and more experienced in battle. Moynihan had spent so many years fighting him, and he still won. She had failed to stop him, even though she was evenly matched and just as much of a threat as he was. How could they have thought they could have won that fight? They were fools thinking that, and now they acknowledged it. Although Moynihan had not said that she was going to train them harder, the group knew that it was the next step. They saved Caruso, but the threat was not over. To keep anything like this happening again, they were going to have to train harder and learn how to face Veloci.

To defeat him, they were going to need to become stronger and faster. They were starting to think of what kind of training they could do to improve their fighting skills. So far, Moynihan's training mostly covered ways to win a fight without physical force. They could intimidate Victor with a group roaring, but that wouldn't work for too long. What good will that do them anyway? Victor wouldn't fall for it. They were humans, not true dinosaurs. They did not have that primal savagery in them. They didn't have the prehistoric instincts to guide them in battle. This is why they think Caruso was not able to defeat Victor, even though they were in a large room and neither bound. Caruso could not summon the instincts he'd need to win. But Victor Veloci could. But he was not the only one who had primal instincts. There was another. Joanne Moynihan.

Max wondered if Joanne would be able to teach him and the others how to use not only their dinosaur strength and size, but also their dinosaur minds. Yes, he could understand that if he allowed the dinosaur mind to take over, it would potentially sabotage the battle. He would lose his judgment and attack friend and foe. But there had to be a way to control these instincts and simply let them guide him, not control him. If anyone knew how to do this, it was Joanne. She, herself, had witnessed the destructive nature of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. He felt that she should be able to help him with harnessing the dinosaur mind and using it to win fights. But not just him. He wanted everyone, including Caruso, to learn from Moynihan. That is, if she was willing to help.

But how was he going to ask her? He had discussed this idea with Rodger once before, long before Caruso was captured. Back then, none of them knew how Victor fought. Some of them even thought that Victor wasn't much of a fighter, that he was all talk and no bite. They all see how he acts when he's around them in dino mode. It felt like he was not making any real effort to fight them. Perhaps he had thought he would not win the fight because of how small he was compared to them. But Max was not so sure that Victor was as pathetic as he made himself out to be. And he had shared this opinion with Rodger.

He had also told him about the idea of using primal instincts in battle. He theorized that, since Victor Veloci was a Velociraptor, he would use his prehistoric experience in battle. He would be able to use his dinosaur form to its full potential. But while Rodger agreed that Victor was probably a more capable fighter than the others thought initially, he could not really agree with the idea of using dinosaur minds in battle. He brought up problems that Max had forgotten to take into consideration, including the possibility of losing control. He asked Max what they were going to do if any of them lost control over their dinosaur forms and went nuts and Max was not able to come up with an answer for him. He just went quiet and they hadn't discussed it since.

But perhaps he should bring it up again. Perhaps now would be a good time, especially since they have a greater motivation, which was protection, not just for Caruso, but for everyone they care about. Max had a terrible feeling that Victor might go after their families now. He knew the general area upon which they lived. With a man as smart as Victor, it would not be too hard to figure out where they lived and who their closest relatives were. Victor was already by Fiona's house before, back when she had to chill her mutated rabbit. One could argue that Victor never saw Fiona transform into a Spinosaurus, and thus would not realize that girl he saw with the rabbit was part of the Dino Squad. But Max thought better of it. There was something that he felt the others would overlook.

Victor was lurking around the lighthouse in the fight on Saturday. Max was not sure how long he was probably outside of the vehicle, but he suspected that he was out long enough to see them all transform. And even if he didn't, Michelle and Oscura saw them plain as day. After all, they were hiding, and were most likely looking their way. Those two could give a very detailed description of what they looked like in human form. Thus, Max started to believe that, if anything, Victor would be able to find Fiona's house and attack. And he could do the same to any of them. While the others would probably have their doubts, Max was not so sure. Victor wasn't stupid. He would have ways to get what he wanted.

“Lost in your thoughts?” Rodger asked in a somewhat loud voice, making Max jolt up, snapping him out of his thoughts. Rodger felt bad for startling the guy and quickly apologized. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that?”

“Scared..?” Max asked, a little bewildered. “I wasn't scared...”

Rodger tilted his head, wondering why Max was lying to him like that. “Oh yeah, you were scared.”

“There's scared...and then there's surprised.” Max explained quickly. It was clear that he did not want to look like an idiot.

But he was not fooling Rodger. The computer geek grinned mischievously. “And you were both!”

Max frowned. “Oh shut up...”

Rodger chuckled a little more, but the laughing quickly faded, getting slower and less enthusiastic until he stopped laughing altogether. He soon got a serious look on his face. “But seriously now, what were you thinking about?” He was concerned with how Max seemed to just lose himself inside his own mind like that. He was staring blankly at nothing, and did not seem to notice anyone sitting at the table. He had tried waving his hand in front of Max's face before speaking up. Max didn't seem to react, so Rodger tried a more vocal approach. And it worked. “I mean, you were completely out of it there...just staring at nothing. I was getting a little worried.”

“...it's nothing...” Max said, knowing that his idea would probably not be met so enthusiastically. Perhaps it was best that he just forget all about it. When he saw that Rodger was looking at him, a little confused, Max smiled softly. “Look, Rodg, you don't need to worry about it. It's nothing..really. Just some stupid idea to...” He trailed off, catching himself almost right away. He had almost told Rodger of the idea he had in mind. He wished he caught himself sooner, though, because he had given out enough to catch Rodger's attention. And when Rodger really wanted to know something, he wouldn't back down so easily.

“Oh? A stupid idea?” Rodger asked, leaning forward with his chin resting on his interlocked hands. “Could you care to explain?”

“I'd rather not. I mean, it's just a stupid idea...” Max responded, trying to discourage Rodger from asking further questions. “Besides, it would just work against us. I mean..I thought it'd work, but it would only make things worse..I know that's what Moynihan would say...”

“I would?” Moynihan asked, tearing her gaze from Amanda and over to the young jock. She hadn't heard everything that the boy had said, partly due to her trying to think of what to do about the current situation with Caruso. She had heard only a few words, one of them being her own name, catching her attention. She looked at Max, clearly interested in what he had to say. “What would I think would make things worse, dear boy?”

Max wanted to try and say that it was nothing again, but he realized that he had gotten the attention of everyone at the table. All eyes were locked on him, waiting for him to evaluate whatever idea it is that he had in mind. Even Amanda had stopped pacing and had come back over to the table to listen. Max looked over to where Fiona, Caruso, and Jack were. They hadn't seem to have heard him as they were going about their own business. He felt a little relieved that not everyone was staring at him. He became a little frustrated, wondering why he had gotten lost in his thoughts and why he had to slip out that he had an idea, a stupid one but an idea nonetheless. And now that everyone had their eyes on him, at the table, he wouldn't be able to squeeze his way out of this.

He struggled to think of how to explain his idea to the others. He wasn't sure how they would respond to such an idea. He knew that Moynihan would think of it as being reckless. The idea was dangerous in a sense, he noted. To allow the dinosaur mind to take over was a very dangerous maneuver and could easily backfire. Even though it was just to try and access the primal instincts of the dinosaurs, something could still go very wrong. He doubted that Moynihan would even want to teach the kids even the basics. He knew that she would have to teach them fighting sooner or later, unless she wanted her students to get attacked by Victor again.

“Well...are you sure you want to know?” Max asked, looking around the table at everyone's faces. He tapped his fingers nervously against the tabletop. “I mean, it'd probably be a waste of time and...” Buzz cut him off.

“Max, this isn't like you.” Buzz said, eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. “At least, I've never seen you act like this before when you had a new idea in mind.”

“I...” But Max couldn't think of what to say in response. He knew Buzz was right.

“It's okay, Max. You can tell us.” Moynihan said, trying to encourage him to speak up. “At this time, I'm willing to listen to any idea, no matter how ridiculous it might seem. Who knows? Whatever idea you have mind...could help us all.”

“Yes..but...” Max looked around the table again, noting how all eyes were facing him and almost everyone was leaning forward, showing keen interest. The ones that weren't still appeared interested in his idea. They weren't looking away or anything. He still felt unsure about sharing his idea now, but he didn't know what else to do. They weren't going to stop until he gave them his idea anyway, and he felt it would be best not to resist. “Okay..I'll tell you. But I'll let you all know this right away, you aren't going to like the idea...”

“We aren't?” Rodger asked. He and Buzz looked at each other, as if trying to search for answers from one another. They looked back at Max.

“What makes you say that?” Buzz asked.

“Trust me...you aren't.” Max replied.

“Come now...” Moynihan said in a comforting voice, hoping to encourage Max a little bit. She felt the boy was just being hard on himself, given the situation. She had doubts in her mind that the idea could be all that bad. And as she said before, it could prove very helpful, even if it sounded stupid or strange to them. During this time, Moynihan would love to hear ideas on how to prepare themselves for battle or to keep themselves safe from harm. “This 'stupid idea' of yours couldn't possibly be as bad as you say it is. And besides, how would you know what we think of it if you do not try and tell us what it it is?”

Max looked at her square in the eyes. “Trust me, Ms. M..out of everyone here, you're the one who is going to be the most objective to the idea I have.”

Moynihan smirked in an almost uncharacteristic way, almost scaring everyone at the table. “Try me.”

Max let out a soft sigh. “All right then...here's what I had in mind...” With that, he began to explain his idea to the group, and in the back of his mind, he hoped that they would not freak out. His idea might be insane, but if Moynihan was right, it could prove very valuable to the team...

* * *

Michelle limped along the hallway, almost pushing herself against the wall to keep herself from falling down. She was starting to feel a little weak, her head spinning a little. It was because of the blood she was losing from her shoulder. She needed desperately to stop the bleeding. She already lost a significant amount of blood. She was not sure how much more she could afford to lose. She looked straight ahead and, just ahead, she found the room she was looking for. The door had a large greenish blue plate with a carving of a Caduceus, which looked like two snakes wrapped around a giant winged pin. It was the symbol of medicine.

When she reached the door, she pressed her hand against the large wooden frame and pushed it open. It had no handle, one of the few rooms in Raptor Dyne like this. The room was bright white except for the floor, which was a light beige color. There was a waiting room with a few chairs, a place to sign in, a desk where a few workers could sit, helping the patients, and a few rooms in the back. Each room was equipped with its own medical supplies and tools, including a stethoscope, needles, aspirin, local and general anesthesia, sterile gloves, and vaccines. Inside each of these rooms were the things Michelle needed.

She went towards one of the rooms, choosing the one closest to her. The door was shut, so she gripped the dull, golden handle and turned it, then stepped inside. The smell of medicine filled her nose and she snorted, disgusted by the smell. She ignored it and went to one of the drawers. She fumbled through it, pushing aside different items until she found what she was looking for. She gripped a small bottle and a cloth and pulled them out, setting the stuff on the table. She shut the drawer and pulled a black chair over towards the desk and sat down in it. Pulling her collar over her shoulder to completely expose the wound, she picked up the bottle. She opened it and went to work.

Very carefully, she squeezed the bottle. Through the small nozzle dripped clear yet strong smelling liquid. As it hit, she winced. The liquid was stinging the skin as it hit, but despite the pain, she kept squeezing the liquid. The liquid was going to help the skin heal faster and reduce the risk of infection. When she was finished, she put the bottle back down and then picked up the cloth. Holding it in a clump tightly, she pressed it against her shoulder. Due to the pain, she couldn't hold back her scream and let it out. She pulled the cloth away and examined it. It was almost completely covered in blood. Flinching at the sight of red, she turned it over and pressed it against her shoulder. She bit her tongue to prevent herself from screaming. The cloth quickly soaked up with blood.

Once she was finished with that, she quickly disposed of the cloth and opened up another drawer. She picked up some white, surgical tape and a large white pad. She swallowed, and then pressed it against her shoulder. The pain caused her to stiffen, but she managed to ignore it long enough to apply the surgical tape to her shoulder. Once she was finished, the entire wound was covered in the white cloth, although skin around the cloth was still blood-coated. She knew it wasn't the best that could be done, but it was all she could do for now. Sewing the wound shut was the best option, but she did not know where the materials were, and she wouldn't be able to sew the wound shut from that angle. She'd need help.

She immediately got up from the chair and pushed it back to where she had gotten it from. She turned around and made her way back towards the door and pushed it open. Despite being injured, Victor would probably still expect her to perform some of her duties. She felt she could pull it off. Other than being a spy at times and being sent out for various reasons, her only other jobs at Raptor Dyne involve simple paperwork and cleaning up various rooms in Raptor Dyne. First things first, she'd have to do the paperwork. She needed to get to one of the rooms on a higher level of the building, where she would find papers for her to fill out. The paperwork would usually involve her just reporting what she had done in her assigned missions and if anything unusual happened. She suspected Victor would want her to fill out how he had punished her for what she had done. Although she started to head up towards the room, she started to feel very nervous about it.

In order to save herself, she would have to write lies on the paper. If she filled out everything that happened, Victor would find out the true reason why she went against Oscura and he would come after her for acts of treason. He would be even more harsh on her then, as if he wasn't harsh enough with the bite he had given her. Victor would most likely slice her chest or stomach open with his sickle claw or tear out her through with his jaws. She gulped, and rubbed her throat, imagining the teeth tearing into the delicate skin there. Or perhaps he would allow Oscura to bite her and let her die a slow, painful death.

But for now, Michelle would have to worry about that later. It was still a considerable amount of walking before she would reach the room. Within that amount of time, if she could think fast enough, she could think of someway out of this. She could come up with something to tell Victor that wouldn't sound too suspicious. Victor would expect her, on the paper, to explain why she turned on Oscura and if she didn't give him some reason, he might come after her and get her to explain. She began to beat herself up mentally. Why had she suggested this idea to begin with? Michelle was the one who, not long after she first joined, suggested that Victor could have his workers write down journals everyday of what they do, and if he suspected anything, he could search through the journals to find out what they did. Victor was suspicious at first, stating that any one of them could lie about their duties. Then Michelle had offered another suggestion that she regretted. She suggested that if he suspected anyone of lying, he should use a lie detector test. If anyone failed that test, he could deal with them the way he saw appropriate. And she knew that Victor was not particularly forgiving of those who deliberately lie to him.

So far, though, Victor had not found any truly suspicious activity, and hardly found a reason to punish any of his workers for lying to him. Failing to complete his orders, or failure altogether, was a more common reason for him to punish someone. She felt that she might have a chance to get away with what she did without further injury. But she would have to come up with a convincing lie, something that Victor would believe and not take any further action against her. Yet there was still that same problem lingering in the back of her mind and that was Oscura.

Oscura was there, obviously, and she knew that it was an act of treason. She knew there was no other explanation for her behavior. She had practically defended the Dino Squad. And when Victor found out about that, he was already furious. She could only imagine how more furious he would be if Oscura tried to convince him that she probably cared about that Caruso kid and that she risked it all just to save his life. Oscura probably knew that she had also been the one to have freed Caruso, thus almost ruining Victor's plan. But then again, how could Oscura have known that? She was with Victor at the time. She could always lie to Victor about seeing Michelle run around with the Dino Squad, rescuing the boy. Even if it was a lie on her part, it still had truth to it.

But speaking of Oscura, just where was she? Michelle had yet to spot her after that little run-in with her and Victor after she had led the Dino Squad to the room. She still felt a little paranoid that Oscura was going to jump her any second. She looked around nervously, trying to look at every shadow and nook and cranny, hoping that she was truly alone in the hallway. Yet she could not shake the feeling that she was being watched. She quickly turned around, prepared to face whoever she thought was behind her. But no one was there. She scratched her head, wondering if she was only imagining things. She could have sworn she heard someone behind her. Then she turned to head back towards the stairs and almost slammed into someone.

Michelle immediately backed up to take a good look at who she almost ran into. Once she saw who it was, she gritted her teeth, the muscles in her hands and jaws tightening up in fear and anger. She took another step back as the figure in front of her smirked evilly. “Oscura!”

With a twisted smile on her face, Oscura took a step forward, leaning her head towards Michelle. “Hello, Michelle.” She eyed the shoulder with a look of satisfaction. “How's your shoulder?” She asked mockingly.

Michelle snapped her head back and snapped, “That's none of your business!”

“Oh really? Whatever.” Oscura rolled her eyes and walked to Michelle's side, eyeing her with a sideways glance. “So you're going to fill out your paperwork eh?”

“How did you know?” Michelle asked, cocking up an eyebrow.

“Well, it's pretty obvious where you are headed. I can see that staircase just as clearly as you can, and I have been here for as long as you have.” Oscura said darkly. “Don't think I don't know where those stairs go...”

Michelle groaned, gripping Oscura by the arm and pulling her out of the way. “Yes, so what if I'm going there? Now if you excuse me, I've got to write in my...journal.” With that, she began to quickly walk away.

Instead of becoming irritable at being moved out of the way like that, Oscura grinned eerily. She just turned to face Michelle, walking quickly to catch up to her. “So do you plan on writing the truth in that journal, or are you going to write in some lies to save your hide?” She sneered.

“Oh hush up will you? It's none of your business what I write.” Michelle barked.

“Oh really? And is it none of Victor's business too?” Oscura asked, her hands on her hips.

That remark caught Michelle's attention. She immediately stopped in her tracks and Oscura did the same. She didn't bother looking at Oscura as she offered her a question. “And what exactly...do you mean by that?”

“I thought you knew...” Oscura teased, pressing the tip of her pointer finger against the top of Michelle's arm. The tone of her voice was reminding Michelle of how a little kid who knew a big secret would sound. And she wasn't liking it, which was pleasing Oscura. “Oh wait..of course you didn't. Silly me!” She laughed and continued, “Well let me lay it out for you, hun. I can access any journal just as easily as you can...I should know, I've looked at other journals in the past.”

“You what?” Michelle gasped. She had thought Victor didn't want them looking into another's journal. At least that was the assumption she had gotten in the past. Could she have been wrong? “Does Victor know?”

Oscura slowly shook her head. “No, not really...but it's not like he'd care. He trusts me.”

“And he trusts me too.” Michelle interjected. “So what is your point?”

Oscura chuckled when she heard Michelle's comment. It sounded almost like a joke to her. She kept asking herself if the brunette was joking, but she knew quickly that she was being serious. It surprised Oscura a little that Michelle still thinks Victor trusts her after her little stunt earlier. He might still regard her as one of his highest ranking minions, but he probably, very likely, did not trust her quite as much as he used to. “You think he still trusts you? That's a laugh! Why would he trust you after you almost ruined his little..scheme?”

Michelle growled under her breath. “I doubt he would condemn me after only one big mistake. Look, I am sorry that I did what I did...” She looked over at Oscura. “And I will promise that I will not do it again. And Victor knows that too. He gave me this to warn me to stay in line anyway.” She pointed to her shoulder, where Oscura could clearly see the blood soaked clothing and a few tears in the cloth itself.

Oscura took one look at the wound and scoffed, unconvinced that it would be enough to keep Michelle in line. She folded her arms tighter against her chest, giving Michelle a scrutinizing look. “And how do I know that you still won't pull something like that again? Despite your little injury, you could still turn against me again.”

Michelle growled again. Oscura was starting to push it a little. If she continued to talk like this, then she just might really turn against her. Although she was already on the brink of doing so. She hated Oscura. She truly did. But she knew she couldn't harm her without getting in trouble from Victor. But she decided not to dwell on that and try and get Oscura to explain herself a little more. “So what are you planning on doing...?”

“Simple.” Oscura said, sounding confident and completely unafraid. It was like she felt that she could tell anything to Michelle without consequence. She felt Michelle would not be able to stop her, no matter what she did. “After you write in your precious journal, I'm going to take a look inside and make sure you aren't going to try and lie in it. And if you do, I'll be sure that Victor knows about it.”

“What?!” Michelle snapped, looking at Oscura in shock. She stammered with her next response, feeling unsure of what to say or how to respond. She found it a little hard to believe that Oscura would go that far in trying to get her into trouble. Then again, she shouldn't have been that surprised. It suited Oscura quite well to do such a thing. Her shocked look quickly settled down, not wanting to give the black-haired girl what she wanted. She drew in a deep breath to calm her nerves and her racing heart. “Well then..aren't you the determined one... If I write anything, you would interpret it as a lie anyway. I know you Oscura.” She took a step forward, pointing an accusing finger at Oscura. “You'd try and twist the journal to make me look bad so Victor would get rid of me. Well let me tell you something right now. It's not going to work.”

Oscura narrowed her eyes and she also stepped forward. She held up one hand, her talons growing from the tips until they reached their normal length. “Do you want to challenge me? Is this a challenge?” Michelle looked at the claws and instinctively stepped back a little, but she did not back down. Oscura's scowl turned into a smile. “Yeah..I thought so. You know you wouldn't be able to defeat me. You know that, with one bite, you'll be on the ground, sicker than a dog with the flu.”

Michelle growled, her eyes starting to glow. She got into a fighting stance, challenging Oscura to try and take her on. Her own claws popped from the tips of her fingers. “Try and fight me and I'll show you just how sick I can get...”

Oscura burst into laughter. She pointed towards Michelle's injured shoulder. “Do you really want to fight with that injury, eh? That's kind of your weak spot there, girl. Fight me now, and you'll lose.”

“How can you be so sure?” Michelle said softly, casting a quick, nervous glance at her shoulder. She did realize that this injury was going to put her at a disadvantage if she chose to fight Oscura. If she transformed, the bandage might fall off. If she didn't transform, then Oscura could attack that area and make it worse. Michelle had just treated it and she needed to give it time to heal. Her dinosaur genes would help the wound heal faster, but it still would take a little while. “I could easily slash your throat with my claws before you had time to react...”

“Ooo..is that a promise?” Oscura taunted, chuckling in an almost playful way.

Michelle snarled angrily. “You're so arrogant...”

“And you're so stupid.” Oscura retorted with a smug look on her face. “Stupid for thinking you can defeat me with an injury like that.”

Michelle, getting annoyed with Oscura, instantly reached forward and grabbed her by the shirt collar and pulled her forward. “And you're a fool to think you can defeat me. I am stronger than you are and you know it...”

Oscura, however, was not fazed. “It doesn't matter how strong you are...” She showed her sharp, Troodon teeth. “You will still fall after one bite...” With that, she opened her mouth wide and bit down towards Michelle's hand. Immediately, Michelle pulled her hand away, allowing Oscura to only bite the empty air. Oscura smirked. She had expected Michelle to react like that. She felt that it only further proved her point. She knew Michelle would not have permitted her to bite. Michelle knew all about the poisonous bite of Troodons. “I see you understand where I'm coming from. You knew to pull your hand away because you knew I was right.”

“I pulled my hand away because I...” Michelle tried to defend herself, but she quickly realized that she had no defense. Oscura was correct about why she had pulled her hand away. Michelle did not want to get bitten. She looked at Oscura, that smug smile still on her face. She almost expected Oscura to laugh and say that she told her so. “All right..so you are right about that. So what? That doesn't mean that you'll win. In dinosaur battles, isn't it usually strength that wins?”

“And that's exactly what the Dino Squad probably thought when they faced me. And they probably felt the same way about you.” Oscura pointed out. “They probably saw me as a scrawny weakling and felt I wasn't worth the effort to attack. And as for you...you are, yes, larger than I am, and I admit stronger, but you were still a lot smaller than they were. And you and I both proved strength doesn't always win battles.” Michelle tried to object to what Oscura was saying, but she found herself unable to. Oscura couldn't have been more correct with her statements. “I easily stopped the Tyrannosaurus Rex with a single bite to the ankle, and he wasn't the only one to suffer. I bit every member of that pathetic Dino Squad, except Caruso of course. And you saw how quickly they fell after a single, poison-filled bite.”

“I..I...” Michelle stuttered, unable to think of a response.

“You know I'm right...” Oscura said, leaning forward in a mischievous, scheming sort of way. “You can't deny it, can you? You know that everything I say is true...” Michelle looked around the room, trying to figure out something to say. But her mind was drawing a blank. And this was only satisfying Oscura even more. Although younger, Oscura was proving to be a little more intelligent than she was. “So now that you have been reminded of all that...do you still think you can take me on?” She asked, holding up both of her hands, fully transformed into Troodon hands.

“Well I...” Michelle said softly, staring at the Troodon claws facing towards her. She closed her eyes briefly and reopened them, holding out her own dinosaurian hands at Oscura. They stood there, facing each other, for a few minutes. Their eyes remained locked on one another. Their feet remained firmly planted on the ground, preparing themselves in case the other decided to tackle them. Oscura just kept smiling, as if she knew she was going to win, no matter what Michelle chose. Michelle wanted to fight Oscura and put her in her place. But after listening to what she said, and remembering she was already injured, she knew she had to back down from the fight. Her hands changed back and she took a step backwards, head bowed, a sign of defeat.

Oscura laughed darkly. “I knew it! You did not have the guts to fight me in your current condition.” She sneered at the brunette. “Victor was right about humans, you know... They always refrain from fighting or moving so much just because of one little injury..”

“This isn't one little injury!” Michelle snapped at Oscura. “It's a very serious wound that could have killed me!”

Oscura glared harshly at Michelle, her lips pulled back into a slight snarl. “And it should have...” Her voice was dripping with malice, having lost all playfulness, no longer sounding playful or taunting.

Michelle's eyes widened in horror when the raven-haired teenager said that to her. She had known, for some time, that Oscura had wanted her dead, and thus she wasn't too surprised that she said that. However, the way she had said it frightened her. She was almost paranoid to turn her back to Oscura, fearing that she would attack her. She took a few steps back, not able to tear her gaze away from those cold, glaring eyes. She slowly shook her head, almost in denial. Without thinking, she immediately turned around and ran towards the steps to get away from Oscura.

Oscura watched her run, not worried about her getting away. She knew where she was going. All she'd have to do is go up to that room, and there Michelle would be. And even if she wasn't in there, she knew where Michelle would head next. Her harsh snarl slowly changed into an evil smile. “That's right..run...Run as fast as you can... Because if you don't....when you least expect it..I'll kill you...” She chuckled darkly and slowly walked down the hallway in the same direction Michelle went, taking her time. Michelle was not going to leave that room for a while.

* * *

Max sat down on the couch, trying to relax himself. It was almost time to go home. He had recently finished offering an explanation of his idea and just as he had predicted, it was met with mostly negative responses, especially from Rodger. Max felt a little guilty and embarrassed for telling them. He knew that this was going to happen. They had pretty much chewed up his idea and spit it back at him. Some of the things that they had pointed out, he had already thought of before. Losing control was the main concern on everyone's minds. Moynihan had confronted him on this and asked him how he had expected them to remain in control of they let their dino minds take over. Max could not offer an explanation. And the discussion seemed to go on for hours.

But they did not dwell on the issue for too much longer. They hadn't realized what time it was. It looked to be almost eight in the morning. The kids had told their parents they were sleeping over, and they had expected them to be home sometime in the early morning. Everyone was getting ready to leave the lighthouse, except Max and Caruso that is. Max looked over at Caruso, sitting on the same couch he was, but on the other far end. The boy would usually be cracking jokes and talking about fame at least once by now. Max kept expecting him to make a witty remark, but instead all he got was silence. Caruso seemed very withdrawn and quiet now, taking little to no interest to the conversations that were going on only a few yards away from him.

Moynihan was speaking with Caruso's parents again, just reassuring them that Caruso will be safe so long as they do not let him be alone. And she was certain that, after his experience, Caruso wouldn't want to be alone for any amount of time for quite a while. Not far away, Fiona, Buzz, and Rodger were talking. Max couldn't hear what they were talking about, but with the way they sometimes glanced over at him and Caruso, he guessed they were either talking about how crazy his idea was or they were talking about Caruso. Max looked back over at Caruso, becoming concerned for him with the way he was being quiet like that. It just wasn't like him.

Max still had something he wanted to say to Caruso. He still hadn't spoken to Caruso about what he had said Saturday morning about him. Max wished he could stop thinking about what happened. Every time he did, he could feel a sharp pain in his stomach and chest. But he knew that he would have to bring it up again, nonetheless, because Moynihan wanted him to speak to Caruso about it. And perhaps talking about it could help them both feel better.

Gulping, Max said, “..Caruso...?” Caruso, wordlessly, turned around and looked at Max. The expression on his face almost lacked emotion. Max wasn't sure if it was because he was still mad at him for what he had said or if it was because he was afraid and just trying to hide that fact. “Look...about what I said Saturday morning....”

The mention of Saturday morning made Caruso cringe and grit his teeth. “Wh-Why are you b-bring that up..?”

“I just wanted to...” Max tried to explain the best that he could. He had waited for this moment for so long, or so it felt like it. He thought he had missed his chance just a couple hours ago, when they all thought that Caruso was dead. The memory of that sent chills down his spine, not wanting to remember that. But now that he has the chance to talk to Caruso, he wasn't completely sure what to say.

“Just w-wanted to..wh-wh-what?” Caruso asked, eyes narrowing a little. This suggested that he still harbored some ill feelings towards Max for what he had said about him Saturday morning.

“I just wanted to...” Max tried to say, feeling a little nervous now. He was afraid that he would say something else to offend the boy. “I just wanted to..apologize..for what I said to you on Saturday.” Caruso cocked an eyebrow slightly, waiting for Max to continue on with his apology. “I was..way out of line.. and I'm so sorry that I hurt you..” Max lowered his head as he finished talking and slowly glanced over at Caruso.

Caruso listened to Max's apology with as much attentiveness as he could offer. This is what he had wanted to hear for so long. And yet, he still couldn't feel completely satisfied. This was not the first apology that he got, but this was the most sincere, most in depth apology he had received. But it still didn't feel like it was enough. But whatever it was he wanted, not even he could figure it out. What more could Max do for him? Caruso did feel bad for Max, understanding why he sounded so sad as he spoke to him. And he really wanted to accept his apology. But something was still holding him back. He sighed and looked away, not saying anything for fear he'd make Max even more upset.

But his silence had troubled Max nonetheless. Realizing that Irwin hadn't completely accepted his apology, the jock leaned a little closer, feeling a little more desperate in trying to earn Irwin's forgiveness. “Caruso...I mean it.. I'm so sorry... I didn't..I didn't mean anything that I said to you...when I lost my temper... I just..lost it.... I'm sorry... I'm so very sorry...” The stress and the emotion he was feeling was causing tears to form in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away, not wanting anyone to see him crying like this. “I don't know what got over me...”

“N-N-Neither do I-I...” Caruso said almost coldly. “Wh-What did I do...t-to make y-you do that..?”

Max looked at Caruso in surprise, not at how cold he sounded, but how oblivious he sounded. He wondered if Caruso had actually forgotten the discussion that went on that day or if he was just being ignorant. “Well....you were blaming us for what happened to Moynihan...”

“S-So? I-It was the truth...I-If you guys had listened t-to me...” Caruso started to say, but was cut off by Max.

“Yes I know that.” Max said a little sternly. “But you had kept blaming us...”

“N-Not that much...” Caruso said quickly.

Max said, “Yes..I know..But still, I don't know why you kept blaming us... That wasn't going to solve our problems. And with what happened to Moynihan, and the fact that Victor could find us easily... you blaming us did not exactly help the situation.” He lowered his gaze again, still feeling nervous about talking to Caruso about what had happened. “I guess that's why I snapped so easily... But it wasn't just that...”

Caruso looked at him, confused. “Wh-What else...”

“Well...” Max said, trying to find the right words to say. He did want to tell Caruso about how frustrated he's been with him over the few years that he's known him. But he also didn't want to upset him. He wanted to explain in a way that wouldn't make Caruso feel so bad. But he didn't think he would be able to do that. How could he sugarcoat something like this, anyway? He drew in a deep breath and said, “All this time... I guess I just got annoyed with how you would..talk about fortune and your hair and being famous.. It was definitely frustrating when your dreams got in the way of a mission...”

Caruso slowly nodded his head. He wasn't surprised that Max had brought that up and in some ways he was almost glad that he did. Multiple times during his capture, Caruso had reflected on his behavior while on the team and had started to feel ashamed that he risked the safety and success of a mission all because of a slight chance he could become famous and rich. “I-I know... I'm...s-s-sorry about that...”

Max looked at Caruso in shock. He hadn't expected Caruso to apologize so quickly. He was expecting him to try and argue with him, or to be mad at him. But the teen seemed to be agreeing with him on this. While Max was shocked, he was also feeling a little relieved. “You...you are...?”

Caruso nodded his head again, offering a small smile to show Max that he didn't harbor ill feelings towards him anymore. “Y-Y-Yes... S-Staying with Victor f-for all that time...m-made me do a lot of thinking...a-and you're right...” It was painful for Caruso to remember the things he had done to put the mission in jeopardy. And what scared him the most is how he continued to act like that even after he had realized his mistake in a previous mission. Why he continued to act like that, he was not certain. Perhaps he was just stubborn and it took something like getting kidnapped for him to fully realize his mistakes. “I-I r-realized that...I really had b-been acting unfairly..and selfishly... A-And I a-apologize for acting that way.... I-I'll try to..”

But he couldn't continue with what he was saying. One of his incisors hit the deep cut in his tongue and he stifled a scream. He immediately covered his mouth with his hands and groaned in pain as he tried to wait it out. Tears formed in his eyes as the pain was starting to become unbearable. He wanted desperately to get away from the pain and he started kick his feet and thrash a little on the couch. He was trying to control himself as best as he could. He did not want to draw attention. But he already caught the attention of Max, who looked in in shock as Caruso kept thrashing on the couch, trying desperately to get away from the pain. “M-Make it stop...” Caruso managed to say before yelping in pain. He started to taste something salty in his mouth and he realized that it was blood.

All the while, Max stared at Caruso in horror. He tried to reach out towards him to try and calm him down, but Caruso kept swatting his hands away, his eyes wide with fear. He looked almost fearful that Max was going to hurt him. This only made Max feel even more worried about the dark-haired boy. “Caruso...Caruso! Are you all right? Caruso!” Max's cries had caught the attention of the other people in the room. They looked over to see what was going on and were all in shock to see what Caruso was doing.

“Irwin!” Amanda cried out, the first one to rush over towards the scene.

“Son!” Jack followed close behind his wife as they raced towards Caruso.

The teenagers and Moynihan also made their way towards the scene, their eyes wide with fear as they moved towards the scene as quickly as they could. Something was very wrong, they knew it. Caruso's screams had caught them off guard, and they immediately reacted, knowing that Caruso was crying out for help. The scream was very similar to the one he gave out at the warehouse, and they could never forget that sound. They could see Caruso on the couch, holding his mouth with both hands, kicking his legs at the air as if he was fighting off some invisible enemy. They weren't sure just what set Caruso off. It didn't matter if they weren't too close; they could see that the only person with Irwin was Max, and Max wouldn't have done anything to deliberately hurt him, would he?

Moynihan was the first person to talk to Max while Caruso was going nuts. “Maxwell! What happened?!” She cried, unable to take her eyes off of Irwin.

“We were just talking...” Max said, looking at Fiona, Rodger, Buzz, and Joanne one by one as he spoke. “And he suddenly started acting like this...”

“Oh my...do you think he'll be all right, Ms. M?” Fiona asked.

Although he was not the one addressed, Buzz decided to give an answer. “He'll be okay...He just needs time to let the pain subside.”

“But in order to do that, he's going to have to calm down.” Rodger pointed out. “If he keeps moving like that, he might just make the pain worse, right, Mrs. M?” When he didn't get an answer, he looked over at Moynihan, whose eyes were now locked onto Max. Rodger's own eyes widened. There was something about that look on her face that was giving him the chills. It seemed so uncharacteristic to her.

Moynihan's eyes had a slight glow to them. It was faint and barely noticeable, but it was still there. Her pupils had changed shape, looking slightly pointed like they would be in Velociraptor form. Max's eyes widened a little, feeling a little afraid of what Moynihan was going to say to him. While her teeth remained normal, they were bared in an almost aggressive manner as she started to speak. And as she spoke, her voice was almost dripping with venom, frightening all those who heard her speak. “Why did you allow him to speak when you know how badly injured his mouth is...”

Max cringed as his teacher spoke to him in such a manner. “I'm sorry! I didn't mean to....”

“Sorry isn't good enough!” Moynihan snapped, her eyes narrowing further. “You're the leader, are you not? You should have been responsible enough to make sure he didn't hurt himself!”

“I didn't force him to talk...! I was just trying to tell him that I was sorry about what happened Saturday morning!” Max couldn't hide his rising anger at Moynihan yelling at him like this. What was wrong with this woman? She was the one who told him to talk to Caruso the next time he got the chance! How can she punish him for doing something she had told him to do? “Why are you yelling at me? Caruso chose to talk! I didn't ask him to talk!”

Moynihan's own anger was rising as well and her eyes glowed a little brighter and her pupils became more pointed. “If I wasn't your teacher, I would have...!” She paused, staring at Max. He had moved back a little in shock and surprise at her change of tone. It was sounding even more threatening now. And the scary part of it was that Moynihan seemed to be enjoying it...

She felt someone grab her from behind and pull her away. The arms were large and strong, so that if she attempted to struggle, she wouldn't be able to get free. She didn't need to turn around to know who grabbed her. Only one of her students had arms this large and could possibly be strong enough to hold her back by themselves. “Moynihan! What's wrong with you?!” Rodger asked in a loud voice, hanging onto Moynihan so she couldn't advance towards Max. “Max didn't do anything wrong! Please..calm down!” It was almost scary to him to realize that he was the one who had to try and calm down the teacher. Usually it was the other way around. He never thought he'd see the day when Moynihan would be the one causing problems.

Moynihan didn't try to struggle in Rodger's grasp. Instead, her eyes slowly stopped glowing, her pupils changed back into circles, and she lowered her head, sighing softly. She took in several deep breaths to calm herself down. When she no longer felt that unusual anger inside of her, she took her time to look around the room, which had grown almost quiet. The only sound being heard was Caruso whimpering as his mother was trying to console him. Amanda and Jack were busy looking over at Caruso and didn't seem to have reacted much, if at all, to her threatening-sounding statements. Moynihan then turned her head to look at how the others were looking at her, and she didn't like it.

Max was frowning at her, looking pretty angry with her. But his expression also held another trait: confusion. He seemed unable to comprehend just why she had snapped like that. She hadn't done anything like that before, until today. Moynihan's eyes slowly drifted towards Fiona. She didn't hold a glare on her face; instead horror was plastered on her face. Her hand was to her mouth and she looked like she was starting to scream but stifled herself. And looking over at Buzz, she could see he looked shocked. He didn't look particularly horrified. His expression was more like disbelief, as if he was unable to accept what happened. But unlike Fiona, he didn't look afraid.

Moynihan slowly realized what she had done and she felt an overwhelming feeling of shame and guilt envelope her. She looked down at her hands and almost gasped when she saw that her fingernails had started to form into claws. She quickly shifted them back and hoped that the children did not see the claws. She started to tremble slightly, frightened at her current behavior. She couldn't think of what was wrong with her. She had been under stress before and she never acted quite like this. She had never threatened anyone like this before. If she hadn't stopped herself, she might have really hurt Max.

Something must have happened back at the lighthouse, but what? What could have happened that would result in her behaving like this? She would have to find out what was wrong with her before this got any worse. It was Sunday and she would probably have time after everyone left. It was probably nothing anyway, but just to be on the safe side, she figured she should do a couple of tests with her blood. If something was very wrong with her, she would catch it quickly and she wouldn't have to worry about potentially becoming a threat to herself and others around her.

“I'm sorry Max... You're right.” Moynihan said apologetically, eyes downcast a bit. “I..I don't know what's coming over me lately... I never felt like this before..felt so..strange..so..angry...unprovoked..”

“Maybe you need to lie down...” Buzz suggested. “I sometimes get a little cranky when I don't get my beauty sleep.” Fiona gave him a weird look and Max and Rodger chuckled at the comment. Buzz looked offended. “What? Girls aren't the only ones who have those!” That statement only made Max and Rodger laugh even harder. After a few minutes, they started to settle down.

“All kidding aside...” Rodger said, his chuckling dying down. “Buzz is right. Perhaps you do need some sleep.”

“And by tomorrow, this will all just be a funny memory.” Buzz said, earning a glare from Rodger.

“There's nothing funny about this.” Rodger told Buzz.

“Whether or not it's funny, he's right.” Max interjected, pointing his index finger towards the ceiling, a gesture that some humans make when they have an idea or is trying to explain something. As he explained, the others turned to face him, locking eyes onto his to show that they were paying attention to him. “We all should get some rest, even if it's just a couple hours. And by tomorrow, we should begin recovering from what has happened to us, especially for Caruso's sake.” He gave Caruso a sympathetic look. “Especially for his sake...”

As Max spoke with Moynihan and the others, Amanda and Jack focused on trying to calm their son down. They tried hugging him, but he only pushed them away. He wasn't trying to hurt him, which was a good sign. His eyes weren't glowing and he wasn't reciting horrifying phrases to them as he had with Fiona. But he had still writhed in pain for several minutes and they felt helpless to stop it. Finally, unable to take it anymore, Jack grabbed onto Irwin and held him tightly, stopping him from struggling so that he wouldn't hurt himself. Irwin struggled in his grasp, but his father was too strong for him. He quickly gave up struggling, but his head still thrashed from side to side, his teeth bared with blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.

Amanda made her way towards Irwin's head, shaky hands slowly reaching towards him. She felt scared and unsure about touching his face. What if she accidentally hurt him and sent him into a wild, almost possessed frenzy like Moynihan had accidentally earlier? But regardless of her fear, she worked up the courage to carefully place both hands on her son's face, one on each cheek. She gently caressed them, hoping the soothing sensation would help settle him down. She was very careful not to press against any of the deep cuts that now decorated her son's face.

“Irwin...” Amanda whispered as she stared into her son's face.

“I wish I knew what's causing him so much pain...” Jack said sadly. Moynihan did explain what happened, but they hadn't seen all of Irwin's injuries for themselves. And he wasn't sure if they really wanted to see them.

“Yeah...I want to know too.” Amanda said as she glanced at her son's mouth, noting how something cut the corners of his lips. This is where the blood was originating from, or at least one of the locations. There seemed to be blood coming from somewhere else as well. She moved her fingers towards the boy's lips and said, “Irwin, honey..open up your mouth.” After a few seconds hesitation, Irwin, despite his horrible pain, opened up his mouth for his mother so she could have a look inside. Amanda leaned in closer, eyes narrowed to try and see inside the dark mouth. It didn't take her long to see the source of Caruso's pain. And the site was so horrifying that she immediately screamed in shock.

“Amanda?! What's wrong?” Jack asked, taken completely off guard by the cry.

“His tongue..there's a cut..so deep..almost severed...!” Amanda said, trembling. She knew her son suffered so much pain and injuries, but to see it for herself, it was unbelievable and left a terrible feeling inside her stomach. “I-I knew it was going to be bad..bu-but I didn't think it would be THAT bad...”

“What?!” Jack gasped. He was tempted to take a look for himself, but his wife's description made him uneasy about it and he decided not to. But with the injury that Amanda had just described to him, Jack was shocked that Irwin could speak at all. Moving it just slightly would have been enough to make the pain unbearable. The tongue was a very sensitive organ. Even a mild cut to it would be excruciating. For a cut to almost sever it off...that kind of pain was almost unimaginable to Jack.

“It's true..I saw it with my own eyes...” Amanda felt her tears go down her face once more. She knew she shouldn't keep crying like this. She was worried that she would upset Irwin and he wouldn't be able to recover faster. He needed to know that everything was under control now and that he was safe. Crying was not going to make him feel more secure. “Oh Jack..what are we going to do?”

Jack didn't hesitate to answer. “Once we leave this place, we should take him to the doctor. Have them look at the tongue and see if there's anything they can do to help.”

While she wanted desperately to help her son, Amanda wasn't sure if taking him to the doctor was such a good idea, especially after what Moynihan had already explained to them. If they took him to the doctor, that would risk the chance of the doctors finding out about his dinosaur DNA. Moynihan had warned them that if the doctors found this unusual DNA in his body, they might run further tests or send Irwin somewhere for further study. It would only complicate things. “Are you sure that's a good idea, dear? I mean...” She glanced down at her son's pain-filled faced. “What if they found out about his..little secret?”

Jack gazed down at Irwin again, feeling a little ashamed that he had forgotten about that little detail. His wife was correct. If they took him to the doctor, they risk exposing him for the dinosaur he truly was. Now Jack's mind becomes troubled with multiple, whirling thoughts of what they should do now. If they couldn't take him to the doctor and get help there, then what could they do? “Well..yes...But what do you propose we do?” He asked his wife. “He needs to have that cut treated as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more infected it will get. And we don't even know exactly how long he's had that wound..could have been for almost a day by now.”

Amanda was at a loss of words. She glanced at Irwin again and back at her husband. She was at a loss of what to do. She knew they couldn't take Irwin to a doctor. If they did, he might end up in big trouble among both doctors and scientists, perhaps even the rest of the human race. But if they didn't take him to some kind of doctor, then they risk losing their own son. The cut on his tongue, as well as the other cuts that have not yet been treated, could and would get infected and could potentially kill the boy. “I...I don't know..I just don't know...” She finally said, eyes downcast as she thought about the predicament that they were in now.


	15. Wanting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Michelle put the pieces of paper that she wrote on together in a pile. She straightened them out by dropping them on the table vertically, making them look almost like books, except there was no spine or stitches to hold them together. Once they were straightened out, Michelle reached over towards the desk and grabbed a large, hardcover folder, colored in solid black to make her skin color in dinosaur form. She opened it up, revealing several dozen other thick compilations of paper, all hooked together by three large silver rings. Each paper, including the ones she was currently holding, had three large holes punctured into them. She unclasped the rings and quickly placed the papers inside. Closing the silver rings and the black folder, she placed it back in her box, her name written right above it: Michelle Brown.

She let out a sigh as she pushed the folder as far as it would go into the box. She looked over her shoulder to see if Oscura was watching her. Much to her surprise, Oscura hadn't seemed to live up to her threat. She hadn't seen her come into the room and try to control what she was writing. This action, of course, was illegal, forbidden by Victor himself. Victor was wise to how humans will try to manipulate others for personal gain and thus has made it a rule that only one person was allowed in this room at a time. Perhaps Oscura was afraid that she was going to get caught and decided to withdraw from her threat. Michelle shook her head. No, that didn't seem to be like her. She was up to something and she knew it.

But Michelle couldn't worry about that now. She had to get back to her apartment building soon. She had, very recently moved into an apartment, but never really stated the reason why other than it was easier for her. It was a partial lie to cover up the real truth. She didn't like to think about it, and would rather not to, especially right now, where she was already in anxiety from the events of the previous days. She hoped to relax in her one-bedroom apartment. It wasn't much, but it was better than where she was living before that. She paused for a moment and started to wonder if Oscura had a tough life herself. Oscura always did strike her as someone who wanted revenge against humanity for something they did to her. But even if this were the case, she didn't think she would get it out of Oscura. She'd never admit to it.

Oh well, it wasn't really her problem anyway. She got up from her chair and headed towards the door. As she opened it, she pressed her finger against the light switch and pushed down, turning out the lights instantly. As she made her way down the hallway, she failed to notice Oscura walking up from behind, heading towards the room. As soon as Michelle was out of sight, Oscura immediately opened up the door and turned the lights back on.

She moved over towards the boxes, so many of them stacked one on top of the other. It didn't take her long to find Michelle's box however, especially since the boxes were arranged in alphabetical order and Michelle's last name started with the second letter of the alphabet. Oscura grabbed the folder and immediately opened it up. She was confident enough to believe that she wouldn't get caught. No one ever comes in the room if the lights are on anyway. They'd just think she was doing her job. It made things easier for her knowing that the small window on the door was not so clear or sharp. The images it produced were wobbly and extremely out of focus. Anyone trying to look through there would only see blurs and colorful shadows, nothing sharp enough to raise any kind of suspicion.

Oscura was going to work on her own journal later on. She did have some things she wanted to write in it, especially of what happened today. But first, she wanted to read what Michelle had written about her. And if she didn't like it, she could easily change it. She could copy Michelle's handwriting pretty well, and thus could write just about anything and Victor would think Michelle wrote it herself. This was the perfect opportunity to begin her plan on ridding herself of Michelle once and for all. Victor was already upset with Michelle for what she did back at the warehouse. Now it was time to make him even more upset. And she knew just what she was going to write...

* * *

“So did you get all that, Zoom, or do I have to repeat myself?” Kista asked. She and Zoom were inside the Employee's Lounge, which looked like any other lounge Zoom's been in before. It had a counter top, a coffee maker, a round table with chairs, a microwave, a freezer, and a cupboard with different kinds of food in them. This is where Victor's men usually take their lunch breaks. They sometimes used this room as a meeting room, despite its small size. Only small meetings were held in here, however. There was a much larger room down the hallway where Victor would hold meetings of his own.

Across from the round table from where Kista was sitting sat Zoom O'Donnell. He had his hands laying on the table, fumbling with his fingers as he listened to Kista speak to him. He looked around the room a few times during the speech. He found it hard to believe this was Victor's Employee Lounge. He thought a dinosaur like that man would want a lounge that looked more like his laboratory. If Zoom were to forget all he saw in that laboratory and imagined that this lounge was the only room he's been in while in this building, he never would have guessed that this building hid an anthropomorphic Velociraptor.

“Yes..I heard you, Kista.” Zoom answered, grumbling softly to himself.

“Good.” Kista placed her hands on the table and interlocked the fingers, twiddling with her thumbs a little. “Although I am surprised that someone of your...intelligence... would understand anything that a superior intellect myself has to say.” Despite feeling angry about the statement, Zoom managed to stifle himself, doing nothing more than glare at Kista. He no longer wore the binds that had previously pumped electricity through his body, but Kista no longer needed them to frighten the man into acting more civilized. “Well..now that you're more acquainted with Raptor Dyne, shall we go get you your access card? You'll need one to gain entry in certain places in this building.”

Zoom slowly nodded his head. He was more than eager to get out of this room. It's not that he really despised it. He actually felt more relaxed here than in any other part of the building that he saw. But after sitting in here for what he felt was a long time, it was getting tiresome and boring. “Sure, whatever.”

“Just an important note that I forgot to tell you earlier.” Kista said, leaning forward, her face contorted into a serious, almost threatening frown. Under almost any other circumstance, this would have frightened Zoom. Kista waited for Zoom to respond before she continued her explaination.

“What did you forget?” Zoom asked, trying to sound as politely as he could. “Is it something of great importance?”

Kista's lips slightly curved upward, revealing the very slightest and faintest of smiles. “Well yes, it is very important. Because if you mess this up, Victor might eat you for breakfast!” She snapped, causing Zoom to snap his head back and gulp, hand nervously on his throat as he imagined Victor biting into it to kill him. “Do not converse with any of the employees or employers of this building unless you know for sure that you've seen them in Victor's laboratory. There are members here who truly believe Victor's trying to help the world and humanity and are completely unaware of his true motives. They are either just too new or Victor deemed them untrustworthy. He has forbidden anyone with access to his lab to tell the others about it. They do not know it exists.”

Zoom looked at her with a confused look on his face. He was shocked to learn that Victor had kept an entire section of Raptor Dyne cut off from the others, and just as shocked that it appears these members are unaware of Victor's secrets. They may have been working here for years and had never known the truth. Zoom could barely imagine the expression on their faces if they ever found this out. Perhaps this is how Victor gets so many people to work for them. Perhaps half of them don't even know their boss is really a Velociraptor.

“Interesting...” Zoom managed to say. “Victor sure takes a lot of precautions, doesn't he?”

“Precisely.” Kista got up from her chair and walked over towards Zoom, who looked up at her with a slight glare. “You know..you should count yourself lucky.” She placed one of her arms around him in a sort of half hug. She lowered her head so that it was right next to Zoom's. “You're one of the few newbies to gain enough trust from Victor to permit you in his laboratory. That's quite impressive really.”

Zoom was tempted to pull away from the woman, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do so. He couldn't understand why he wasn't trying to pull away. It wasn't because he was afraid of her or that he was all that surprised by her statement. Given how secretive Victor seems to be about his mission, he wasn't surprised that he was one of the few to be privileged to join him so quickly. He wondered if it was because he was actually starting to like Kista. He tried not to shudder as that thought crossed his mind. Kista was the last person he wanted to be with, and yet, for some reason, he couldn't stop looking at her for a very long time, and he couldn't bring himself to push her away. What was keeping him from pulling away from her? Love?

No, that was ridiculous! He had barely met her and in the short time he's known her, she already managed to knock him out, hurt him with electricity, and scare the living daylights out of him. How could he love someone like that? He tried his best to shake out all those thoughts out of his mind. He didn't know why he was thinking these things. He could only attribute it to Kista's feminine charms. While he despised her, or so that is what he's telling himself, he had to admit she was an attractive woman.

“Yes..I probably should consider myself lucky that Victor decided to let me join so quickly...” Zoom said in a mostly sincere, yet partially sarcastic, tone. He decided to change the subject with a question he wanted to ask since he came into this room. “So...have you ever faced the Dino Squad?”

Kista frowned slightly. “No...” She said in a frustrated way. “Victor had told me about them, but he hadn't yet let me go after them.”

“And why not, if I'm allowed to ask?” Zoom said.

Kista glared at him for several seconds before softening up her expression. “I really don't know. I guess he doesn't think I am ready, even though I worked for him for a few years now.” She sighed angrily, placing her fingers on her forehead, rubbing it. She was starting to get a little headache. She glanced over at Zoom, pulling her arm away from him, freeing him from her grasp. “I've been looking for a challenge for a long time. A mission to give me excitement and thrill, if you know what I mean... I do hope to fight the Dino Squad. Perhaps they could prove...entertaining.” She grinned as she spoke the last word.

“I see...” Zoom rolled his eyes. He wasn't sure why Kista would want to fight the Dino Squad head on. He wasn't doubting her capabilities, but she was only one, and they were a team. Wasn't she afraid of getting hurt? Judging from her eagerness to fight them, he guessed the answer was a big fat 'no'.

Kista frowned at him. “Don't look at me like that. You're just as interested in facing this team as I am, and don't lie about it.”

“Yes, and I have a better reason for wanting to do that.” Zoom glared back at her, getting out of his seat and staring at her at eye level. “What kind of reason is 'a good challenge' anyway? You just want to fight them for the sake of fighting. I want to deliver to them justice.”

Kista threw her head back and laughed. “Justice? Justice? Is that what you call it?”

“Don't laugh at me!” Zoom snapped. “I didn't laugh at you when you stated that you wanted to face them for the fun of it!”

Kista narrowed her eyes slightly, but still retained her creepy smile. She took a step forward and reached out with one hand. She grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled him down and forward. She pressed her forehead against his so that her eyes were only centimeters away. “The only reason you didn't say anything against it is because you know what I am capable of doing to you...” As she said that, Zoom's eyes widened and he cringed back, proving Kista's point. “Just as I thought...” She released him and took a step back.

Zoom shook his head and replaced his frightened look with a frown. He took a step backwards and wiped off his shirt as if it got dirt on it. Then he turned his back to her and made his way towards the door. As he reached up towards the door knob with one hand, he glanced back at her. “Well thanks for the information. But I really must be going. I need to get in touch with...someone.” He sounded reluctant on stating the guy's name, as he wasn't in good terms with him recently. He needed to submit his new photos to him, although he wasn't sure if he should send them to this guy anymore. They shared almost nothing but friction between each other since the dinosaur photograph incident. “They might be wondering why I haven't send in the new pictures and....well it's none of your concern anyway. Good day.” He turned the door knob and opened up the door, hearing a little squeak as the door slowly opened.

But before he could even lift a leg to get through the door, it suddenly shut on him. Zoom had to quickly move back to stabilize himself so that he did not fall down. He looked up slightly and could see Kista's hand pressed against the wooden door. He turned around and faced her eye to eye. He pointed accusingly at her and started to say, “Hey, what's the big idea?! Why are....” He slowly stopped as Kista waved a finger from side to side in front of his face.

“You're such a naughty boy!” Kista giggled, putting her hands behind her back like a mischievous little girl. Grinning broadly, she leaned a little closer and said, “You haven't forgotten about that..little card, have you...?”

Grumbling softly, Zoom said, “Oh of course...the card...” He rubbed his forehead, looking somewhat annoyed with Kista. “How could I forget the card?” He asked in a somewhat sarcastic tone of voice. “You would never let me forget anyway, you mean, evil person...” He spoke softly, hoping that Kista did not hear him.

Kista, however, had heard what he said. But she decided to ignore the remark. She walked out in front of Zoom, opening the door as far as it would go. She stepped out from the door way and made a gesture with her head for Zoom to follow him. “Come with me. I'll take you to the room where we make the access cards. It won't take much of your time to get one ready, now would it?” She glanced down the hallways to make sure no one was in them. There shouldn't be many people in the building to begin with. It was still early and most of the people who work for Victor were at home sleeping. And if they weren't sleeping, they were getting ready to come into work today. “Now come along, Zoom. The sooner we get this done and over with, the sooner you can go home.”

Zoom hesitated, then complied with the woman's request and started to follow Kista down the hallway. “So..any reason why you can't just give me the directions?” He asked absentmindedly as he looked left to right in the hallway, eyeing each door as they passed it by. “That would be faster, wouldn't it?”

Kista gave him a sideways glance, her eyes wide with shock. It seemed that the photographer had completely forgotten what Victor had made clear earlier. “You have forgotten already?” She asked in a puzzled voice. She slowed down her pace a little so that Zoom could catch up to her. When Zoom looked at her, puzzled himself, it confirmed what Kista suspected. He hadn't been paying much attention. This newfound knowledge caused her to become worried. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea bringing him here in the first place. If he couldn't pay attention to a few simple instructions and information, how could he be trusted to listen to anything else?

“Forgotten what?” Zoom asked, tilting his head. He hadn't really forgotten a lot of what was said. He was just playing dumb to get on Kista's nerves. He knew it wasn't a good idea, but he just felt like doing it. He saw nothing wrong with having a little fun with her.

But Kista saw nothing funny about Zoom's little act. She glared at him, her lips curled back into a snarl. “If you're trying to be funny, stop it!” She snapped, frightening Zoom. “Keep acting up, and I will personally see to it that you end up just like little Caruso did, you understand me?!”

Visibly shaken by Kista's outburst, Zoom said in a trembling voice, “Y-Y-Yes...sure...”

“Excellent...” Kista cooed and continued on her way. “Now, joking set aside, do you or do you not remember what Victor had said to me before? Hmm?” She asked in a taunting voice, leaning a little towards Zoom as they walked.

Zoom stammered a little. “W-Well...I-I-I think he t-told you to keep an eye on m-me... to not let me b-be anywhere in this building...a-alone...” He asked, offering a small, weak smile at the end of his sentence. “That was it..right?”

Kista playfully ruffled the man's hair. “Very good..! That is correct.”

Zoom shuddered, gently pushing Kista's hand away. “Can you..please not do that?” He asked in a soft voice. “It's..making me feel uncomfortable.”

Kista giggled. “Why? You don't like someone touching you there?” Zoom's eyes widened a little and he gave Kista a weird look. Kista returned the glance, wondering what it was that she said that surprised him so much. When she rethought the words that she had spoken, she quickly realized what she had just said. Trying her best to hide a blush of embarrassment, she said, “Okay..just ignore what I said there, okay?”

“...S-Sure...no prob..” Zoom slowly, unsure what to make of the brief, awkward moment between him and the woman. “So..how long did you say this was going to take?” He asked, trying to come up with a different topic to talk about.

“Give or take, an hour.” Kista said quickly. “Why? You in a hurry to get home?”

“You could say that...” Zoom muttered under his breath, loud enough so that she could hear him. He kept his head turned away from her, feeling a little awkward to stare at her face to face for some reason. The two didn't speak much after that. They just continued on their way to their destination, the only sounds coming to their ears being the sounds of their own breathing and their footsteps.

* * *

Back at the lighthouse, about two hours had come and gone. During this time, the lighthouse was filled with the chattering of the people inside, discussing things and reminding each other of important information and tasks. This talk would have gone on longer if it hadn't been for Buzz, who pointed out the time to everyone. They decided to quickly wrap it up, especially since the kids' parents were going to be very worried about them. While no one had called the lighthouse, asking where their children were, Moynihan had a feeling it was only a matter of time before she would get such a call. She had offered Caruso's parents some more advice, particularly regarding his injuries. She then gave them some medicine and bandages for them to use.

Meanwhile, Fiona and Max managed to settle Caruso down and Max apologized to him for letting him to talk in his condition. Caruso accepted his apology, and, as the others wished, he remained quiet. It was apparent that, at times, he really wanted to say something, but he understood that he shouldn't speak. And while he wasn't ready to admit it, he was afraid to talk due to the severe pain that it was giving him recently. A few times he put his hand on his face, gently fingering a few of the deep cuts. Fiona noticed this and was convinced that Caruso was worried about his face being so torn up, and contemplated how deep the scars would be. Fiona did her best to try and cheer him up. While she did manage to life his spirits a little, Caruso still looked so forlorn and upset.

Buzz and Rodger, most of the time, hung out in the background, talking about the recent events. They seemed very interested in getting revenge on Victor for hurting their friend. They also wanted revenge on Oscura and Michelle. They were more interested in getting even with Michelle than Oscura, though, because of how she tricked them Friday night with her 'damsel in distress' routine. Buzz wished that he had never went out to help her. Rodger understood his frustration, but had convinced Buzz to stop blaming himself. He would not have known Michelle's true motives back then. He would not have been able to prevent himself from falling for her tricks. It wasn't his fault.

They then started to contemplated how Michelle had helped them back at the warehouse. As much as they hated to admit it, they knew they would not have found Caruso in time if they had just gone to look on their own. They did, in fact, owe her one, even though they weren't so willing to return the favor. Michelle might have risked a lot to get them to that room, but Rodger and Buzz only dismissed it as her being desperate to protect herself. If they hadn't threatened her, she probably would have led them astray so that Victor could capture them. Michelle helping them find Caruso hardly altered the boys' dark feelings towards her, and it did little to persuade Buzz to stop wanting revenge on her. The punk kid did get a taste of revenge when he and the little spy wrestled, but it didn't satisfy him. He wanted more.

While Rodger and Buzz were discussing, quietly, their eagerness for revenge on both Michelle and Oscura, Moynihan had gone upstairs. She had told the others she'd be upstairs for a few minutes. She had gotten a phone call and wanted to talk alone. So she decided to head upstairs, promising to come back as quickly as she could. The others wanted to question her why she wanted to be alone while on the phone, but they decided not to say anything to her and agreed to wait for her. Moynihan didn't want Caruso's parents leaving until she came back down. She had a reason, but she didn't tell them it yet, stating that she'll let them know when she came back down.

Moynihan was sitting in her bedroom. Her blue bird, which she had named Cerulean, was perched inside his cage, pecking away at the food she had just offered him. Cerulean didn't get along too well with Rump, so she kept the bird in her room for his own safety. Moynihan had sat down on her bed, the dark pink sheets splayed across the bed, indicating that it wasn't made yet. The room's lights were all turned off except for the pink lampshade that she had on a table next to her table. Moynihan continued to hold the phone to her ear as she nervously glanced towards the window. The pink shades were drawn closed, as if she was worried that someone would peer through them.

And she had a good reason. The reason she had wanted to be up in the room alone was because she had gotten another phone call from Victor Veloci. She didn't understand completely why he had bothered to call her, although she had a pretty good idea why he was calling. He just wanted to taunt her, to try and make her squirm. And she wasn't going to fall for it.

“I don't know why you keep trying, Vic.” Moynihan hissed into the phone. “I'm not falling for it!” She winced as she heard laughter on the other end. Victor continued to speak to her, continued to try and mess with her. He told her about how he knew they still had their shields down and how he could easily strike again. Moynihan wasn't sure if he would actually go through with it or not, since she knew that he knew he had lost the element of surprise. But she didn't want to take any chances. “If you try to come back here, I will personally take care of you myself...”

She felt herself stifle a gasp at the meaning of that statement. She covered up her mouth, not speaking another word after that. She was staring to show aggression towards Veloci. Well more aggression than usual, that is. She could sort of understand it though. Veloci was her mortal enemy and he was the one who was the sole cause of all this stuff going on. She couldn't blame herself for starting to lose her temper with him. But to threaten him, to threaten to take his life, that was something that she never expected even herself to say, even if Victor was a menace to the human race. It just didn't seem like her at all.

Victor noticed her awkward silence and decided to break it with his horrible, evil laughter. Moynihan growled softly. It was obvious Victor found her confusion to be hilarious. It was his way of getting even with her. Just breaking her leg and sending Michelle over to destroy their protective shield was not enough for the anthropomorphic Velociraptor. No, he clearly wanted more. He wanted to completely destroy her, to take everything that she ever accomplished in her life as a human and turn it upside down. “Laugh while you can, Victor. There's no way you're going to kill me or the Dino Squad...I...” She suddenly stopped her sentence when Victor spoke up, telling her that he had no intentions on killing her or her precious children. Moynihan wasn't sure if she should trust the sincerity of his words, but nonetheless, she was interested to know what he did have in mind. “So..if you don't want to kill us, then what do you want to do?”

As Victor gave his explanation, Moynihan got up from her bed. She began to pace around the room in a nervous manner, not able to relax anymore. She went over to the window and peered through it cautiously, still worried that someone might be coming to the lighthouse now. She listened to Victor's explanation and wasn't really buying it. Victor was telling her how he was going to just leave them alone for now, but was warning her to keep out of his way. He said that capturing Caruso and torturing him like he did was a warning to his friends and to Moynihan to not cross his path ever again. He warned her that he will kill the next transforming kid if they continued to foil his plans. Moynihan did have her doubts on some of the things he was saying. She knew he was lying through his fangs about capturing Caruso just as a warning. And she questioned his sincerity in his statement that he wouldn't try to hurt any of them so long as they didn't try and stop him again.

“And why should I believe you..?” Moynihan asked in a dark voice, so uncharacteristic of herself. “You and I both know who determined we are to stop one another from achieving our goals. Our objectives are so different, Victor. I know how determined you are to stop me. You almost had me killed! And now you are expecting me to believe these lies you are telling me?!” Victor only laughed at her even more, further frustrating the woman. Hearing her growls, Victor decided to mock her. Moynihan's expression changed to a confused look as Victor spoke to her about something else. “...what...?”

* * *

“I still don't think it's a good idea...” Max said. He was standing next to Rodger and Buzz. He had overheard their talk of wanting revenge and had come over to join in with the discussion. When Rodger and Buzz told him what they wanted to do, Max immediately objected to the idea. He might have hated Michelle and Oscura as well, but he didn't think it was a smart idea to go after them, especially when they have such a connection with Victor and have all of Raptor Dyne to back them up if need be. While Rodger did seem to understand where Max was coming from, Buzz had accused Max of being too soft and said they should take care of Oscura and Michelle before they struck again. Despite Buzz's explanations as to why they should go through with the revenge if they ever got the chance, Max still disagreed. “It's just too much of a risk, Buzz. I'm sorry, but I don't think you should do it.”

“And what if they strike again? What if those two...monsters... manage to capture Caruso again, or another one of us?” Buzz persisted, his voice increasing in anger and determination as he continued to rant on. “Would you still say that we shouldn't try and go after them? If you ask me, we should do something to ensure that they won't try to hurt any of us ever again!”

“While I do agree with you..” Rodger interjected, “I do think Max has a good point. This idea for revenge might get us all into trouble.”

Buzz shot a glare at Rodger Blair. “You are siding with him?” He sounded a little hurt and betrayed.

“I'm just trying to see things realistically, Buzz.” Rodger explained. “Don't get me wrong. I want revenge just as much as you do. And I do fear that they might try to strike again if we don't do something. But I also see where Max is coming from. What if it fails, Buzz? What if they get away and come back later, stronger than before?” While he was not showing it, Rodger was trying to figure out what he wanted to do the most. Did he want revenge or did he want to hold back and help keep his friends and family safe?

“That is why we should strike now!” Buzz snapped, gritting his teeth and clenching a fist tightly. “If we strike now, when they least expect it, we can beat them! I just know we can!”

Rodger slowly shook his head. “We don't know when they would be least expecting an attack, Buzz. I don't think...”

Buzz interrupted him. “What if we attack now, when we are the most vulnerable?” This suggestion shocked both Rodger and Max. They looked at Buzz as if he had gone insane and wondered if they had heard him wrong. Surely, he wouldn't be crazy enough to attack now, would he? But the punk teenager did not say or do anything to indicate that he was joking. “I mean, think about it. They might think that we want to use all this time to recover...”

“And we do.” Max chimed in.

“Just hear me out.” Buzz was undeterred by Max's truthful statement. “They would be expecting us to be trying to recover. They wouldn't think twice about us trying to go after them now. I still say we can do this, guys! Come on..we have got to at least try. The consequences might be too dire if we just let this go and...”

“..And it's going to be just as dire if we attempt something so foolish!” Max snapped, starting to become frustrated with Buzz. He didn't know why Buzz wanted revenge so much all of a sudden. This didn't seem like the Buzz he had known all this time. What had gotten into him? “Buzz, I forbid you to try and go after Oscura or Michelle on the sole purpose of vengeance! This little crusade of yours is just going to get us into deeper trouble, perhaps even killed! Do you want that?!”

Buzz snapped his head back, baring his teeth at Max. “Look who's talking! You're the one who drove Caruso out of the lighthouse after saying you were pretty much sick of him!”

That claim stung Max. He looked at Buzz with a hurt expression on his face. He opened up his mouth to speak back to him, but couldn't think of what to say. He could only let out a sigh, realizing Buzz was right. He thought he had settled it already with Caruso earlier. He had apologized to the guy and he was starting to feel better. But Buzz bringing up the subject again made him feel horrible all over again. Realizing what he had just said, Buzz's anger slowly melted away, and was replaced with guilt. He hadn't meant to say something so mean to Max and he didn't want to make him feel bad. Maybe he was taking this revenge thing too far. He had become so eager and angry that he had snapped at both Rodger and Max.

“Max..I...” Buzz said in a much softer, more relaxed tone, almost the exact opposite that he was exhibiting only about a minute ago. “I..I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I apologize...”

Max wanted to look away and just not say anything. He wasn't sure what he should say to Buzz now. He understood that the boy had made a mistake and that he only lost his temper. But he still couldn't help but remain upset about the ordeal, despite the apology. It wasn't because of Buzz personally. It was because Buzz had given him a painful reminder of his own loss of temper on Saturday. “It's..it's okay, Buzz...” Max managed to say, giving the teen a small smile. “I know you didn't mean it... We're just all going through a tough time now. I understand that you want revenge on Oscura and Michelle and..I can't blame you. But..I don't want to risk it now..not now...” He slowly glanced over at Caruso, who was being supported by his mother and father as they stood near the door.

Buzz looked over and saw Caruso as well. Almost immediately, he understood why Max had objected so strongly against his idea of getting revenge. He felt horrible and guilty at the same time, mentally beating himself up for forgetting about Caruso's serious condition. “Oh...” It was all he could manage to say.

Before any of them could say anything else, they heard footsteps from the spiral staircase. They looked over and saw Moynihan making her way down the stairs carefully. It looked like she still had some problems with her ankle despite the fact that any signs of a limp was pretty much gone. It seemed that walking down the stairs was still a problem but it was manageable for her. When she reached the bottom of the staircase, she immediately made her way towards Irwin and his parents, Amanda and Jack. They looked eager to leave and waited for Moynihan to tell them what she wanted them to know.

“I wonder why she went upstairs.” Max pondered thoughtfully.

“Maybe just some privacy?” Buzz said, trying to make a joke. “Maybe she wanted to spend some time trying to call up her imaginary dinosaur friends and have a little tea party.”

Rodger glanced at Buzz, looking a little annoyed and angry at the same time. “That's not funny, Buzz.”

Buzz sighed. “I know..I was just trying to lighten up the mood.” He said in a guilty tone. Then he spoke again, any signs of guilt gone. “But you do have a point, Max.” He said, looking over at their leader. “Why did she want to go upstairs by herself? I mean, she didn't want to tell any of us.”

“Yeah...” Rodger agreed. “And privacy does not seem to be the likely issue. Why would she want to leave during an important meeting just to get some privacy?”

“Perhaps we could ask her?” Buzz suggested.

Max shook his head. “No.”

“Why?” Buzz asked, confused.

“She's a little busy right now.” Max said, pointing to Moynihan speaking to Caruso's worried parents. “Asking her now just doesn't seem..right. We should wait until they leave before we ask her.”

“All right...” Buzz said, glancing a worried look over at Moynihan. Just like the other three, he wondered why Moynihan wanted to be alone. All joking aside, he really didn't have a clue as to why she would want to do that.

But Rodger did have an idea as to why, and he dare not say anything to Max or Buzz. He felt that the old woman was trying to hide something from them in order to prevent them from getting involved. The computer geek theorized that she just didn't want them to get hurt. Perhaps what she was hiding was dangerous and she didn't want to be held responsible if any of them had gotten hurt. Or perhaps she had gotten a phone call, probably from Victor for whatever reason, and she didn't want to worry them by telling them about it. But whatever the reason, Rodger did think that, regardless of how worrisome the reason might be, Moynihan had the best intentions for them and would not let anything bad happen. Or at least try and give it her best shot.

“Rodger...” Rodger heard Max say and he looked over towards him. “Do you have any ideas regarding Moynihan's brief disappearance?”

Rodger thought about telling him his thoughts anyway. But he couldn't bring himself to do so. He, instead, shook his head and offered a white lie. “No..not really.”

* * *

When Moynihan finished up what she wanted to say, Jack nodded once. He then reached out with one hand and shook Moynihan's hand. Then Amanda did the same thing. After they were done shaking each other's hands, Jack pushed the door as far open as it would go and made his way out towards the car. Amanda held onto her son, supporting him the best that she could. She had to wait until Jack came back. He was going to bring the car a little closer so Irwin didn't have far to walk. She would carry him herself, but Irwin was too heavy for her to carry far all by herself.

As she waited, she decided to say something to Moynihan. Turning towards Moynihan, Amanda said, “Thank you, Professor Moynihan, for returning our son to us.” She tried her best to hide her tears of both pain and joy as she pulled her son into a light hug. “We are in your debt.” She was doing her best to sound as nice as possible. She was still a little angry and wary about Moynihan due to her snapping at her. But she might as well try to forgive her. After all, she did help rescue their son.

Moynihan, although sensing the woman's discomfort about her being this close to her, smiled sweetly. She was starting to feel a little better from before and was confident that she wasn't going to lose her temper again anytime soon. “You're very welcome, Mrs. Caruso.” She cast a soft glance at Irwin. The boy was staring back at her through calm, yet pained, eyes. Moynihan was worried about him and hoped that he'll begin to recover. She was confident that being inside his own house again would help kick start the recovery process. “While I am sure that most of the cuts will heal completely, he might still have scarring. But it is not the physical wounds that worry me the most.” She turned towards Amanda again, but kept giving Irwin a sideways glance. “It's his mental wounds. He's been through so much...”

“So do you think he'll recover completely? Both physically and mentally?” Amanda asked cautiously, gently stroking her son's bluish hair with her fingers.

Moynihan adjusted her glasses as she said, “As I said, most of his physical wounds will heal just fine. Some of them, though, I am sure are going to scar up, such as that cut right there.” She pointed to the cut on Caruso's arm, which was now bandaged. “But I fear his mental injuries will take longer to heal. I can see it, in his eyes, that he's been through a lot of trauma from what must have happened to him while at Victor's place. He might remain paranoid for a while.”

“What should we do?” Amanda asked.

“Stick close to him and console him whenever he starts acting paranoid.” Moynihan told her.

“And if he has another one of those...episodes?” Amanda asked, casting a cautious glance down at Irwin.

“While I would recommend just letting him wear himself out, you should make sure that he doesn't hurt himself. It might also help if you talk calmly to him. That might help him settle down faster.” Moynihan suggested.

Just then, a loud beep sounded out, coming from outside. The two women looked over to see Jack sticking his out of the window of the car. The car was now positioned only a few feet from the door. The sight almost started Moynihan, who had never seen a car that close to the entrance of the lighthouse before. Amanda walked a little closer to the door, peering through the window. She saw her husband looking directly at her. His arm was hanging out of the window now, and he was waving his arm, indicating that he wanted her to get a move on, that he's ready to leave.

Amanda took the hint and looked at Moynihan. “Well thanks for your help. Goodbye.” Irwin slowly opened up his mouth to say goodbye to Moynihan. But the pain was too much and he winced, immediately shutting his mouth. Instead, he resorted to lifting one arm and waving goodbye to her.

“You are welcome.” Moynihan said, smiling softly. “Goodbye, Irwin. Goodbye, Mrs. Caruso.”

After they said goodbye to each other, Amanda walked out of the door, helping her son along the way. They carefully made their way towards the car, taking extra precaution not to trip over anything. The car was still running. The sound of the engine filled the air. Jack glanced out of the window again, waiting patiently for them. Normally, it wouldn't take very long to reach a car that was only a few feet away, but with Irwin's injuries, the progress was painfully slow, and yet still manageable.

Once the pair reached the car, Amanda proceeded to the back of the car, opening up one of the doors. Irwin lifted up his leg and tried to get in on his own, but a sharp pain caused him to yelp and he immediately stepped down. He looked to his mother for help, and she quickly complied. She helped Irwin get inside by gently lifting him up, allowing him to bear some weight on her as he made his way into the car. The progress was a little slow, but it didn't take too long until Irwin was completely inside the car. After he had sat down on the seat, Amanda pulled the seat belt out and hooked Irwin to it. Once she was done with that, she gently shut the door and made her way towards the front seat.

Amanda gripped the door to the front seat and pulled it open. She then immediately got inside the car. She pulled down her own seat belt and strapped herself in. She looked over to her husband with a worried expression on her face. Jack noticed her worried glance and wasn't sure what to say. He knew that she was worried about their son. So was he. He was glad that they had their son back, but he couldn't feel completely relieved. What if something were to happen again? That's the question he could read on his wife's face.

“..I understand how you feel, Amanda.” Jack said solemnly. He reached out towards his wife and wrapped his arm around her and pulled her as close as he could with their seat belts on. “But I promise that I'll do my best to make sure nothing bad happens to him.” With that, he leaned as close as he could and planted a kiss on Amanda's lips.

After Jack pulled away from the kiss, Amanda smiled at him, but she didn't look completely relieved or convinced that he, or anyone, could keep their son safe for long. Irwin had four large dinosaurs trying to protect him from being captured and they still failed. How could she bring herself to believe that there was anything that they could do? Professor Moynihan and the other teens didn't exactly boost her confidence. They were all so sure that they, the parents, wouldn't be able to protect Irwin from Victor should he try getting at him again.

“But..what if they are right, Jack?” Amanda said worriedly. She glanced back at Irwin, not able to keep her tears back as she imagined her son being dragged away from them. “What if Victor does come..and we aren't able to protect our little boy?” She stifled a sob. “Oh Jack..I don't think I can deal with losing him again...” She said, sniffling.

Caruso had a hard time seeing his mother like that. He wanted to say something to try and make her feel better. He wanted to assure her that everything was going to be all right, even though he himself wasn't so sure about that. But anything he wanted to say, even just one word, would only hurt him. He could only groan softly in frustration at his inability to speak. He wasn't going to enjoy becoming the silent one for a while. He had usually been the outgoing kind of person and loved making conversation. He hoped he had enough self discipline to keep himself from talking until his mouth healed.

Now was a good time that he would usually make a joke. He knew it probably would not please his parents, but it was all he could think of to do to lighten up the mood. It was in his nature and his parents knew that. This may not be a good time for making jokes, but then, what else was he going to do? But then, it wasn't like he could say anything anyway. Again, he groaned in frustration.

To try and make himself feel better, he started to let his mind wonder to more positive things. He was looking forward to seeing his home again. He may have only been gone for about a day, but it felt like an eternity. He couldn't wait to get inside his nice, safe room and relax. He never thought he would miss his bedroom that much, or the house in general. He'd never been this eager to go home. And he was also eager to get to school tomorrow. Doing homework was a piece of cake, and almost a blessing, compared to what he had been forced to go through with Victor. But then the thought of school brought forth an unpleasant memory: Michelle's arrival at the school. He felt his stomach tie in a knot when he thought about how she might show up in science class. His heart started to race. Would she try to catch him? Would she attempt to harm him?

He shook his head. He shouldn't dwell on such thoughts. What were the odds of Michelle returning to his school anyway? She had already given away her true motives and her true loyalties. She knew she wouldn't be able to fool them again. There was no point of her returning to the school. Caruso allowed his fears of Michelle coming to the school fade away and he felt himself slowly relax again. His heart slowed back to its normal pace. He returned to thinking more pleasant thoughts. He was looking forward to seeing his goldfish again. He never thought he miss the little guy this much.

Then another thought came to his mind, and it scared him a little. It wasn't anything that would harm him physically. No, this had nothing to do with Victor or his oozer losers, or even Michelle or Oscura. Fiona started to come to his mind. He felt horrible at how worried she, and the others, were so worried about him earlier. While he had been unconscious, he could still hear their voices as they had tried, in vain, to wake him up. But the one voice that hurt him the most was Fiona's. He couldn't stand hearing her cry like that, and he had tried to wake up, but kept failing. But despite that, he kept trying, further fueled by Moynihan's suggestion to leave him behind.

But when he tried to think about something else, this thoughts continued to travel back to Fiona. He started to become confused. Why couldn't he get her out of his mind? No matter how hard he tried, he continued to think about the things she said to him back at the warehouse. He recalled how she begged him to wake up, how she and the others came to rescue him. He recalled the pained sound to her voice when she started to believe that he was dead and how she started to sob. He shook his head, desperately trying to think of something else. But he continued to think about Fiona. He started to feel himself blush when he remembered how she had kissed him. She actually kissed him, something that he never thought she'd ever do to him, not that he was complaining or anything.

“Irwin? Why are you blushing?” Amanda asked. She had turned over to tell him something, but stopped when she saw him blushing. “Do you have a secret crush or something?” She asked in a teasing voice, hoping it would give them something to talk about that wasn't related to Victor.

“Wha-wha...?” Caruso muttered carefully. He looked at his mother and quickly shook his head. He didn't realize it, but his blush was deepening in color, confirming Amanda's suspicions.

“I'll take that as a yes.” Jack said, also looking back. But he had to quickly turn his eyes back on the road. Caruso had been so lost in his thoughts that he had forgotten that his dad had already started driving home. The lighthouse had faded from view just minutes ago. They were now on a detour since the path to the lighthouse was damaged when Peter had tried to reach the lighthouse. The detour would make them take longer to reach their house, but it wasn't that bad. It was only an extra five to ten minutes of driving, not a big deal.

Caruso tried to protest, but when he opened his mouth again, he felt a sharp pain in his mouth, centered around the deep cut in his tongue, and he immediately shut his mouth. The only thing he could do to respond to his parents was look away. He was feeling a little disgruntled with them for teasing him like that. He knew they were only joking, and he still loved them. But he couldn't help but wish that they would wait until later on to crack a joke like that. And yet, he couldn't help but wonder if they were right. Was the reason that he couldn't get Fiona out of his mind because he was becoming attracted to her?

He shook his head. That didn't seem possible. Yeah, he regarded Fiona as a good friend, perhaps even a very close friend. But he had never regarded her as anything more than that, a friend. He hadn't developed any feelings towards her. When he thought about getting a date, he never thought about Fiona. He had only regarded her as a friend and as a fellow comrade against Victor Veloci. But as he thought about this, he started to wonder about Fiona's kiss again. Was she displaying her true feelings towards him? What if Fiona really did feel that way about him? He quickly dismissed the idea. No, she was probably just so happy to see that he was okay that she couldn't control herself, kissing him due to her overwhelming feeling of joy. But then, for some reason, he started to feel disappointed as he convinced himself the kiss was nothing special. And he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out why. Was he really becoming allured to Fiona?

Even though Amanda could not hear what her son was thinking, she could guess what he was thinking based on the expressions on his face. She wasn't sure if he was noticing it or not, but he was making multiple facial expressions as he played through his thoughts. His blush hadn't vanished yet, so she guessed that he was thinking about some girl. She couldn't help but smile. Maybe this girl could help Irwin recover from his ordeal.

“Any ideas on who this girl is, Jack?” Amanda whispered softly to her husband.

Jack slowly shook his head. “No.” He whispered softly so that Irwin could not hear him. “It's probably someone from his school.”

“I wonder if we should invite her over.” Amanda suggested hopefully. “I might help Irwin keep his mind off of..you know...”

“What?” Jack asked, confused. “We don't even know who she is...”

“No... But we could find out.” Amanda said.

The car hit a bump, causing everyone inside to jolt a little. Irwin was stunned back to reality, breaking away from his thoughts. As he did so, he started to hear the conversation going on up front. He overhead his mom talk about trying to find out the name of some girl. At first he didn't understand why. It didn't take him long to realize what it was she was referring to. Caruso's eyes widened in shock when his mom talked about a possible girlfriend that he might have. Caruso tried to protest. He didn't have a girlfriend! Why did his mom think that he did?

Then the car hit yet another bump, frustrating Jack. He was trying his best to avoid the bumps. Even though this was a detour, it still had some damage to it as well. It was not as severe as the main road, but it still had a few bumps and cracks in it. He gripped the wheel tightly and tried to turn more sharply to avoid the bumps in the concrete path. His wife, forgetting all about the supposed girlfriend she thought her son had, gripped her chair tightly, fearful that Jack might slip up and nearly crash into something.

When the car hit the next bump, Caruso was knocked to the side. He slammed his head against the side of the glass on the door. Some of the deep cuts were pressed against the hard glass, causing intense pain. His eyes widened as tears of agony seeped from his eyes. He let out a short yet loud cry of pain. Suddenly the car came to a halt, almost tossing him around again. He looked up and saw both his parents looking back at him in horror. His mother eyed the seatbelt, which still strapped him in. And his father looked at him apologetically.

“Son..are you all right?” Jack asked in a guilty tone. “I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you...”

Amanda was having a hard time believing that Irwin could hit his head against the window while strapped in. Or at least, this is what she had believed to be true when she first strapped him in. But regardless of that, Irwin had still gotten hurt. She was a little angry with Jack, but he had already apologized. There was no reason for her to get upset with him anyway. He didn't mean to do it. “Irwin? Are you okay?” She asked carefully, wanting to reach back and comfort her son.

Irwin groaned softly, rubbing his forehead carefully, avoiding the cuts the best that he could. He tried to touch the injuries that were hit a few seconds ago, but the slightest touch hurt him too much and he quickly pulled away. He glanced over at the window and was shocked to see blood. It wasn't much blood, just a little bit. But still, it was enough to surprise him. He heard his parents ask him if he was all right and he quickly answered with a few nods. He was lying of course. He was in pain. But he didn't want to worry them.

Amanda frowned slightly. “Are you sure? You screamed just a few seconds ago...”

“...y-yes.... i-it was n-nothing...“ Irwin choked out painfully. He then covered his mouth and coughed. When he pulled his hand away, he saw blood staining his palm. Shocked and scared, he quickly hid his hand so that his mother and father could not see the blood.

Jack frowned as well, not sure if he should believe Irwin's statements of being all right. The boy just cried out in agony. It didn't seem like it was nothing. But he and his wife decided not to pressure him any further. Irwin was in pain every time that he spoke. It would be selfish of them to expect him to continue talking in this state. They should continue on their way home anyway. Amanda had planned on making breakfast when they had gotten home, considering that Irwin didn't eat so well during his stay with Victor. He did look a little hungry anyway. And they also knew that he was going to need a lot of rest that he could recover. Getting him to his bedroom might be a challenge, but they didn't care so long that he was finally safe and sound at home.

Then Amanda remembered something. She turned over to Jack with a worried and confused expression on her face. “What do you think I should make him? He obviously can't eat any solid food...”

“We can wait on that.” Jack quickly said, raising up a hand to stifle his wife. “We should wait a little while, give his mouth some time to heal.”

“But..we can't just...” Amanda started to say.

“We can't risk hurting him, Amanda.” Jack said sternly. “I'm sorry, but I'm not about to risk hurting Irwin further. He's already been through enough as it is.”

“Now see here...” Amanda started up.

As his parents started to argue upfront, Caruso leaned back against the back seat of the car. The pain that he had felt had completely subsided by now. He was only half paying attention to what his parents were saying. At this moment, he didn't really want to listen to them argue about his well being. It was not making him feel any better. On the contrary, it was making him feel a lot worse. He slowly reached up and gently touched one of his cheeks lightly, and immediately cringed back at the pain. He looked at his hands and could see a bit of blood on his fingertips and he shuddered. He started to worry about how much blood he had actually lost and wondered how long it would take for him to recover physically. He started having a sense of uselessness. Maybe he should have opted to leave the team, if only temporary. After all, what good was he to the team now?

* * *

Back at the lighthouse, the remaining members of the Dino Squad were getting ready to leave. They picked up whatever bags and belongings they had brought over and carried it out to their motorcycles. Buzz and Rodger helped each other pick up the remaining pieces of the computer they had gotten on Saturday when they tried to locate Caruso. There was still signs of burns and charred material underneath where the pieces were laying for all that time. The smell of smoke still hung in the air. It wasn't as bad as it was before, though.

While they were busy with that, Fiona and Max were fixing up the Dino SUV. A few things had broken when Victor had slammed against the yellow vehicle and some of the metallic structure had been scratched, dented, and even ripped. Max wasn't much of a repair tech himself, but he decided that he could help Fiona with his brawn. He helped haul out heavy bags and kits from the back of the SUV. After that was done, Fiona got underneath the van and started to fix whatever was broken underneath.

Moynihan was sitting down in her seat. She had out her knitting material again and was trying to sew. She was trying to keep her mind off of what Victor had told her on the phone earlier. She felt that knitting would help her feel better. But she found that she couldn't concentrate. Those haunting words still flowed back to her mind. She had tried her best to hide her fears from her students. They hadn't asked her if anything was wrong, and she felt relieved that she wasn't making them suspicious. But she didn't think she had much time before they would really start noticing.

Victor had told her how the next few days will be 'unforgettable' for both her and her 'precious students'. He didn't go into too much detail, but he had assured her that, while he will enjoy 'the show', she sure will not. While Victor never specified exactly what he knew was going to happen, Moynihan had a few fears and suspicions on what it could be. She put her sewing needle on the table next to the chair and looked at her hand. Over thirty years ago, before their final battle, Victor had taunted her how he would, one day, make her worst fears become realized. Could that be what Victor was talking about earlier on the phone?

“Okay, Ms. Moynihan.” Joanne heard Rodger say as he walked up towards her. “Buzz and I got the computer debris from Saturday picked up. Is there anything else you want us to do?”

Moynihan nodded a few times. With the hand that she was looking at seconds ago slowly pointed towards the staircase. “Yes. You can go upstairs and clean up the mess that Michelle had caused. We need to remove any computers or wiring that is damaged beyond repair. And the computers that could still be fixed, leave up there. I'll deal with them after you are done.”

Rodger and Buzz nodded. They weren't looking forward to picking up more sharp debris and breathing in more smoke. But they wanted to make it up to Moynihan for not being at the lighthouse Friday night to help her stop Michelle, especially Buzz, who felt guilty for even trusting the girl in the first place. Moynhan had wanted the kids to return to their families after Caruso and his parents had left, but they simply refused to do so. They had all contacted their parents and let them know they were staying longer. They had convinced their parents to let them stay for a couple more hours. Moynihan didn't understand why they wouldn't go home at first. But Max had insisted that they wanted to help her clean the lighthouse before they left. Moynihan was touched by their willingness to help and had permitted them to stay longer.

* * *

Buzz and Rodger disappeared upstairs. They made their way towards the room where they would usually run their diagnostics and scan for any new activity from Victor. The room was usually crisp and clean, and looked to be the most sanitized room in the entire building. But now it was torn and ripped. There were signs of small fires and they could see twisted metal and cords strewn across the ground. Some of the cords were torn open, revealing the colorful wires inside. They could see a few little pillars of smoke rise up and, on the ground, they could see some burnt areas.

“Oh man...” Rodger whispered as he stepped inside. This was the first time he had been in this room within the past few days. He hadn't dared step inside this room because he was having a hard time believing that all Moynihan's hard work in setting the place up would be destroyed so quickly by a small raptor-like dinosaur. “...she really did a number on this place.”

Buzz nodded in agreement. He looked all over the room and he couldn't see any signs of a computer that remained untouched. All the computers were either on the floor or were smashed on the table. Almost all the monitors had their screen smashed, smoke billowing from them. He looked over at the couch that was pushed up against the wall, near a window. The couch remained untouched. In fact, it looked as new as ever. It almost made Buzz shudder to think how the couch looked completely intact while everything else was destroyed. “Yeah...”

“Let's hope this doesn't happen again.” Rodger said as he began work with picking up some of the shattered pieces on the ground.

Buzz proceeded to stomp out the small fires with his shoe. It was a mystery to him that they did not spread. Perhaps the room was closed off and most of the oxygen was depleted. He had noticed it was a little harder to breathe in this room. After he had finished up with putting out the few small fires, he quickly rushed to the window. He was coughing heavily and so was Rodger. Buzz immediately opened up a window. The smoke poured out of the room quickly and fresh air rushed inside, bringing some relief to the two teenagers.

“Don't worry. It won't happen again.” Buzz said in a low voice, coughing one more time. “Michelle's never setting foot in this building again...”

The way Buzz said that made Rodger tense up. He hated seeing Buzz like this, so different from his normal self. Putting several broken pieces of computer screen into a pile, he turned to Buzz. “I don't think we should be dwelling on..that issue, Buzz.” He explained. “It's not going to help brooding on it.”

Buzz glared at him softly and said, “You're as interested as me in...”

Rodger held up a hand. “Zip it, Buzz! I know what you're going to say, and yes, I admit. It is true. But now we have to clean this mess up!”

Buzz growled angrily. “Fine!” He stomped towards the other side of the room. Bending down, he proceeded to roughly move shattered pieces of computer into a pile just as Rodger was doing. He then grabbed entire monitors that were shattered and slammed them into the pile, breaking the pieces below it into even smaller bits.

Rodger flinched as he heard Buzz continue to slam parts into the floor. He tried to tolerate it, thinking Buzz would work off his anger pretty soon. But after several minutes of the same slamming and stomping going on, Rodger finally had enough. He immediately got off the ground, covering his ears to protect them from the loud noise. “Gah!” He yelled, gripping his head tightly. “Buzz! Knock it off!”

Feeling too frustrated to just knock it off, Buzz clenched a monitor in his hands and then threw it into the ground. “What?!” He yelled, gritting his teeth as he glared daggers at Rodger. He held his arms out at his sides in a fighting stance, his fists clenched as if he were prepared to enter a boxing ring. His breathing came in quick and harsh. “What do you want me to do?!”

Rodger winced and took a few steps back, holding out his hands like he was going to protect himself in case Buzz charged him. “N-Now..Buzz... calm down..” He said carefully, hoping Buzz will settle down quickly.

Unfortunately, Buzz did not calm down. Instead, he just got angrier. Buzz didn't know what was coming over him. He found it increasingly hard to control himself and he couldn't stop himself from advancing towards Rodger menacingly. “I really don't understand what you want me to do, Rodger! I am picking up this stuff just like you seemed to want me to! And now you're telling me to 'knock it off! You can't be satisfied, can you?!”

Rodger backed up as far as he could go. He felt his back press against the cold wall. Buzz didn't seem to care that he was now cornered as he continued to advance on him. Buzz's eyes were glowing now, the pointed pupils clearly visible. “Buzz! Stop it!” Rodger commanded, holding out his hand. But Buzz didn't listen to him. Despite being backed up against the wall, Rodger tried to take another step. Unfortunately, he didn't see the piece of debris on the ground and he slipped. Losing his footing, he slammed into his back. Opening up his eyes, he looked up to see Buzz standing over him, glaring angrily at him.

“Shut up!” That was all Buzz said before he released his Pteranodon talons from his hands. He then proceeded to swing his hands down, intent on slashing Rodger, showing no signs of stopping himself.

Rodger screamed, holding a large arm on front of his face in a lame attempt to protect himself. Buzz's eyes widened in shock at what he was doing and immediately stopped. But he had done so too late. He felt his talons slash deep into Rodger's arm, the same one that Oscura had bitten Friday night. Rodger's eyes widened in pain and he let out a scream. “AAAAAHHHHHH!”

* * *

The scream echoed throughout the lighthouse, reverberating against the walls. The sound quickly reached downstairs where Moynihan still was. She immediately lifted up her head, craning it towards the stares where she had recently sent Buzz and Rodger. She immediately knew something was wrong. “Rodger...?” Horrified that the same events might be happening again, she immediately got up from her chair and made her way towards the stares. She proceeded to walk up as fast as she could, hoping that it wouldn't be too late when she arrived at the room.

* * *

When she reached the room, she pushed the door wide open and quickly stepped in. It felt a little strange coming back in here. All the debris on the floor gave her a painful reminder of what had happened Friday night. But she shook the memory out of her head, quickly looking for the source of the scream. Once she laid her eyes on Rodger, she stifled a scream of her own. She was horrified at the site that lay before her. Rodger was on the ground, clutching a bloodied arm. And standing over him was Buzz. She could see blood on his claws, telling her he was the one who struck him. “Rodger...Buzz...” Moynihan whispered in shock.

Buzz immediately whirled around when he heard his mentor speak. With a look of horror on his face, he opened his mouth and started to speak in a stammering voice. “P-P-Professor Moynihan..I..I didn't m-m-mean to..I...” He looked at his bloody hand, shaking visibly at the realization at what he had just done.

Moynihan didn't let him finish. She immediately lifted up her hand to silence the boy. Instead of angering her, this event had frightened her further. Buzz was the third person to lose his temper like that, and the second person to physically harm another by mistake. She was reminded of what Victor had said. Is this what he had talked about when he said they would find it 'unforgettable'? “Buzz...what has gotten over you?”

Buzz glanced down at Rodger, who looked up at him with a shocked and angry expression. Buzz started to stammer and mutter, looking every which way as he tried to find something suitable to say. He wanted to defend himself and was almost tempted to blame Rodger. But that wouldn't be fair, would it? And there was nothing he could possibly say to make himself appear innocent, was there? He had blood on his hands. There was no acceptable excuse for that. He finally gave in, hanging his head in shame. “I-I....I really don't know, Ms. Moynihan... I don't know what happened to me...”

“You went nuts is what happened, yo!” Rodger said sternly, narrowing his eyes. One look from Moynihan made him soften his expression and tone of voice. He spoke again, this time in a calmer voice. “Look..it's probably just stress. I just..pushed you too far.. I'm sorry, man.”

“I'm the one who should be sorry.” Buzz insisted, lowering himself down to help Rodger stand back up onto his feet. “I shouldn't have snapped like that... I'm so sorry..I didn't mean to hurt you...” He closed his eyes and looked away after Rodger was standing on his own again. “It's..it's just that...I can't stop thinking about Michelle and what she did in here...and to all of us...”

Upon hearing Buzz's explanation, Moynihan and Rodger both looked at each other and then back to Neil. They weren't surprised to hear him say that, especially Rodger. Buzz had made it clear, whether or not he had said anything about it, that he harbored ill feelings against Michelle. Back at the warehouse, he looked the most eager to have her killed rather than listen to her talk or allow her to lead them. They were both starting to feel that perhaps Buzz was taking these feelings too far, however. His harboring of his feelings was causing him to snap more easily, and his behavior has gotten more aggressive, clearly.

Buzz winced at their stares, feeling as though their eyes were going to bore right through his own. He took a step back, rubbing his arm nervously. He glanced back at the debris that was still on the ground. Wordlessly, he turned away from Moynihan and Rodger and walked towards the piles of rubbish. He then proceeded to kneel down and pick the stuff up off the ground and carry them toward a large bin in the corner of the room and dropped the objects in there. He did his best to focus his mind on this simple task to keep his mind too preoccupied to think about Michelle or about he or she had done.

Moynihan and Rodger watched Buzz calmly and silently pick up the wreckage in the room, a solemn expression on their faces. They wanted to say something, but they couldn't think of what they could say. And any time they did, somehow, come up with something they could say to Buzz, they hesitate, fearing that they might anger or upset him. Perhaps this was something that Buzz needed to work out himself, by himself. Rodger decided to help Buzz carry the pieces to the large bin. They were supposed to be working together anyhow. Moynihan, on the other hand, just stood there, watching as the two teens started helping each other as if there was never a fight to begin with. She turned her eyes back where Rodger once laid, seeing the blood stains on the ground. She winced and shook her head.

Looking back at the teens, she wondered if she should stay up here for a while. After all, there was still the chance that Buzz could snap again. She worried that his mentality would cause him to go nuts once again. She was even tempted to send Buzz home now, but thought better of it, concerned about what Buzz might do once he got home. That might put him under even more stress as he would not be able to release stress like he could here at the lighthouse. But on the other hand, Buzz did seem to feel very guilty about what he did. Maybe he would try to be more careful and restrain himself.

Moynihan made her decision. She would give the teens one more chance to work together without causing fights or other problems. If she were to hear one more scream, she would have something done, perhaps separating the two or sending one of them home. Regardless if any of them agreed to that decision, Moynihan knew that it would be for their own good. She didn't want any one else getting hurt if she could help it.

“I'm heading back downstairs, you two.” Moynihan said, making her way towards the door. She was staring to hear Rump barking downstairs. He was hungry, she believed. And she knew how Rump got if he wasn't fed quickly enough. “If I don't feed Rump now, he might eat the furniture.” She said, attempting a lame joke to lighten the mood up a little. She felt a little embarrassed. She was becoming a little more like Caruso and Buzz now.

“All right.” Rodger said, loud and clear. He lifted up his good arm and waved goodbye to her. “Good luck with Rump!”

“..Yeah.” Buzz chuckled. “We don't want him causing a mess, now do we?”

Moynihan managed to chuckle herself. “Thanks.” With that, she turned around and disappeared through the door. She pushed the door shut, leaving Buzz and Rodger in the room alone together. Buzz and Rodger could hear her footsteps as she walked down the stairs, fading away as she got lower and lower into the building. Eventually the sound completely disappeared.

After Joanne disappeared downstairs, Buzz and Rodger immediately resumed their work, moving debris off the ground and into the bin. They didn't know what Moynihan planned on doing with the debris once it had been collected. But that part was not important. They had to get the stuff off the ground so they could begin the repairs. Rodger had volunteered earlier to repair any computer that might be fixable. Buzz had joked with him that he better be careful or there will be another fire. Rodger was tempted to smack Buzz for that comment, but decided against it. It was not going to do him any good anyway. He would just have to be even more careful when fixing the computers. He didn't show it, but he was, in fact, terrified that he might cause another computer to explode.

Still feeling a little uneasy around Buzz, Rodger moved a little ways from him, beginning work underneath one of the tables. He could see a few shattered pieces of computer screen underneath there. Very carefully, he reached out and gently picked up the glass shards, hoping that he wouldn't cut himself. After he finished putting them in a small pile next to himself, he took another look around the room to overview their progress. The room was starting to look a little better. Thanks to Buzz, the smoke had all but diminished in the room, having floated out of the open window. There was far less stuff on the ground now and all the fires were put out. There was still some trash to pick up first before they would be close to being done with cleaning. But he felt that, if they kept at it for at least another twenty minutes or so, all the debris will be gone.

Buzz noticed Rodger had inched away from him and he started to feel guilty. He couldn't blame Rodger for moving away from him, especially after what he had done to him minutes ago. They had already apologized, but it was apparent that there was still friction between the two and Buzz wasn't really surprised. But Buzz decided not to say anything or dwell on it for too long. He decided to follow Rodger's lead and continued to pick up the stuff on the ground. They were close to being finished it seemed. Soon, all that would be left to do is move the broken computers in one place and the computers that could be fixed would be moved to the other side of the table.

“So...” Buzz spoke up, getting tired of the uncomfortable silence. “...do you think you can repair some of these computers?” Rodger looked over, giving a soft glare. Buzz quickly said, “No, I don't mean anything bad by it..I just mean that..some of these computers are heavily damaged...”

Rodger's expression softened up almost immediately. He took in a deep breath. “Well....” He looked over at one of the computers he believed was fixable. The monitor was cracked, but other than a chewed up cord, it didn't seem to have any other traces of damage. “It's going to be hard...but yes, I believe I can fix some of these computers.”

Buzz nodded. “Well hopefully you can. We're going to need something to start rebuilding this room.”

“I know. There's so much we need to get done...” Rodger agreed, wiping his brow as he felt sweat dripping down his forehead. “We need to get this mess cleaned up and then the computers have to be fixed, whatever ones that can be, that is. And then, after that, the first thing we need to do is get the scanners up and running.”

Buzz shuddered when Rodger mentioned the scanners. It reminded him of how vulnerable they now were without the computers up and running. Weren't they still visible under Victor's watchful eye? They no longer had a shield to protect themselves from Victor. On top of that, wouldn't Victor realize when they were making the repairs and do something about it? “Don't forget about the shield, Rodger.” Buzz said, looking towards the sky nervously. “Without it, we are just sitting ducks. And if we don't get it up quickly enough, wouldn't Victor be able to find out what we are doing and put a stop to it?”

“Buzz, if Victor had wanted to do something like that, would he not have tried to stop us when we were trying to build a new computer? Or when we found the hand held scanner?” Rodger asked, raising an eyebrow. He understood Buzz's fear, however, and didn't blame him for making such a statement.

“...you're right.” Buzz said, rubbing the back of his head. “Still...we can't be too careful.”

“Yeah, I know.” Rodger agreed, understanding Buzz's paranoia about this situation. Even though he felt confident that Victor wasn't going to try anything anytime very soon, Rodger knew that, as Buzz said, there was no room for guessing because if they get this wrong, there won't be a second chance. If Victor finds them, it'll be game over for all of them. They're far more vulnerable now because Victor still had the element of surprise on his side. Even though they knew that he might come again, they'll never know when he'll come and it's not like they could keep watch all day long. Or could they...?

* * *

“All right, Rump, all right!” Moynihan laughed as Rump continuously barked happily, a few times even jumping up onto her leg and staring at her with those pleading eyes of his. Moynihan was trying to find his dog food. For some reason, she couldn't remember where she had put it. That was strange, especially for her. She doesn't forget things easily, especially when it came to those she cared about. Rump was getting impatient with her. She could tell by the way he was staring at her. “I'm sorry, dear. I'm trying to find your food. Now..where did I put it...?”

She went over to one of the cupboards. She had already looked through it, but she decided to try it again anyway. Maybe she had overlooked something. She gripped the small handle and pulled it open. And there, right in front of her, was the dog food. Moynihan slapped herself in the face. How could she have possibly missed that? It was right there in front of her eyes! It was like she couldn't read.

Moynihan froze on that last thought. She glanced at the dog food bag again. The letters were looking jumbled and extremely blurred. Moynihan blinked several times. She quickly rubbed her eyes and then looked at the bag again. This time, the letters weren't jumbled, but were crystal clear. And yet she still couldn't read what it said, even though it was clearly english. Her mind was processing the information as if it were just simple chicken scratches. Frightened, she shook her head hard, trying to clear her mind. This time, when she looked, she could read the bag just fine. Although shaken up by this experience, she immediately went over to Rump's food dish and poured some kibble into it.

As Rump barked happily and immediately went over to eat his food, Moynihan walked to the corner of the kitchen and leaned against the counter top. She rubbed her head with one hand, trying to figure out what was happening. She had been under stress before, but it never made her this forgetful. And she had never lost her ability to read before. That's what frightened her the most. It wasn't a matter of blurring and difficulty focusing. She could not even tell the individual letters apart. What was happening to her?

Her eyes traveled down to where Rump was. The dog had his face into the bowl, chowing away at the small pieces of kibble that now filled his bowl. Moynihan smiled, seeing that Rump was clearly satisfied, wagging his tail back and forth. Seeing Rump eat reminded her of her other pet. Cerulean needed to be fed as well. Moynihan quickly left the kitchen, not bothering to close the door behind her. All the other doors in the lighthouse were shut, so he couldn't run away like he did one of the times he was in Caruso's care. Rump looked up and watched her leave, and then resumed with eating his food, groaning contently.

* * *

Moynihan opened up the door to her bedroom and walked inside. She walked over towards him, and he greeted her with his usual bird dance and happy chirping. She stuck her finger inside the cage. “Hello there, Cerulean.” As the bird playfully nipped her finger, she reached around the cage to the table right behind it. Cerulean's bird food was right behind it and she knew he must be very hungry now. The poor thing, along with Rump, weren't fed too much all day because of the situation with Caruso. Moynihan was grateful that they found Caruso when they did. She knew that finding Caruso was going to be hard and things could have turned out a lot worse. It was truly a miracle that they found the hand held scanner and were able to locate Caruso.

And oddly enough, she also felt grateful for Michelle being there to guide them to Caruso in the first place. Surely, without her help, they never would have found him so fast, and they might have all gotten captured. But as grateful as she was, Moynihan still didn't completely trust Michelle. The girl did throw her down the stairs, after all. She couldn't easily forgive her for that. But she felt that she should give Michelle a second chance should the time come for it. They were forced to trust her at the warehouse. She was the only one who knew the way to Caruso. But if a situation were to occur that they had the option of trusting Michelle, Moynihan felt they should risk it, especially if Michelle seemed serious enough to help.

Moynihan didn't completely understand herself, why she would want to give Michelle a second chance. Perhaps it was because she had a soft side for kids like Michelle. She had met people like her before, who were only confused and didn't understand, themselves, why they get themselves into such situations. It was probably just in her nature. She then worried about her students, who she knew would not be so forgiving, especially Buzz and Rodger. She hadn't said anything, but she had noticed the way they were huddled together, talking about vengeance and such. It upset her to see them do such a thing. Perhaps she should say something to them about it later on.

She was particularly proud at how Max had stepped in and opposed the idea of revenge. Even though he must have hated Michelle just as much as they did, he was mature enough to realize that getting revenge was wrong and could easily backfire on them. Knowing when to say no and enforcing one's own authority, those were qualities of a good leader. Moynihan smiled softly. She made the right choice when she appointed Max as the leader. Or did he appoint himself? Moynihan scratched her head, unable to recall that one little detail. But no matter, she'd remember it sooner or later. She went back to feeding her bird.

She opened up the small tube filled with birdseed and immediately poured it into Cerulean's little bird food dish. Immediately, he began pecking at the little seeds, swallowing them hole each time. Smiling, she set the food down and watched Cerulean for a few seconds, noting how he was taking in one or two seeds at a time and swallowing them, not bothering to crunch them up. He must have been very hungry, she thought. She walked over to her bed and sat down. She looked at her ankle and gently touched it. She wasn't feeling any pain now, but she still winced. The memory of the leg being broken thirty years ago was still fresh on her mind. And something was bothering her. Michelle had known about this weakness. Did that mean that everyone on Victor's team knew about it?

“Moynihan!” Moynihan heard her name being called out. She immediately recognized it as Max. She immediately went over to her window and pushed away the curtains. She gripped the bottom of the panel and pushed it up. She peered through it and looked down. She saw Max standing in front of the Dino SUV, his hands cupped to his mouth. Moynihan was impressed that his voice could make it this high up.

Moynihan leaned a little closer to the window, almost pressing her face against the screen, and shouted, “What is it, Max?!” She hoped she was loud enough for him to hear her.

It was revealed that he did in fact hear her. Max took a step forward, not moving his hands from his mouth as he spoke back up to her. “Can you come down here?! Fiona and I want you to take a look at the Dino SUV!”

“I'll be right down!” Moynihan called back and immediately moved away from the window.

Max stood patiently in front of the SUV as Moynihan quickly made her way down the steps. Within a few minutes, she opened up the door and made her way towards Max. She carefully looking at the SUV as she approached. She was expecting something to be wrong with it, perhaps a deep scratch that Fiona and Max weren't able to repair. Much to her surprise, the SUV looked to be in great shape. So what could be the problem?

“Max..I don't see anything wrong with the Dino SUV.” Moynihan said, rubbing her chin as she went into deep thought. “Everything looks fine with it. You two did a great job in repairing it, I must say!”

“Thanks.” Max said with a smile on his face. But that smile quickly faded into a frown. He motioned towards the vehicle. Moynihan watched him with a curious look on her face. “It's not something that's wrong on the outside...” He walked back towards the SUV. He knelt down and pointed to the underneath of it. “It's something wrong on in the inside.” The expression on his face deepened as he peered underneath. He could see that Fiona was still there, working on the problem. She looked a little frustrated and groaned several times. Max did not see Moynihan make her way towards the vehicle.

“Well what seems to be the problem?” Moynihan asked suddenly, catching Max off guard. He let out a scream of surprise, jolting up and hitting his head on the car. His scream startled Fiona as well, and she jumped up and she ended up hitting her face against one of the pipes that she was looking at. Realizing what she had done, Moynihan quickly backed up. “I'm so sorry, kids! Are you all right?”

Max carefully rubbed the top of his head to check for damage. He could feel a small bump forming, and the area was growing a little tender. But there was no blood and he couldn't feel any further damage. Rubbing his head to try and soothe the pain, Max said, “Yeah..I'm fine....” He looked towards the underneath of the Dino SUV. “How about you, Fiona?” He asked.

A low groan came from underneath the vehicle. After a couple seconds of silence after that, Fiona shouted from underneath the car, “Yeah, I'm fine!” She sounded both annoyed and angry about what had just happened. And to show it, she growled angrily. “Thanks a lot, you two! You made me break this thing even more!”

“Break what thing more...?” Moynihan asked, looking at Max.

“One of the pipes was broken.” Max explained, not bothering to look at Moynihan as he talked to her. He felt bad about accidentally hurting Fiona and practically ruining any of her progress. “From what Fiona said, that particular pipe is very important. Without it, well, the Dino SUV would not be drivable, and perhaps even hazardous.”

Moynihan's eyes widened in shock. She didn't need to ask Max to elaborate more. She already knew what he was talking about. The vehicle had originally belonged to Fiona, but after they had gained the dinosaur powers, Fiona had given it to Moynihan, who had wanted to modify it. She not only wanted to make it more eco-friendly, transforming it into an electric car, but she also felt that the kids could use this vehicle to transport themselves between locations quickly and efficiently. They could use it to store their weapons and other things. The only problem with it is how big it was. It surely was something that could be easily spotted. That was why they had come up with the idea of the motorcycles. They run on less power and were more easily hidden.

The pipe that was broken must have been one that guided the electricity to the engine. It was the only thing Moynihan could think of, and it was definitely a dangerous situation. Without that pipe intact, not only would it be not drivable, but it could potentially hurt, or even kill, anyone driving it. Without something to guide it, the electricity could go anywhere around the car, which was made up of metal, which conducts electricity. It wouldn't be able to go into the engine and start up the car. Instead, it could potentially travel up to the person driving the car and shock them until they either got away or died. She worried that Fiona had gotten severely hurt when she hit her head against that pipe, but was relieved to find the Dino SUV was turned off. Fiona could not have been electrocuted with no electricity traveling through the car.

“Is that the only thing that is wrong with it now?” Moynihan asked cautiously. She knew the vehicle had taken a lot of damage, but she wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything else seriously wrong. A few dents and scratches weren't going to slow down the vehicle by much or cause too much of a problem, although she felt they should still be fixed. They weren't of the greatest priority now however.”

“You mean the only serious one? Yeah.” Max said.

Although they couldn't see her, Fiona nodded her head a few times before returning to working on the pipe. The crack wasn't very thick, but any opening was out of the question. She was trying her best to close the gap as much as possible and welding it, or gluing it, back together, eliminating any signs of an opening. “It shouldn't take too much longer to fix it, Prof. Moynihan.” Fiona called out. “But I recommend not driving it for a while, just to be safe.”

“Acknowledged, Fiona.” Moynihan said. She turned to Max. “Max, could you be a dear and back into the lighthouse?”

“Sure..but why?” Max asked, confused. He thought that she wanted him to stay out here and help Fiona.

“Just do it!” Moynihan ordered, her voice sounding a little darker than normal. Eyes widened, Max took a step back, shocked by the tone of voice Moynihan had taken. He expected her to blow any second. But Moynihan seemed to regain her composure and quickly apologized. “Sorry, dear boy..I don't know what came over me.. Please.. just..just head back into the lighthouse.” She rubbed her head, trying to make the headache she was getting go away.

“Are you sure that's a good idea?” Max asked, taking a step towards her. “You..don't look so well...”

“I'll be fine, Max.” Moynihan said softly, giving him a sideways glance. “I need you to go..back inside and bring out some...more tools for Fiona.” She was constantly pausing as she spoke as if she was easily forgetting what she was going to say. “I am...going to help..Fiona...” Although she wasn't noticing how slow she was talking, Max and Fiona both sure did.

Sticking her head from underneath the vehicle, Fiona looked up at Moynihan with a concerned expression. “Professor..are you feeling all right?” She asked, confused. “You're speaking so slowly..I almost think that you are forgetting what you want to say... That's not like you...”

Moynihan shook her head rapidly, denying what Fiona was saying to her. Moynihan was not noticing how much slower she was talking now or the gaps and delays in between a number of words. To her, she was speaking at the normal rate as she usually does, and seeing both Max and Fiona looking at her as if she had gone nuts was upsetting her. She was even starting to become angry when they wouldn't stop staring at her as if something was wrong. What did they know, anyway? They weren't her! That's what she thought. “I'm fine, okay?!” Moynihan snapped at them, narrowing her eyes. “There's nothing wrong with me!”

Max snapped his head back in shock and Fiona almost jumped at Moynihan's sudden sharp and loud voice, nearly slamming her head against the underneath of the vehicle. Moynihan's sudden loss of temper was completely unexpected. The other times, it was a bit more understandable because she obviously felt stressed, although even then it was a shocker. But now, Moynihan seemed to snap when all they did was mention that she wasn't acting like she used to. And it wasn't like they were antagonizing her or anything, or keeping bringing up the subject. If they didn't realize something wrong before, now they definitely know something was wrong.

Moynihan's anger-filled expression slowly melted away when she realized what had just happened. She shook her head, rubbing her forehead with one hand as she leaned against the vehicle. She was getting a bad headache both from the shock of what she did yet again and from something else that she could not explain. Something was going on with her and she couldn't think of what it was exactly. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, but she didn't want to frighten her students even more. They must be terribly frightened of her enough as it is with her loss of temper. And what if she really was talking too slowly? Her students would know this more than she did, wouldn't they? She wondered if that was also frightening them. It would be understandable if this happened over the course of a few years, but her change in behavior practically happened overnight. This was scary, she thought, very scary.

“Oh dear...” Moynihan said, opening up her eyes and looking at her two students, who were gawking at her because of her sudden outburst. “I am so sorry, you two...really I am... I don't know what's wrong with me.” Her voice sounded like a mixture of pain and shame, and both Fiona and Max couldn't help but feel sorry for the old woman. “I just feel so...irritable lately. I feel like I want to...dare I say it, rip someone's throat out over the tiniest details... What's wrong with me..?” She asked in vain, giving an almost helpless expression at Max and Fiona.

Max and Fiona looked at each other, trying to find answers in each other, but finding nothing. None of them had an explaination for how Moynihan had been acting. And they both really felt for her. They felt sorry for her because it was easy to tell that she was going through a hard time. Moynihan had never acted so helpless like this in the past. It was almost always the other way around. Usually, one of them would feel lost or scared, and Moynihan would help guide them through their troubles. Moynihan truly was a very compassionate old woman who would want to help even those who aren't in her care, like how she wanted to help Liam who suffered from Asperger's Syndrome.

The only time that either of them could think of that Moynihan needed any kind of help was when they first got their pets. They had mutated during the night and gotten loose. They were all so very lucky that none of their parents or family members had seen these creatures, with the exception of Fiona's grandfather, who, luckily for them, already knew about the mutantsaurs and the Dino Squad in general. Moynihan was all alone in her lighthouse when her bird mutated and she was almost attacked in bed when she was at her most vulnerable state, sleeping. She was lucky she woke up in time and was able to distract her pet by feeding it. But still, it was a very close call and something worse could have happened.

And something worse did happen. They both recalled another time when she was vulnerable. The one time that they could have stayed in late to help out with whatever Moynihan could offer them, they weren't there and Moynihan was attacked. Michelle had gotten into the lighthouse without any problems, assaulted Rump, and had started to destroy the computers. Moynihan explained that she tried to stop her, but Michelle managed to throw her down the stairs so that she wouldn't be in the way. How she survived such a fall, not even she could explain. She was lucky that her main injury was a twisted leg, although she did suffer a deep scratch or two. But coming into the lighthouse and seeing Moynihan laying on the ground so helpless made both Max and Fiona realize how vulnerable Moynihan truly was when she was all alone in the lighthouse.

Max took a step forward, reaching out towards Moynihan as if he wanted to hug her to comfort her. “Ms. Moynihan...do you want to go back inside and lay down? Maybe a bit of rest would...”

Moynihan swiftly lifted up her hand to silence the jock. “I'm sorry, but no... Rest won't help. I had enough time to rest upstairs, and I'm still feeling so...angry..bitter...confused...” She gave him a look that almost scared him. It was so foreign because Moynihan almost never made this expression to anyone. It was filled with a mixture of anger, confusion, and helplessness. She decided to tell them what she thought was wrong, as much as she didn't want to scare them. “I'm sorry..I didn't want to tell you this, but... I think something else is going on...something bad.”

“What...?” Fiona, still underneath the vehicle, gasped.

“..Victor called me earlier. That's why I went upstairs.” Moynihan admitted, turning her head away for a few seconds, feeling ashamed at telling them this. “That's why I didn't want to stay downstairs. I didn't want to frighten you.”

Max was shocked at this, but decided not to dwell on it too much or push Moynihan further. “So..you think Victor has something to do with this?” It did seem logical. Victor was the kind of person to do something like this, wasn't he? If Victor truly was responsible, it would make everything about what happened to Moynihan make sense.

Moynihan flinched when Max asked this. It reminded her of the taunts Victor had given her that gave her such a fright. And that only made Victor happier. Knowing that he was frightened her encouraged him to continue. If they were talking face to face, she would have been fighting with herself not to punch him, which was something that she would normally not do to anyone, even if she was angry with the person. “I'm afraid that...that maybe the case, dear boy. He did taunt me on the phone about how..the upcoming events that'll happen to us will be..unforgettable...”

“Unforgettable...?” Max slowly mouthed, whispering just at a barely audible tone. That didn't sound too promising. The way Moyniahn said 'unforgettable' had scared him. It felt like there was an ominous message to that one word, a warning of possible danger.

“...I wonder what he could have meant by that...” Fiona said softly.

“He..never told me what it was.” Moynihan said, closing her eyes. “Whenever I asked him, he only laughed and further taunted me. He loved hearing how confused, frustrated, angry, and scared I was. He loved it because he feels he is getting even with me for betraying him many years ago.”

“Why that...that monster...” Max growled under his breath. It was angering him knowing that Victor had put Moynihan through so much emotional turmoil all in the name of vengeance. It was sickening and just plain awful. “How can he accuse you of betraying him? Wasn't it not him that betrayed you..”

The mention of the betrayal made Moynihan's blood run cold. She had wanted to put that behind her long ago. Just thinking about it brought bad memories of not only her final battle with Victor when he broke her leg, but also the one event that made Victor completely despise humans. She never did tell her students the complete story behind the betrayal and for good reason. She didn't think they could handle it. How could they be able to handle it when she, herself, still had trouble coping with it after all these years? To an extent, Moynihan missed the way things used to be between her and Victor. She had enjoyed his company. He had made her feel like she wasn't alone, that she truly belonged somewhere...

It still sent chills down her spine to recall just how quickly thinks fell apart when Victor started to hate humans. When they were trying to bring back the dinosaurs, it was not originally to overthrow the humans. They had just wanted to make the planet feel a little more like home. Even though she was initially disgusted by humans ruling the Earth instead of dinosaurs, Moynihan didn't feel like she should try to kill them off. There was something about them that fascinated her, and the more she got to know the species, the more she started to love them. And Victor was the same way, at first, until that one event lead him to hating the species entirely. Looking at Max and Fiona, Joanne pondered if it was time for her to tell them about what had really happened all those years ago. Why not? She felt that they deserved to know, especially after what had happened.

“Well...yes...” Joanne said slowly, rubbing one hand on the other nervously. What if her students got mad with her for keeping this a secret for this long? She couldn't help but worry about this one question. She would still tell of course, but she feared of how they might react after she finished telling them. “But...”

“But...?” Fiona asked. Her interest was suddenly peaked. It sounded like Moynihan was going to tell them something that might be important. This information could prove vital in how to combat Victor and deal with other issues, including Caruso's panic attacks. Fiona sighed to herself. That was just wishful thinking. There was no way that Moynihan could possibly be able to come up with a full-proof plan on dealing what has happened the past few days.

Moynihan exhaled slowly and bit her lip nervously. “There's...something I need to tell you...”

“What do you need to tell us...?” Fiona asked carefully. No longer able to focus on fixing the broken pipe, she crawled from the underneath of the car and straightened up onto her feet. She looked down at herself and noticed she was covered with dirt and bits of grass. Groaning, she immediately brushed herself off, knocking off as much dirt and plants as she could. She then returned her attention back to her teacher, waiting for her to answer. She opened her mouth to say something else, but quickly shut it. She didn't want to provoke Moynihan further, especially after her loss of control just a few minutes ago.

Max became interested as well. But he also couldn't stop himself from feeling a little angry with Moynihan. He couldn't explain to himself why he was feeling like this. He didn't completely understand it himself. But he was feeling so angry with her that he wanted to run away to prevent himself from hurting her. Was he angry that she had snapped so suddenly several times today? Was he angry that her delaying them earlier almost cost Caruso his life? Or was he angry that Moynihan might have been hiding something from him all this time? No, that couldn't be it. Moynihan didn't mean to delay them and she had the right to hide whatever she wanted to. As for how she snapped, that probably wasn't her fault either. Max recalled how he had snapped at her when they thought Caruso was dead. He had no control over his actions and he could have really hurt Moynihan. Just thinking about what he could have done to her sent chills down his spine.

Moynihan gestured towards the lighthouse. “Come back inside.” She said, immediately turning around and walking back towards the lighthouse. “This is something I feel all of you should hear.” Fiona and Max looked at each other and then immediately started to follow the old woman back into the lighthouse. Whatever it is she wanted to tell them, it must be important if she wanted all the students to hear her story.

But there would be one person who would not hear any of her story. Caruso had left with his parents not too long ago. If Moynihan wanted all of them to hear it, does this mean that she was going to call up Caruso's parents and have them come over? Max looked at Moynihan and decided to ask her himself. “You want to tell all of us this story? What about Caruso?”

Moynihan slowly shook her head. “He's probably already home by now. I don't want to cause him anymore trouble by bringing him back here just to listen to a story. I fear it'll only depress him even more, especially in his state of mind.”

“Then why do you want to tell us this?” Max asked her.

“Because...” Moynihan said, closing her eyes for a few brief seconds. “..it's something that I should have told you a long time ago.”

“And what is this story about?” Max asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“...it's about the real reason Victor had started to hate humans.” Moynihan admitted after a few second's hesitation, sounding completely ashamed of herself. “And how I was the reason for that...” She stopped in her tracks and glanced back at the two teens. “You see..Victor was right when he said I was a traitor to him. And it was I who inspired him to try and overthrow the humans in the first place...”

“What?!” Fiona and Max shouted in unison, completely shocked by this new information. They both slowly realized why Moynihan had kept this a secret all this time. She was probably worried that they would start thinking differently of her if they knew the truth.

Moynihan turned away from them, unable to look at them straight in the eyes. She could only imagine how Buzz and Rodger were going to react when she told them. And what of Caruso? What would he do if he found out? And his parents...they probably wouldn't trust her after she admitted the truth. And she wouldn't have blamed them. She should have said something years ago. “I am sorry...but...”

“But what?” Fiona asked, the first to recover from the initial shock. “Just how long did you plan on keeping this a secret from us? And why are you telling us now?”

“Nevermind that now.” Moynihan said, reaching out to open up the door into the lighthouse. She didn't feel like telling the children anything further until she had gotten both Rodger and Buzz. This wasn't a story that she really wanted to repeat more than once. It was just far too painful for her. She glanced down at her necklace, realizing that this was going to come into play in the story as well. It was long time that she showed her students her hidden storage where her dangerous weapons still lay, still functional. “I'll explain everything once Buzz and Rodger come down from upstairs.”

“But...” Max started to say, but he wasn't able to finish his sentence before Moynihan disappeared into the lighthouse, moving a little faster than she normally did. It was almost like she was deliberately trying to avoid whatever question or statement that he was going to say. Max felt a little hurt by this thought, but shrugged it off. He was still feeling bitter about the previous events involving Victor and his two dinosaur-transforming comrades. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked over to see Fiona. “Fiona?”

“Max...I'm not sure about this.” Fiona said softly, sounding a little afraid. It was clear that something was really bothering her. The expression on her face immediately told Max that something was wrong with Fiona. Something was scaring her, and he had a feeling he knew exactly what it was.


	16. Plotting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“What? Why?” Max asked. “You don't want to know what Moynihan has been keeping a secret from us all this time?” He had to admit that this was bugging him a little too.

Fiona slowly shook her head. “..That's not it...” This surprised Max. If it wasn't because of Moynihan that she felt fearful, then what was, exactly, upsetting her? And would she be willing to talk about it?

“Then what is it?” Max asked, holding his hand out to try and encourage Fiona to continue. “Come on, you can tell me.” Fiona still felt unsure and looked away from him. A strong hand on her shoulder encouraged her to look back at the jock, who was offering her a smile. “Go on...if something is troubling you, you know you can talk to me about it. You should know that, Fiona.” There was something about his smile that was making Fiona feel even more nervous.

“Well...the thing is..that...” Fiona started to say, but was suddenly interrupted.

“Max! Fiona!” The voice, coming from Moynihan, shot out from the lighthouse, loud and clear. The two teens almost had to cover their ears. They had never heard their teacher spoke this loud before. They didn't have much time to recover from the yelling when Moynihan shouted out again. “Come inside now!” This sounded more like a command or order than any statement she's made in the past. The way she spoke, it sounded like there was a tinge of aggression in her voice, as if she was angry with something. 

For a few seconds, Fiona and Max hesitation, remaining frozen where they stood, staring into the lighthouse with expressions of disbelief and shock on their faces. This didn't sound like the Moynihan they knew. They almost thought that she was an impostor, but that was truly impossible. They were with her most of the time as of late, and there was no opportunity for an impostor to capture Moynihan and replace her with themselves. Not to mention how would an impostor know about the lighthouse? The only person outside the team that knew that was not a family member was Liam, and he had already promised not to tell anyone, although this was largely due to the fact that no one would really believe him.

Then they heard another voice from the lighthouse. This time, it wasn't from Moynihan, but from Rodger. The voice was a little faint, indicating he was a good distance away from them. “Hey guys! Come on in!” Rodger shouted as loud as he could. He and Buzz were probably in the living room by now, with Moynihan not far away from them. Fiona and Max nodded to each other and they quickly ran into the lighthouse, not wanting to make them wait any longer.

* * *

As the two walked into the living room, they noticed all three of the people in the room were looking at them as if they did something wrong. Max and Fiona were confused at first. What is it that they had done so wrong? They slowly looked behind them to see if they had forgotten something. And sure enough they did. The door to the outside was wide open. Usually this wasn't a problem, but it was obvious that, today, it was. Was Moynihan so paranoid about her story that she didn't want anyone outside the team to hear it? Well her story did deal with Victor after all, so it should make sense for her not to want anyone else to know about it.

Feeling a little embarrassed about forgetting something so simple, Max walked back towards the door and shut it. As he did this, Fiona approached Moynihan slowly. Moynihan looked at her, a serious look on her face, although she was not frowning. “Moynihan..now are you going to tell us this..story of yours?” Fiona asked carefully as she continued to get closer to the old woman.

Joanne immediately lifted up a hand and pointed to the furniture where Rodger and Buzz were already sitting. “Please..take a seat, Fiona.” Joanne said, her voice now soft and kind, sounding like it usually does. Any signs of anger had quickly faded away, as if it never was there to begin with. Fiona did as she was told without question. She sat down next to Buzz on the couch. Within around a minute, Max returned. He walked into the living room and took a seat next to Fiona. When they were all seated, the teenagers locked their eyes on Moynihan, giving her their full attention.

“So..would you mind telling us, now, what this is all about?” Rodger asked, fingers interlocked with one another as he slowly rested his chin down.

“Yeah..what's the big secret?” Buzz chimed in.

“What I'm about to tell you...” Moynihan started to say, closing her eyes as she adjusted the glasses on her face once again. “..you must not repeat to anyone else. And I mean absolutely no one else.” She put stress on some of the words she spoke to emphasize that she truly meant what she was saying. When her eyes opened up again, she quickly narrowed them almost dangerously. She waved a finger back and forth as if she was scolding the kids. “I mean it, you four. If I find out what one of you gave this information to anyone, I'll...” She stopped herself, realizing that she was starting to sound a little too aggressive again, and the teenagers were starting to look a little frightened by her attitude. Moynihan quickly cleared her throat. “Hmmm..my apologies, kids. I didn't mean to go off like that. Now then...” Her voice turned serious again. “What I'm about to tell you..none of you are going to like, I can assure you that...”

* * *

Back at Raptor Dyne, Victor Veloci was overlooking the scans he had up earlier again. The two avatars had barely changed within the past few hours, much to his disgust. The process had seemed to slow down a little. He didn't know why, but when he checked the situation with his equipment, he found that it was still progressing and wasn't slowing down any further. It was a minor delay, but it was no problem. The experiment was not a failure, so that was good news for him. But as he stared at the avatars, he wished that the process would go a little faster. He longed to see the Velociraptor icon to be filled up while the human one was completely empty.

Deciding to focus his mind on something else so he would stop staring at the avatars, Victor moved his hands towards the keyboard and typed in another command. Immediately the screen went to the usual scans he would have up. He saw the familiar map of the United States up on the screen, all colored in different shades of green. As he stared at the map, seeing no dinosaur signatures, he found his eyes trailing up towards the state of Maine. His eyes narrowed as he stared at that one area, knowing that this is where Moynihan was. He had wondered where she was all this time. He was rather pleased that she was not too far away from him. That had made it easier for him to find her.

He began to wonder how the Dino Squad was doing. He knew his plan would not have come into full bloom just yet, so he was not going to see anything that he was hoping, but he might see something else of interest. He knew that there was no way that Moynihan could set up another shield to protect herself with, so he could scan her lighthouse this time without risk of being disconnected. Knowing this, he immediately pushed another button which caused the screen to immediately zoom onto the lighthouse once again. Unlike last time, the screen didn't turn into static. Upon seeing the yellow SUV, he immediately knew that the teens and Moynihan were inside the lighthouse.

“If only you knew what I had in store for you, my little traitor...” Victor said, chuckling softly.

With that, he pressed another key, activating one of the satellites that was orbiting high in the atmosphere right above the lighthouse. Until now, the images the satellite could bounce back were blurred or full of static. Victor had thought it was because there was something wrong with the satellite itself, and had decided it wasn't worth the trouble of getting it fixed. The satellite covered only a small area and the odds of anything interesting being found there were slim. But now Victor knew, without that shield up and running, the satellite would be of more use. He was glad that he didn't have it destroyed.

As the scans activated and began to explore the lighthouse and its structure, Victor sat back and watched, waiting for the scanner to complete its analysis of the red and white lighthouse. He wasn't interested in all the rooms that it had in it nor was he interested in what Moynihan was talking to the children about. All lighthouses had many rooms and multiple levels, and Moynihan was probably telling the children some silly story of hope. Victor grinned at the thought of Moynihan still holding onto such foolish hopefulness. Once he was through with her, there was not going to be any hope left for humanity.

As the scans reached the top of the lighthouse, Victor smiled as he saw that there was very little progress with the machinery in that room. The scans couldn't offer too much detail, but they offered enough that he could tell how good of a job Michelle had done. He could tell that some work was done. Some of the computers were picked up and debris was put into piles. Some appeared to have been thrown away as well. And he could just barely make out scorch marks on the hard floor. He started to wonder, once again, if he should try to destroy the lighthouse. He had sent Peter earlier to get the job done, but he had failed him. Peter never even reached the lighthouse. If he had, he could have easily knocked the lighthouse into the water below. It was very close to the edge of a cliff, as all lighthouses are.

The scans whirred suddenly and then ceased. They had finished their analysis of the scans. The screen that Victor was looking at quickly vanished into black. After a few seconds, the computer began to build a virtual replica of the lighthouse. It wasn't perfected and wouldn't show many of the objects in the rooms. They would only show items that might interest Victor, which was the way he programmed it. The things it would look out for included weapons, traces of dinosaur DNA, and any signs of mutantsaurs. This was so that the computer wouldn't waste energy on things that would prove unimportant and would also speed up the process upon which the replica would e completed. The replica itself was three dimensional and would allow Victor to explore the multiple rooms without having to go inside. He had hardly had to use such a technique before, and in fact it was a very recent invention of his.

As soon as the scans were completed, Victor immediately started looking through the lighthouse himself. The first thing to catch his attention was a large room on what appeared to be the bottom floor of the lighthouse. It was extremely large and seemed to connect to the outside. Inside the large room, he saw five objects upon which he recognized as motorcycles. Upon closer inspection, he could tell that they had a dinosaur-like appearance to them. Victor couldn't help but laugh at himself. How stupid were these humans? They went around, riding in bikes that resembled their secret form! It was like they were screaming to the world that they were dinosaurs!

Victor took his eyes off of the motorcycles and began looking around the bottom floor to see if the scans picked up anything else that was interesting. He could see what appeared to be multiple weapons. He narrowed his eyes further. He recognized one of the objects as something that dark-skinned kid had used on him. It had created what appeared to be a huge cloud that fogged up his mirrors. It had caused him to almost lose control of his helicopter, but he was able to quickly recover. And sitting next to it was a similar-looking object. Both reminded him of the Killer and the Stinger he had shown Caruso earlier. Both had a very dinosaur-like appearance to them. He was confused at first. He didn't think Moynihan would want to hold such formidable-looking weapons in her lighthouse. And just what were they used for anyway?

Curious, Victor decided to have the computer analyze these particular weapons. It didn't take longer for the computer to spit out information on each particular weapon. The first one that came up was information on the blue gun that was used against him during his chase. Victor narrowed his eyes as he read the information. It was called a Chiller. According to the computer, it was designed to freeze mutantsaurs and force the dinosaur DNA to the surface. The second weapon, the Spiller or Devolver as it was previously called, was designed to suck up the mutant DNA, reverting the creature back to normal.

Victor's eyes widened a little as he began to understand what this discovery meant and how these weapons played a huge role in his experiments. This was how his mutants kept disappearing. These were the weapons responsible for him to continuously lose mutantsaurs, no matter how he changes them or how much he injects into an animal species. Victor narrowed his eyes once again. This discovery had made him realize that if he wanted to continue infecting animals and experimenting with them, he would have to make the DNA more resistant. There was something about the children's DNA that might help him. He knew Moynihan would have tried to 'cure' them with the Chiller and the Spiller. The fact that they still have their dinosaur forms was evidence that she had failed. Something about the Dino Squad's DNA had made them immune to the Chiller and the Spiller. If Victor could figure out what that was, then Moynihan would not be able to stop him anymore.

He decided to explore more on the Chiller and Spiller issue later on. He began to look through other parts of the lighthouse, but almost found nothing of interest. He could see Moynihan was still in one particular room, the living room he guessed, talking with four of the Dino Squad teenagers. The fifth one, Caruso, must have already left for home. There was nothing of interest showing up for the next few minutes and Victor was about to go back to the Chiller and Spiller when something else caught his interest. In one secluded location in the lighthouse, there appeared to be an extra room. The scanners were going crazy with weapon signatures. Victor's eyes widened in shock. The Chiller and the Spiller were one thing, but Victor didn't realize that Moynihan would store more weapons. He thought, at first, that they were just more Chillers and Spillers, but something told him that this wasn't the case.

He zoomed in on that particular room and began to explore the interior. It reminded him so much of his warehouse back in the Boston Common. There were multiple racks stock-piled with what looked to be many weapons. Only a few bared a strong resemblance to the Chiller and the Spiller. Many others looked even more dinosaur-like, and other still hardly looked like guns at all. Some looked far less dinosaur-like, but still looked scary and formidable. Victor was a little confused at first. What would Joanne want with all these weapons? Judging from how many weapons were in here and how secluded it was, it was apparent to him that she no longer used this room. But what was it like when it was in use?

“Heheheh....” Victor chuckled to himself, slightly amused. “Looks like Joanne has been experimenting as well at some point. But why...?”

He had the computer analyze some of the weapons in the room. He looked away for a few seconds to look at some of his failed experiments that were still in the tanks all around him. He grimaced sometimes when he had to look at them. They all could have had so much potential, but something had always seemed to go very wrong. He turned his head back towards the computer, which had already finished its scanning. The information it relayed back almost shocked Victor. They were completely unexpected and he had a hard time believing that this was coming from Moynihan's little hideout. After all these years, he had never known what happened to these particular weapons.

He recalled how, one time, many years ago, that he and Moynihan were working together on certain weapons. But after they had split paths, the weapons had mysteriously disappeared. Now, thirty years later, Victor has finally found out what happened to them. His eyes narrowed as a wicked smile spread across his face. He wanted those weapons back. Now it was time for another invasion of the lighthouse. And he knew just who he was going to send for the job. The mad scientist couldn't send Oscura or Michelle again as the Dino Squad were onto the both of them. It was time to send in someone new.

Victor pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number. He then pressed the phone against his ear and waited for the other line to pick up. When it did, Victor immediately said, “Hello, Kista Bakar. I have a new task for you...” Kista started to ask him what he wanted her to do this time and also tried to explain that she was currently busy, but she immediately shut up when Victor said something that immediately interested her. “The mission involves the pesky Dino Squad...”

* * *

“..and that's where I left off, am I correct?” Moynihan asked, sitting back in her chair as she told them this story. She had pretty much only repeated her back story all over again, the one that she had already told them when they first acquired their dinosaur forms. She just wanted to refresh their memories in case any of them had any questions during her new story that she was going to tell them. She knew they were probably a little annoyed had having to be retold something that they already knew, but Moynihan didn't want any interruptions and had insisted on them relearning all this information.

“Yes...” Buzz said, rubbing his head a little. Out of all of them, he was the most annoyed at having to rehear all this. He couldn't understand why Moynihan couldn't just outright tell them. Why repeat information if they already knew it? “That's where you stopped when you first told us this information. So..why couldn't you just tell us? Why did we have to hear all this again?”

“I already told you, Buzz.” Moynihan responded, leaning forward with her chin resting on her hands. “In order for me to tell you more, I have to be certain that you hadn't forgotten the beginning of the story. The last thing any of us needs is interruptions. Do you understand what I'm saying, Buzz?” She glanced at him.

“Yes, I do, but..I still don't think why...” Buzz started to say. But he stopped himself when he saw everyone offering him a glare. He immediately lowered his head and apologized. “I'm sorry...”

“It's all right, Buzz.” Moynihan said in a calm voice. She then quickly returned to telling her story. “Now before I tell you more information on what happened after Victor and I were trapped inside that cave together, there's something I should let you in on. I should have told you this a long time ago, but...” Her voice trailed off as she reached towards her chest to grip the yellow, claw-shaped attachment on the necklace she wore around her neck. The teenagers leaned in, curious about what she had to say about this seemingly unimportant item. “You see...this thing I'm wearing is actually a key...”

“A key?” Max spoke up, interrupting Moynihan. “A key to what exactly? And why didn't you tell us that was a key before?”

“A very valid question, Maxwell.” Moynihan said, still fumbling with the yellow item in her hand. Very carefully, she removed the necklace around her neck and held out the item so that the kids could get a better look. “There was a reason why I had kept the true function of this from you kids for all this time. I was simply trying to protect you.”

“Protect us from..what?” Fiona asked after a moment's hesitation.

Moynihan sighed and closed her eyes. She hesitated for a short time while answering Fiona's question. She almost regretted having brought up this topic in the first place, but she knew she couldn't keep this a secret from them forever. “From discovering the..weapons I have hidden in the lighthouse.” This caused a collective gasp to come forth from the teenagers. They began to murmur amongst themselves until they were silenced by Moynihan, who had lifted her hand up to call for attention. “Yes..I know what you are thinking...”

“But..why didn't you tell us?” Rodger asked, eyes narrowed slightly.

“Yeah..why wouldn't you tell us about this before?” Fiona asked, sounding slightly offended that Moynihan would wait until now to tell them about this. “Did you think that we would try to...”

Moynihan immediately cut her off to continue explaining her reasons for keeping the weapons a secret for so long. “The weapons are very dangerous, Fiona. Highly destructive weapons that, if they fell into Veloci's hands..or in the hands of juveniles who have no idea how they work, would have catastrophic results.” She pushed her glasses back, which had started to fall off her face. “I'm not saying that any of you kids are irresponsible, but....”

“But what?” Rodger said. He was feeling a little angry now. He couldn't see why Moynihan wouldn't tell them about this even when she knew that they were responsible young adults. Well there were incidents where they didn't exactly act maturely, but those didn't happen that often, he didn't think. “I don't think there was any reason for you to not tell us if you didn't think we were irresponsible.”

“No offense, Ms. Moynihan, but..Rodger's right.” Max said. He didn't feel as angry as Rodger probably was, but this was still upsetting him. It was almost as if Moynihan couldn't bring herself to completely trust the Dino Squad, even after all they did for her and how much they had helped her with her mission to save humanity from Victor Veloci. To think that she might still have some doubts on trusting them just hurt him.

Fiona felt the same way. Giving Moynihan a soft glare, she offered her own input. “After all we've done for you and with you, has there ever been any time that would cause you to cast doubt on keeping your key a secret from us? Anything that made you think that we would screw up and hurt ourselves or others around us?”

“Well... I...” Moynihan started to say, but she quickly realized that she did not have an explanation to offer the kids. She couldn't think of a reason why she would keep a secret from the Dino Squad when she knew they weren't irresponsible juvenile delinquents. She cast a glance at each of the students, each one with a slightly different expression. But none of the kids offered her a reassuring smile or anything that would make her feel better. They looked hurt, angry, upset, and confused all at the same time. She began to wonder if she should have said anything at all. She quicky realized the true reason for her not telling them. “...I guess it's just because I....feel too overprotective of you kids.”

“..overprotective?” Buzz asked slowly, his head slightly tilted. He knew Moynihan cared about them and wouldn't want them to get hurt. But he, and the others, had never thought of her as being overprotective. She didn't seem like the overbearing type, and couldn't understand why she would be. After all, she was not a part of any of their families. She wasn't even blood-related to them.

Moynihan slowly nodded, acknowledging Buzz's question and answering it almost immediately. “Yes...you students..you kids are..very special to me. You mean a lot to me..You're like..a family I never had...” She tried her best to hide her tears as she said the last line. As a human, she had made a good number of friends, but she had never grown so close to them like she had with these particular students of hers. She had slowly grew attached to them over the couple years that she's worked with them when thwarting Victor Veloci. The need to ensure that they were well protected had reawakened her maternal instincts and, despite the fact that they weren't her kids, she started to view them like they were her own. “If..anything happened to you..I...”

Joanne immediately stopped talking when she felt someone place their arms around her. She immediately wiped away the tiny remnants of tears she had before looking up to see who had touched her. The face staring back at her was Max's. The jock had gotten from his seat and went over to try and comfort the old woman. It touched him that she cared that much about him and his friends, but it also hurt him to see her so distressed like this. Suddenly the way she acted back at the warehouse, blaming herself, made even more sense. The story she had given them back then did offer a good explanation, but knowing that Moynihan now saw them as her family, that made things more clear now. “Is...is this why you were so hard on yourself?” Max asked carefully.

Moynihan slowly nodded, turning away from Max, unable to look at him in the eyes. She couldn't stand looking into those concerned eyes of his for it was only making her feel worse. She hadn't wanted to concern the students and yet she was now doing just that. “Yes..I admit that is why. When we thought Caruso was dead..It..It was like losing a family member..all over again.” As Moynihan started to shed more tears, Max remained stunned, unsure of what to do. Slowly, he tightened his grip on her, pulling her into a hug to try and comfort her.

The other three students remained quiet, still sitting down on the furniture. They didn't move an inch, nor did they try to speak, not even to each other. They didn't even bother to try to look at each other. Their eyes couldn't be torn away from this depressing and heartbreaking scene. Max continued to try and comfort Moynihan, who couldn't seem to stop crying. Although it was hard for them to watch it, they couldn't turn away from the sight. They couldn't help but feel bad for Moynihan. The poor woman really needed a hug and they were grateful Max had stepped up to do just that. They hoped that he would be able to help her feel better.

Fiona, Rodger, and Buzz started to feel a little guilty about pressuring Moynihan just a few minutes ago. She was trying to tell them a story and they had kept pushing her because she didn't tell them sooner. That had ultimately lead to her breaking down like this. They immediately started regretting saying those things. They wished they could apologize, but they weren't sure if it was going to be good enough. Moynihan seemed too upset now. An apology might not be enough to make her feel better. They finally managed to look away and had their eyes downcast, staring at the ground. None of them could think of anything to say.

Wiping away her tears, Moynihan sensed that the others were feeling guilty. She couldn't blame them too much. They obviously felt bad about talking to her the way they had just minutes ago. Moynihan felt like she had deserved it though. It was her fault for not telling them about this earlier. She had made them think she deemed them irresponsible, didn't she? She was the one who had decided that they were not ready to know about a dangerous secret, was she not?

But she decided not to dwell on it anymore. Wanting to change the subject before she depressed her students further, Moynihan said, “Well enough about that...” She straightened herself back into the chair. Max slowly let go over and quickly sat back down on the couch. The other three students immediately looked up, doing their best to hide their guilt. “It's okay, kids... There's no need to feel bad...” Moynihan said reassuringly, offering them all a gentle smile. “Anyway, moving along...” She clasped her hands together as she tried to think of how to continue her story. She had mentioned the hidden room with the weapons, but she had not yet stated how they would fit into the story. She planned on doing that later. The weapons wouldn't come until the next part of her story. “The first moments that Victor and I were trapped in their cave were tense and frightening. We were relieved that we weren't crushed to death, but we couldn't help but wonder how we were going to get out. There was no food in the cave and the boulders were blocking our only exit. It seemed that fate was going to kill us through starvation.”

Fiona bit her lip, imagining how horrible a fate like starvation was, and then said, “What did you guys do...?”

“Yeah...” Buzz spoke up. There was something that Moynihan had never fully explained. Well there was multiple things that she had never fully explained. “Just..how did you and Victor survive in that cave for so long? That's not even naturally possible...” To survive for millions of years without consequence, without eating, and without drinking seemed to defy all the rules of nature. “..is it?”

Moynihan slowly nodded. What Buzz was saying was correct. This wasn't a natural process. She and Victor were both expecting to die in the cave. They hadn't foreseen that this was to be their fate. “Right you are Buzz.” Moynihan said, casting a glance on each of the students individually as she spoke. “Victor and I were waiting to die, to be precise. We knew that we couldn't survive for very long without food or water. We were even prepared to eat each other if we were forced to.” A few of her students grimaced at the idea of cannibalism. Moynihan wasn't too thrilled with the concept herself, but she knew the benefits of such an act in such extreme cases of survival. “I know what you might be thinking, but understand that cannibalism is a basic instinct inside many living animals, including you humans, that increases chances of survival.”

“But it seems so...” Fiona said, trying her best to hide her disgust. “So...disgusting...”

“Dear, when your life is on the line, the things that might appear disgusting could become your key chances of survival.” Moynihan explained in a teacher-like manner, was if she was in the middle of class giving a lecture. “Eating a member of one's own kind is a survival tactic that dates back to even before the dinosaurs, don't you know...”

“But..still....” Max said, not sure if he wanted to hear anymore of attempted cannibalism was involved. He might have hated Victor and he had wanted to see him defeated once and for all, but he couldn't really imagine him or anyone else being devoured by his own kind. That is not the way he wanted Victor to be defeated. To eat one's own, that was a curse in his eyes. “That just seems so..I dont' know... Inhumane?”

“Inhumane?” Moynihan said, cocking an eyebrow. “Max, dear, this is nature that I am talking about. This instinct is inside us all. Even humans will succumb to it..” She quickly realized that she was really upsetting the students with this talk of cannibalism. She also noticed that one of her students, Buzz, started to look a little green in the face. She felt very guilty about it and quickly realized that she had gone too far in her little talk. “I apologize, kids. I didn't mean to go off like that...”

“It's...it's all right...” Rodger said after hesitating for a few seconds. He was having a hard time shaking out disturbing images from his mind. He could only hope that this was not going to give him or the others nightmares at night. He was grateful that Caruso wasn't at the lighthouse to hear this. With that boy's current state of mind, Moynihan's story might frighten him greatly, even more so than it had frightened the rest of them.

“I should..probably get on with the story.” Moynihan said. She had already killed about ten minutes with the teenagers, mostly just explaining once again about the asteroid colliding with Earth and forcing herself and Victor into a cave all alone where they remained for so many years. She knew that their parents were expecting them home soon, sometime today. She knew she couldn't keep their parents waiting. She would sent the students home after she was finished with the story.

Max nodded, agreeing with Moynihan. “So..what happened while you guys were in the cave together? What did to you do survive for so long?”

Moynihan closed her eyes. How was she going to explain this to her students? Even she and Victor could barely understand just how they survived all that time. Well she and Victor knew how they survived, but she and him both couldn't figure out how they gained that particular ability that saved their lives. Until then, neither of them had seen such a thing in any other Velociraptor, or any other dinosaur for that matter. She continued to search her mind to try and explain how this all came about, but her mental struggles were all in vain. She would have given up under normal circumstances, but she had already dragged her students along for the right with her telling them about the weapons. She couldn't give up now. She couldn't just give up.

“..This is going to be hard for me to explain...” Moynihan finally said, reopening her eyes. “But..I shall try to explain the best that I can. Just please...bear with me. And please...no interruptions.” And with that, she began her tale.

FLASHBACK:

The cave shook and rumbled as the giant rocks continued to pummel the land. It didn't help that it was pitch black. The boulders blocked even the tiniest ray of light from coming through. The cave roof started to crumble a little, rocks falling down even inside this barricade protection from the outside world. The only signs of life in this rather small cave were two dinosaurs: a green female Velociraptor and a male red Velociraptor. They stood within close quarters, staring at the boulders that covered what was once a clear path. They could hear the crashes outside and the bellows from many dinosaurs rang heavily in their ears.

Once the rocks stopped falling, silence and tranquility returned just as quickly as it had left. The two dinosaurs strained to hear any signs of life outside of the wall. Maybe they would be lucky and a sauropod would walk by and destroy the blockage. But what were the odds of that? The red Velociraptor cautiously approached the blockade, sniffing the rocks with his nose. He then proceeded to try and claw his way out, but it was all in vain. His arms just weren't strong enough to pull any of the boulders out of the way. He immediately turned around to face the green Velociraptor, who was watching him in anticipation.

The male Velociraptor, who would one day become Victor Veloci, uttered a series of low growls and snarls, the Velociraptor language. While these sounds would be indecipherable to human ears, they sounded like words to the Velociraptor ears and mind. “It does not look like we can get out.”

“I already knew that.” The female, who would one day become Joanne Moynihan, responded through a low hiss. She turned her head away and started to examine the small cave they were now trapped in. It didn't look like there was any other way out. There was not one scrap of good light in this cave. She and the red raptor were relying on their night vision to see each other, but it did pay to have a really good sense of smell.

“Why are you walking away?” The red Velociraptor asked, starting to make his way towards the female. Since they had recently lost their entire pack, he had grown close to this particular female. He felt a strong urge to want to protect her, and to rebuild a family with her. It was the Velociraptor way. It was how they survived for so long. “There is no other way out.”

The green Velociraptor growled angrily, snapping her jaws at the male to force him to stop. The male stared at her in bewilderment as she continued to bare her sharp fangs studding her long, green snout. “Do you realize that this is all your fault?”

The red raptor snapped his head back and snarled viciously. To try and reinforce his dominance, he fanned out his arms like a bird would fan out its wings and tensed his talons. He proceeded to show her his teeth, growling softly. “How is it my fault? You were the one who led the two of us into this cave!”

“And who is it who came up with the idea of coming into this cliff at this time?” The green raptor retorted, challenging the male's dominance with a threatening display of her own. “I do not recall myself suggesting coming here.”

The two Velociraptors began to emit a series of growls and hisses, bobbing their heads and bodies up and down in an effort to intimidate the other. They began to circle each other, their eyes locked onto one another. They continued to emit a series of snorts and snarls, trying to force the other to back down. But the two raptors refused to back down. Their tails started to arch up into the air as they tried to scare each other again with loud, piercing roars. But even this wasn't working. They continued to circle each other, trying to judge and calculate the other's strength in hopes of trying to find a weakness to ensure their victory.

Then, without warning, they made a dash towards one another, mouths agape, baring their sharp teeth. They crashed into one another, hissing as they snapped their jaws towards the other, trying to land a bite. They pushed and scratched each other with their forepaws, each landing a non-lethal blow to the other. Despite the amount of scratches the two of them were getting and the amount of blood that dripped down their faces and neck, they continued to attack the other. A few times, they even resorted to whacking the other with their thick, strong tail. They were careful, however, not to use their feet in battle. This was not a fight to the death.

“Why just not call it quits?” The red raptor asked as he struck the female raptor's snout.

“You know that I never quit.” The female raptor responded, retorting by snapping at the male with her equally powerful jaws. “It will take a lot more than a few cuts to bring me down.”

The male Velociraptor uttered a series of short hisses, a dinosaurian laugh. “Just what I would expect to hear from a fellow pack member.” With that, he charged towards the female, ramming his head against her chest and causing her to fall onto her back. Taking this opportunity, he immediately jumped into the air and stood over her to try and show how dominate he was over her. But it would not last for she quickly used her feet to kick him off of her and swiftly regained her footing.

“Do not forget I was the best hunter in the pack.” The green Velociraptor said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

The male opened his mouth part way, looking as if he was grinning. “That is right. You were the best.”

With that, he charged forward, hoping to ram his head against the female again to knock her down. But the female was prepared for this and quickly sidestepped to avoid the impact. She then proceeded to whirl around and bite into the male's tail. The red raptor lifted his head back and led out a loud screech of pain before turned to try and bite the female back. But the female proved to be too difficult for him to attack so long as she had his tail. She started to pull him back roughly, causing him to fall onto the ground.

The female quickly moved in, taking this opportunity to claim her dominance over the male. She stood over him, pressing one of her sickle claw-wielding feet on the male raptor's side, pushing down and using her weight to hold him down. The male started to struggle underneath her, snapping at the air and clawing at the ground with his large talons. The female was smart to position herself in a way that the male would not be able to strike at her unless he used his feet and she was confident enough to believe that the male would not try to use his feet. But then again, she herself had used her feet just a short time ago.

As soon as she thought of that, she felt a sharp pain in her legs as she suddenly toppled to the ground. She landed on something large and warm. It didn't take her long to realize that she had landed on top of the other Velociraptor. It took her a little longer to realize what had just happened. The male had used his feet to kick at her to make her get off of him. But this had backfired, instead tripping her up and falling on top of him. The male became frantic and his struggles increased significantly. Instead of moving away, though, the female raptor quickly clamped her jaws around her opponent's throat and applied a little pressure.

“You would not dare kill me.” The male hissed, glaring up at her. He did not seem overly concerned about her jaws clamped around his neck like this. In fact, he seemed rather indifferent about it.

The female growled and snorted. “Why do you not try me?” She pressed her teeth down a little tighter, and the male's eyes widened in pain and shock. He struggled a little, but the female did not relent. She continued to hold him down, jaws around his neck, threatening to tear it out and kill him. This move was not used much among Velociraptor kind, and in fact the female had only seen it used once. According to her mother, such a movie should only be used if both opponents are equally matched and too stubborn to back down. The throat hold, as her mother called it, was designed to have one pack member bite the throat of the other until the other either gave in or they were ultimately killed. “Keep struggling and see if I do not try to kill you.”

At that statement, the male Velociraptor started to panic out of fear for his own life. He realized that if he continued to struggle, the female would only bite harder onto his neck. And there was no way he could knock her off without her tearing a chunk out of him. He began to think about his situation, but only briefly. Dinosaurs never spend a lot of time thinking about a decision. Whatever decision would ensure their survival, they would take it. And for the male Velociraptor, he knew what decision he would have to make in order to save his own life. With that, he immediately surrendered, lowering his tail flat on the ground and relaxing the muscles in his legs and arms.

The red raptor slowly turned his eyes up towards the female and uttered a soft growl which, to the female, translated as, “I give up. I surrender. You win.”

Purring with a feeling of satisfaction, the female instantly let go and stepped off of the male. She had won this dominance fight, much to the male's dismay. She couldn't help but feel some sense of saurian pride at her success. She didn't take her eyes off of the male who had lost the fight. The male quickly climbed up to his feet, staring at the female warily before looking back at the exit. It was just the same as before. There was no exit. With no other options left, he turned back to the female, tilting his head from side to side.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” The raptor growled softly. “Are you waiting for a second challenge from me?”

The red male snorted, pulling his reptilian lips back in a snarl. “No. I am waiting for you to make a suggestion for what we should do next.” The female shot her head back, tilting her head in confusion. The male took a step forward, lowering his head slightly. “Please do not tell me you do not know the responsibilities given to you when you when the dominance challenge. As leader, you must make all the decisions.”

“And yet, we both already know there is no way out of the cave.” The female responded, pointing her snout back to the barricaded exit. “We both know that, even combined, we are not strong enough to move those rocks out of the way. And not to mention, we would expend too much energy doing so.”

The male bobbed his head once, acknowledging the female's statement. She did have a very good point. And running out of energy was going to become a really big concern pretty fast. He had noticed that the only other life form in the cave was the female Velociraptor. There was no prey where. “We cannot replenish our energy here. There is no prey where for us to hunt. If we do not find prey soon, one of us will have to eat the other, and the survivor will not have long to live after that. There would be no way to get more energy unless we find a way out.”

The idea of cannibalism was not foreign to the two Velociraptors. It was a practice that many predators, including Velociraptors, had practiced in times of great need. Even the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex had to succumb to cannibalism if there was no food around that it could eat. The idea of cannibalism did not shake up either Velociraptor that much. They had even succumbed to it a few times growing up in their lifetime. Both were fearful only for their own lives. They did not care where they got their energy from. If it was to be from a member of their own species, then so be it.

“So what do you propose we do?” The male asked, breaking the silence that had taken over the cave.

“The only thing we can do.” The female said, hissing to herself in mild frustration at the idea of being trapped inside a cave, cut off from access of fresh meat just outside the broken cave wall. “Wait. And hope that one of us successfully finds a way out of this cave.”

Silence fell upon the cave for the next few days. It could have been only a few days or even weeks since they have been trapped inside the cave. They could no longer tell how many times the sun has set. They couldn't see the sun from inside the cave. The only thing that both raptors knew is that they were getting hungrier and hungrier. They could feel themselves become thinner as each day passed by. They often stared at the other, tempted to attack and kill, and yet still hesitated. If they were to make such a move now, then all that energy would be used up too quickly and then what? There was nothing else left in the cave. No, they must fight the cannibalistic urge until they had absolutely no choice. They might not even have to do such a thing. Maybe they would get out before then.

They couldn't tell what was going on just outside that stony wall. They would sometimes hear the call of a sauropod or bellow of a Triceratops. But as each day passed, it seemed like they were hearing less and less commotion. Pretty soon, everything seemed silent. Even the insects have stopped chirping. But the silence is not what concerned the two predators. Even though they were completely sealed, they could feel a chilly wind just outside the cave. The temperature around them was beginning to plummet. Being cold-blooded reptiles, this was not a good thing. Desperate to find warmth, the two raptors started their way down the small cave to try and find another exit.

The cave was slightly bigger than they had expected. They were even able to find an underwater puddle. Severely dehydrated, they immediately went over and bent down, using their long tongues to lap up the water to satisfy their extreme thirst. As soon as they were satisfied, they stopped, lifting up their heads and scan the cave area around them. They couldn't drink all the water now as this was the only water source they had. But if there was water, maybe there would be some kind of life form around here. Perhaps a little mammal or two had scurried into the cave before the rocks had fallen. Mammals weren't particularly tasty to a Velociraptor, but they would satisfy them until they found some of their more favorable prey.

But no matter how hard they tried over the past few hours, they could not find any prey or any exits. There was one area in the cave that they thought they could get through, but it was both too narrow and it was leading to a dead end. They investigated every nook and cranny in the cave, but found not even a scent of a mammal, or any other creature for that matter. They tried clawing at a few holes they found, hissing and snorting to try and startle anything inside. But the most that they could find were a few bones that were at least a week old. They turned away from the bones in disgust, realizing that whatever creature that bone belonged to had been sick.

Feeling defeated and deciding to accept their fate, the two Velociraptors lowered onto their haunches, staying close by to one another. Even though they were reptiles, they still felt the need to be together. They could feel a sense of comfort in staying close to one another, being social animals and all. At one point, the green raptor found herself resting her head on the red raptor's back. The male looked at her in surprise, but didn't push her away. Instead, he lowered his head and gently licked the side of her face, the way a Velociraptor would show affection.

The temperature continued to drop all around them. Even though Velociraptors grew up learning to overcome fear, the two raptors couldn't help but feel a sense of fear and panic rise up inside of them. They may not understand the concept of being warm-blooded or cold-blooded, but they did know that the cold made dinosaurs slow down and at times fall asleep and never wake up again. They quickly huddled together for warmth, hoping to ride out this weather and hoped that the weather outside would get warmer soon. But despite huddling together, they could feel their core body temperatures dropping at a slow but steady pace. Their minds and movements and even breathing had started to slow down.

“What...is....going...on....?” The male hissed softly, confused. He was trying his best to keep his eyes open, but now his eyelids felt so heavy it was hard to keep them lifted up over his eyes.

“Slowing...down...the..cold....” The female groggily responded, opening her jaws wide to yawn deeply. “Must..get...warm...” Her hisses and growls trailed off, silence overcoming her.

As the temperature dropped a few more degrees, the two Velociraptors had fallen asleep, huddled against one another. The female's head rested across the top of the neck of the male. Their bodies were curved towards one another, tails overlapping each other. Their breathing continued to slow down until it was almost nonexistent. But even though their body temperatures had slowed down greatly, both raptors were still very much alive. Their breathing came in once every few minutes, their hearts beating only once per minute. Even though they were extremely cold, their limbs and tail twitched once in a while, showing some signs of life.

Within a few hours, the two raptors were completely frozen. Ice had covered their entire bodies in a shiny covering. The ice seemed a little thick, strong enough to hold the two of them inside, completely trapping them. Water in all parts of the cave, including the puddle, had frozen solid as well. The cave become like a freezer. The rocks themselves had taken on a whitish hue. And yet, despite all this cold, the two raptors still breathed slowly inside the ice structure. Somehow, throughout it all, they were still alive...

END FLASHBACK:

“Wait a minute...” Buzz said. Despite what Moynihan had said earlier, he decided to interrupt her story. Moynihan had taken a pause and he took advantage of the silence. It wasn't that he didn't like the story, although the idea of being frozen alive sent chills down his own spine. But what did this have to do with the hidden weapons or how Moynihan was responsible for Victor hating humans? “I thought you were going to tell us about how...”

“I know what I said, Buzz!” Moynihan barked at Buzz, her eyes narrowed. “I told you not to interrupt! I wasn't finished yet!” Buzz's eyes widened in horror, jerking his head back after Moynihan yelled at him. The old woman quickly came to her senses, shaking her head and then rubbing her forehead. “Oh I'm sorry, Buzz. I didn't mean to yell at you like that.”

“I...I guess I should have kept quiet, huh?” Buzz asked to no one in particular. He glanced over at Max, who had begun to speak.

“Maybe you should continue the story some other time.” Max suggested, looking at Moynihan with a concern-filled expression. “You still don't look so well...”

Moynihan slowly shook her head. “No...I will tell you more now. I should have told you this a long time ago..I'm not going to stop now.”

“But you just snapped again..” Fiona said carefully, hoping that she wouldn't set off the old woman herself. She kept her voice low and as non-offensive as possible. “Perhaps you should get some rest or something. You don't have to tell us the whole story right now..if you don't feel up to it.” But Moynihan still shook her head in denial. She only looked up when Rodger started to speak.

“They're right, Ms. M. Maybe it's not wise for you to relive such a horrible memory if you're already under a lot of pressure and stress from the recent happenings.” Rodger said.

But Moynihan refused to listen. Hand held up to silence the students, she gave them each a serious look. She wasn't going to back down so easily. She knew that they meant well and they were probably right. It probably was unhealthy of her to try telling a story that upsets her so much when depressing things had already taken place. It was like back at the warehouse when she felt even worse when she relived that horrifying memory of her pack. But still, she had already begun to tell the story and if she stopped now, she'd never want to speak of it again. It was just too painful. No, it was best to tell them everything now to avoid having to bring this topic up again.

“No..” Moynihan whispered. “I'll continue the tale. You kids deserve to know everything I'm about to tell you.” Before any of the kids could object to her decision, she leaned against the soft chair and took in a deep breath. She continued her story. “Anyway, the cold had frozen Victor and I solid as we both had entered a dormant state. I do not know how long the cold chill had lasted, but one thing was certain. When we woke up...the world had changed so much..and we were not prepared...”

FLASHBACK:

The inside of the cave was dripping with water. The ground was darkened and a little moist. The rock barricade was still there. The two frozen dinosaurs were now hidden underneath a layer of dirt and small rocks. The only signs of ice were a few drops of clear liquid from tiny holes in the dirt covering. Without any signs of light, the amount of time that had passed was incalculable. The inside of the cave itself remained mostly the same, however. The only thing that had changed was that the ice had completely melted. The few bones that once laid in the cave had taken on an amber coloration and were stuck in the ground, as if the ground had melted and pulled hem inside.

Just outside of the cave, the sounds of chirping penetrating the rock wall. Inside the thick layer of dirt, there was slight movement for a few seconds. But then it quickly became still and lifeless once more, even as the birds outside continued to chatter and sing their songs. Then rocks in the wall started to move. A small rock rolled onto the ground, exposing a large ray of light. The light hit the layer of dirt, causing it to shift once more. This time the shifting was more persistent, exposing a small portion of green scaly skin, completely covered in freshly melted ice. But just like before, the shifting stopped completely, and no further portion of skin was revealed.

All of a sudden, the birds stopped chirping a song, instead letting out a loud screech as if something had startled them. An instant later, there was a loud, heavy crash. Rocks and debris flied everywhere as the wall was completely demolished. Boulders, rocks, and smaller objects rolled across the cave floor as dust was kicked up into the air, obscuring the view of the event completely. As the dust started to settle down, right where the barricade had been now rests a large, silver sphere, glinting in the bright sunlight that now shined fiercely into the cave. Mixing in with the sound of the rocks cracking and smashing was the chatter of life forms, not birds, just outside of the cave. The chatter was almost completely obscured, however, by the low rumbling of something very big close by.

Then the large, silver ball struck again, crashing into the rock wall and making the opening to the cave even bigger. Large chunks of rock shot forward and crashed into the large dirt pile only a few feet away. The rocks knocked the clump backwards, causing it to crash against a nearby wall. Almost instantly, the dirt and melted ice dripped off of what they were covering, revealing two large reptilian bodies. Despite the harsh crash landing, neither figure moved very much. Their eyes slowly opened, the pupils dilating as they took in the light for the first time since the two creatures had went dormant. Long jaws lined with sharp teeth opened up, letting out long, soft yawns and they started to move their limbs slowly, stretching out their muscles and tendons.

They carefully put their feet on the ground, pushing themselves up. But it felt like it was an eternity since they last stood up. They started to wobble a little, and they instantly fell back onto the ground. One of them, the green raptor, tried to get up again, but her foot started to slide from underneath her body, and she slumped back down once again. The red raptor tried his luck, but his knees ended up buckling forward and he collapsed onto his stomach, his tail held high into the air. He blinked several times, trying to get himself to come to his senses. His mind was a blur and he could barely remember anything that had happened.

The female raptor shook her head rapidly, feeling extremely groggy. Her eyelids felt very heavy still and she wanted to go back to her deep slumber. But with the racket that was now filling the cave, she could not bring herself to sleep once more. The noise that was filling the air was completely foreign to her. There wasn't one thing that sounded familiar except for the occasional chirp of a bird. But even that seemed a little different now. The female raptor shrugged it off and turned her attention towards the male raptor. She wanted to walk towards him, but she was still slumped on the floor as was the male. She tried yet again to stand up, but her head was spinning from exhaustion and confusion and she fell right back down.

Finally giving up, she turned her head towards the male. The female raptor uttered a low, broken hiss. “How...how long were....were we...sleeping...?”

The equally groggy male shook his head rapidly, splitting his jaws as wide as they could go as he gave another yawn. He lifted up his hand and used his claws to scratch an itch on his jaw line. “I do not know. A few days perhaps?”

The female listened to more of the ruckus going on outside. The sounds of chattering filled her ears. She guessed that something was talking outside, but it was of another species. She would think it was one of her prey items, but nothing she ate ever sounded like this before. This was something new, something she and her partner had never encountered before. “No, I do not think so.” She said, turning her head towards the opening. “A few days and some new animal appears so quickly? I do not think so.”

The male raptor tilted his head, uttering a few low growls of confusion. The male then narrowed his eyes and pulled his scaly lips back slightly. He responded, “That is impossible! No new species ever appears. We have lived here for countless days and there has never been another animal show up that we have not seen before.”

“Then how would you explain that sound?” The female retorted, snorting once heavily through her nostrils as they flared. “None of us have ever heard something like that before. It is strange, almost unnatural to us. This is not some prey item or competitor. This is something new.”

“If it is something new, then how did it get here?” The male questioned, turning his head from side to side as if he was cross-examining the female raptor. “It would have been a long trek from where it came from to our land. We would have caught its scent before it set foot onto our home. We would have known about it.”

“And how would you know that we would have known about it? There is a chance that we would not have known so quickly and so quickly.” The female growled softly.

“Only a few days has passed, I am certain.” This was the male's explanation for why he was so sure that, if a new species had appeared, they would have found out a good amount of time before they came onto the land.

But the female was not so sure. She could feel it in her bones, in her muscles, even in her stomach, now completely empty. Even the air around them seemed different. The very oxygen levels had seemed to dramatically changed. The smells themselves had shifted into unfamiliar territory. The only scents that remained the same were hers and the other raptor's. Even the cave's scent had changed almost entirely. A few days' time could not have been enough time for all these changes to take place. Instinct told her that a far longer time frame had passed since they had been asleep. But how much time had actually passed?

“No. Not a few days. That is impossible.” The female lowered her head as her mind started to think about the possible conclusions that they would come to. “Too much has changed since we were last awake. Time of a far longer length must have passed.”

“But...” The red raptor started, but the female interrupted him with a snap of her jaws. He instantly snapped his head back and lowered his head slightly in submission.

“It is the only thing that could explain everything that is different now.” The female inquired. “But I cannot tell how long has passed. It might have been so long that many generations of our own kind have come and gone.”

The male narrowed his eyes as he thought of what the female had suggested. In all his life, he had never seen a new animal arrive in such a short amount of time. In addition, he'd never seen any new animals other than the others he had encountered throughout his life. Perhaps the female was indeed correct. Nothing else seemed to be adding up. If enough time had passed for an unknown species to show up, then a significance amount of time had passed. But he could not figure out just how much time that was. “Perhaps you are right.” The raptor growled. “But what do you suggest we do now? And do not tell me to wait. We did enough of that already.”

The female kept one reptilian eye on the hole that was now in the wall. She focused on the rubble and on the bright light outside. She could still hear the unfamiliar chatter and the strange scents still filled her nostrils, filling her with feelings of confusion and apprehension. They know nothing of the species outside of the wall, not even what they looked like. And it seemed that the species were accompanied by something bigger. She could hear the low rumbling of what sounded like a very large animal. Was it the mother? Were they near the nesting site of the new species? If they go out to investigate, would they be attacked? These questions plagued the female as she tried tot think of what she and the male could do.

Before she could decide, she caught a glimpse of something large and gray heading their way once again. She screeched loudly, scrambling onto her legs and managing to get out of the way in time. The male also found his strength and jumped back, standing next to the female as something gray crashed through the wall again. The two raptors hissed and coughed as dust was kicked up into the air. They heard the sounds of the rock cracking and breaking, and the sound of the machine was even louder. They could hear the floor beneath them being to vibrate. No animal they had ever encountered before ever did something like this.

As the dust started to settle, the male was the first to make a move. He took a step forward, hissing in confusion and anticipation as his eyes focused on where the sound had come from. He was greeted with more light that started to illuminate the cave. He could see smaller rocks, piled one on top of the other, where the large barricade had once been. He hissed again when he heard the same chatter the green raptor had, and this time it sounded a lot closer. They could hear footsteps approaching, and then a silhouette started to appear over the rocks. The two raptors held still, waiting to see this new species that they've been hearing since they woke up from their sleep. But the silhouette quickly shrank and disappeared, seemingly obeying a loud call from another creature nearby.

The green raptor took a step forward this time. She heard the rumbling noise quickly fade away, stopping abruptly as if something had startled it. She took another step forward. She glanced back at the red raptor before making her way cautiously towards the smashed hole in the cave. She carefully looked outside and almost shrieked in horror at what she saw only a few feet away from the cave. “What is this creature?” She asked, prompting the male to come forward and have a look for himself.

“It's a....what?” The red male had no answers either. This was unlike anything he and the female ever encountered. It didn't even resemble anything familiar in the slightest.

The creature standing before them was a dull to bright yellow in color. It didn't seem like it had legs, instead crawling on its black-colored belly. They saw something on what appeared to be the body and they guessed it was the head. It had large eyes, but they were dark and clear, unlike anything they had seen before. It seemed to have a very long nose or structure jetting out in front. It was long, and at the tip was the silver ball that they had seen earlier. They guessed the long structure was actually the tail. The entire creature appeared to be hard, armored, protected. Was this some bizarre new species of those club-wielding armored dinosaurs they had seen before?

They were about to go back into the cave when they saw something that they never would have believed if they hadn't seen it for themselves. The yellow creature seemed to open up. From the inside stepped out a much smaller creature, looking less formidable that the big one. The creature looked pale in color except for a bright orange coloration that covered it chest and torso. It lacked a tail and stood completely upright. It didn't look like it had any claws. Perhaps it was a herbivore. It took a few steps and seemed to stop when a second creature much like it appeared. The difference with this one as that it was dark-skinned, but still had the same orange coloration. The two seemed to be talking to one another, eyeing the cave carefully and a few times pointing at it. Neither seemed to take notice to the raptors.

The male raptor's nose wrinkled in disgust. The smell of these new creatures was bothering him greatly. He wasn't sure, however, what to make of the appearance. He looked at the female. “What do you think they are?”

“Predators probably. Look at how their eyes are positioned.” The female said, staring at the creatures before them. She could see the eyes quite clearly, relatively close to one another. “These creatures do not have a wide view like our prey does. Our prey have eyes on the side, not the front. Only other predators have eyes like that.”

“Predators?” The male asked, bewildered. “They lack claws!”

“So do the predators of the waters and they can hunt, can they not?” The female retorted. The male couldn't think of a comeback statement and remained silent. The female took harder look at the creatures, narrowing her eyes to get a better look. She was noticing something on top of their heads. They were both dark, long, and..flowing? She had seen this before only few times, when she had seen the little mammals scurry across the floor to hide. “They are mammals.” She hissed slowly.

“Mammals?” The red raptor snorted. No wonder the smell was upsetting him. He hated the smell of mammals. It was probably their fur that they grow on their bodies instead of scales or feathers. “I believe that. Only mammals have this kind of stench. But since when did mammals get that large?”

The green raptor opened her mouth partway, just enough to expose more of her sharp teeth. “This is just further evidence that we have been asleep far longer than you think.” The two raptors fell silent as they leaned in a little closer, trying to hear what these strange creatures were saying. They positioned themselves so that they would not be seen. They weren't sure if these creatures had a strong sense of smell, but even if they did, they hadn't seemed to notice their scent. Even though she had just saw these creatures, the female couldn't help but become a little curious. “I wonder what they are talking to one another about.”

The red male, who was feeling particularly hungry, snarled, “I do not care. I just want to kill one so I can eat it. We have not eaten in for a long time, I am sure.”

“No!” The female snapped, her jaws closing close to the male's neck, causing him to cringe back in submission. “We know nothing about them. We do not know if they are good prey or not. They might be dangerous. They might kill us swiftly.”

“Then what do you propose we do then?” The male raptor asked.

The female was quick on giving her response. “We learn.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” The male asked, his tail twitching slightly in agitation. “Sit here and watch them and hope we somehow learn their language? And even if we did, what would be the point? What would we want to talk to mammals for?”

The female wasn't sure how she should respond. She, of course, had no answer for most of the male's questions. She wasn't sure if she would want to talk to the mammals either. But understanding them, she felt, was crucial to their survival. Getting a basic understanding of how these creatures think and live would help them better adapt to their presence. They had to know if these creatures were harmful to them or not. If they misjudged these creatures too severely, they may end up paying the price relatively quickly. She had learned a similar lesson during her first hunt.

As for the male's question on how they would learn, she did have an answer for that one. “To learn, we must sit and observe them. We must learn enough about these strange creatures if we wish to survive an encounter from them.”

The male scoffed. “What could weak mammals do to a dinosaur?”

This remark made the female hiss in anger. The male must have forgotten about one of the native mammals that lived in their area. She was shocked that the male could have forgotten about this mammal so easily. The mammal had a venomous bite and would make a dinosaur sick just from one nip. The male had been bitten by one during the first year that she had met him. He survived, but before he recovered, he was very ill and left to pretty much fend for himself. He managed to recover, despite receiving no help. The pack had to focus on keeping the group as a whole healthy. They couldn't worry about one sickly individual. For the male to pretend to forget this experience, the female wasn't sure what she should say about it. Perhaps it was best that she didn't say anything.

She then started to wonder what it would be like to be these creatures. She had never felt this way before. She had always been fine being a raptor. But these creatures were so strange to her. She wondered how they were able to move around like that, standing straight up without a tail. She closed her eyes and started to visualize herself being like these creatures. She tried to imagine how it would feel looking like that. She tried to think about how she would move around if she stood straight up and lacked any kind of tail. She tried to imagine what kind of teeth they would have, and if they had any kind of claws at all.

Her concentration was partly broken by a surprised chirping sound from the male Velociraptor. “You have changed!”

The female continued concentrating on the new creatures, but managed to hear and understand what the male had said. “What are you talking about?”

“Your hand has changed!” The male Velociraptor said, fixating a curious and shocked eye at the female's hand.

“Do not be foolish.” The female said as she moved her snout towards her hand to prove the male was wrong in what he said. “There is no way that...” She shut her snout as she was taken aback by what she was seeing. The male raptor was indeed correct. Her hand had changed. Instead of three digits, she now had five. The scales had completely disappeared, replaced with smooth, seemingly weaker skin. She turned it over and she could see that her talons were replaced with short, flat claws that grew from the top of each digit's tip rather than the very front. “What happened?”

END FLASHBACK:

Moynihan took a moment to pause telling the story to see if the children had any questions so far. She had gone on for a little while talking about what happened to her and Victor in the beginning, but has yet to get close to the part where she talked about the weapons. She knew this was going to be a long storytelling and she wondered if she even had time for it now. The kids were expected home pretty soon now. She couldn't keep them here forever. She briefly wondered if she should just stop now, let the teens return home, and resume the story sometime tomorrow. She quickly decided against it, believing that it was best to get this off her chest now instead of prolonging it. And with her current condition, she might be too snappy tomorrow to tell them anything more.

Taking advantage of Moynihan's silence, Max took this opportunity to squeeze in a question that was bothering him for a while now. “So you and Victor slept all that time? All those millions of years, you two have been asleep?” Moynihan nodded a few times. This didn't make any sense to Max. It defied the laws of physics. Anything that is frozen dies save for a few species such as the wood frog. “How is that even possible? Wouldn't you two have starved to death before you woke up? And what of the cold? Wouldn't ice of ripped apart your cells as you froze solid?”

“Max has a good point.” Rodger said thoughtfully. “None of the research I ever conducted could offer an explanation for how you and Victor could survive being frozen alive like that. Nothing could survive something like that.”

“Wood frogs can.” Max said. “But that wouldn't be enough to explain how dinosaurs could survive it.”

Moynihan smiled slightly. She understood where Max was coming from. It was indeed hard to explain how she and Victor survived. And it certainly was hard to believe that two cold-blooded reptiles could survive being frozen. And yet, here she was, sixty-five million years later and she was very much alive, and, unfortunately, so was Victor. Sometimes she wondered if she would have preferred Victor dying in that cave. She eyed Max carefully and said, “The way we survived had something to do with the fact that we somehow entered a state of suspended animation, a very deep hibernation. But how we survived for so long, and frozen nonetheless, I fear that I, and not even Vic, have figured this out.”

“I see...” Max said softly. He thought about saying something else, but he decided not to. He shut his mouth to allow someone else to speak up.

Fiona decided to ask something. “So how did it feel when you first saw your hand change? Was it a scary experience?”

“That's a very good question, Fiona.” Moynihan noted. “Yes, it was scary. I nor Victor had ever seen anything like it before. I wasn't even sure how I had triggered it. It took us a while before we realized that my hand had transformed to appear like that of the creatures, the humans, that we saw. And it took even longer to realize that I could control this ability.”

“..what did Victor think of the idea?” Buzz asked cautiously.

Moynihan's smile had faded completely at Buzz's question. She slowly closed her eyes and rested her head against her hand on the chair. “Even back then, Victor didn't like the idea of turning into a human. He felt it was disgusting to turn into what he felt, even then, was a lower life form. Despite all the years that had passed, Victor could never come to terms with mammals being any more than rodents scurrying across the ground. This is one of the reasons he hates humans. He hates humans simply for being mammals.”

This did not come as a surprise to anyone in the group. Victor had shown time and again just how strong his hatred for mankind truly was. And Moynhan herself knew that Victor would probably even go as far as eating any human worker of his if he feels they had failed him one too many times. But while he had a strong hatred of man in general, they wondered about his feelings towards the other mammals, such as the bears, the cougars, and wolves. Did he share a similar hate towards them? They had their doubts on that. He did seem a little more tolerant of them. They concluded that it was probably because they hadn't 'ruined' the planet like humans had.

“And so he wants to destroy us.” Rodger said in a bitter tone.

Moynihan slowly shook her head. This surprised the group, causing them to stare at her in bewilderment. “No, he is not out to destroy humans, as shocking as it might sound. Well not all humans anyway.” Moynihan said, doing her best to explain without confusing the teenagers further. “You see, despite his hatred towards your species, Victor finds it a lot easier to simply mutate humans rather than hunting down and killing billions of humans. His primordial ooze mutates humans too and there's nothing he can do to change this fact. Victor had already realized how difficult it would be earlier on to wipe out all humans and that's why he started to recruit them.”

“But...” Max spoke up. “I had thought he only recruited them because he needed humans to get his plans to work...”

“That is true. But he also recruits humans so that he has less and less humans to worry about.” Moynihan answered the boy. “He had come to the conclusion that if he got humans to join him in his cause, he would not have to waste time in destroying them all.”

Rodger scratched his chin thoughtfully. “That does make sense. There is that old saying. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

Moynihan nodded. “It can allow one to have control over their enemies. If you remained in close quarters with your enemy and you manage to subdue them without killing them and make them your minions instead, then they are less likely to try and fight you. And this is exactly what Victor had figured out. That's why he made Raptor Dyne.”

“How can he possibly hope anyone would join him once they knew the truth about him?” Buzz asked, shrugging his shoulders. “I mean, it doesn't make any sense. No one in their right mind would join that mad scientist!”

“What about Michelle and Oscura?” Fiona inquired.

“Uhhh....” Buzz stammered, realizing his mistake. He had forgotten about those two.

“And let's not forget the countless other people who have joined Victor.” Max said, eyeing Buzz with a serious look. “We've encountered his oozer losers many times in the past. How could you have forgotten about them? I mean you were captured by them once, remember?”

Buzz narrowed his eyes. “I remember that...” He said in a low voice. He recalled how much he was panicking when he felt those ropes sling around his Pteranodon ankles and how he saw himself being lowered in the cage and knowing there wasn't anything he could do to get away. He could barely keep himself from laughing when he finally got out of the cage and witnessed Victor's truck falling into the icy waters on the frozen lake.

“And don't forget the ones that contaminated Caruso's pets.” Rodger said. Everyone looked at him with the same expression on their faces. They all remembered those particular animals. They recalled how the animals mutated at night and they barely got up in time to stop them. They were very angry at Caruso after the animals had mutated, especially Rodger, who, for a short time after that, regarded Caruso as too irresponsible, especially after finding out how he still abandoned his goldfish even after the talk he had with Moynihan and the others on taking responsibility for his pets. All Caruso had to do was take care of a single goldfish. That wasn't really such a hard task. And yet the teen had still dumped the fish at a pond at a retirement home, putting the life of Fiona's grandfather on the line. Although, in the end, Caruso admitted his mistake and had taken responsibility, demutating his goldfish and keeping it.

Moynihan nodded her head. “Yes, I could never forget that. I was almost attacked in my sleep.” The group nodded in return, giving her a sympathetic look. Moynihan had been sleeping at the time when her bird, Cerulean, had gotten on top of the bed and stared down at her, looking as if he was going to attack. Moynihan could not be certain whether or not Cerulean would have attacked her, but she couldn't take the chance. She felt lucky that she had that bowl of peanuts close by. It took the bird's attention off of her and onto the bowl. Moynihan couldn't have been more relieved when the Dino Squad came in through the door to her rescue.

“It was a good thing we got to her when we had, huh?” Rodger said, recalling how he was the one who knocked the door down to get access into the lighthouse.

“Yes it was.” Joanne said. She now wanted to take her mind off of that event. “But back to serious matters now...” She began to continue her retelling of the past. “After Victor and I had learned to control this transforming ability and mastered it, we began to think up our human disguises and once that was accomplished, we began to merge in with the crowd to learn their ways and their language, or languages as we found out later. Since we were..are.. Velociraptors, we could learn very swiftly and it didn't take us too long to master the English language. On top of that, we perfected human mannerisms to the point where it's now impossible to tell we are dinosaurs.” She then furrowed her eyebrow as a grim look appeared on her face. This caused her students to lean in, sensing the story was going to take a dark turn. And they were right. “At first, Victor had no intention on trying to reclaim the planet. It was mostly because he did not know that there was a way. And he had become somewhat tolerant of humans after spending time with them. But he still had a hatred for them, as did I, for a time.”

“You hated humans?” Fiona asked, sounding shocked.

“I thought you accepted humans.” Max said.

“I do.” Moynihan said in a calm voice to reassure her students. “It took me some time, but my hatred for humans melted into acceptance, and even love. It is Victor who had never accepted humans. And it is because of me that he decided to bring back the time of the dinosaurs.”

The team looked at each other nervously. They started to have scary thoughts, such as Moynihan being the one to suggest the idea in the first place. They became fearful of what Moynihan was going to tell them. Why else would she have been so afraid to talk to them about this? It was Buzz who broke the uneasy and unnerving silence. “How was it that you made him want to do that? Did you suggest the idea to him...?” He asked cautiously.

Joanne hesitated before giving her answer. “Well...you could say that... sort of...not really..”

“What?!” Max shouted, completely in shock as were the others. Did Moynihan actually admit to being the soul cause of this hidden war? Did she just say that it was she who had this idea all along? Max started to wonder if Moynihan really was on their side. Well she had to be. Why else would she help them foil Victor's plots? And if she truly was on Victor's side, then why would Michelle, one of Victor's followers, try to kill her? Still, this did not soothe Max completely. He wanted answers. He looked at his friends, who all gave him the same determined look. They wanted answers as well.

Rodger was the next person to speak out. “It was you who caused this to happen?” He gasped in complete disbelief. “It was you who inspired Victor to try and overthrow humans?”

Fiona had a hard time believing all of this. She began to hope it was just all a big mistake. Maybe they were misunderstanding something Moynihan said, or perhaps the old woman had simply worded her claim incorrectly. “It's not true. Tell me it's not true...”

“It's true...” Moynihan gulped nervously. “But not in the way you might think.. I had never meant for any of this to happen, believe me. But it was due to a mistake on my part that this all started to happen.”

“...what did you do?” Fiona asked cautiously.

Moynihan said, “Well it started about two years after we had successfully institutionalized ourselves into the human world. We were at our apartment that we had rented after we had earned enough money. The television was on, showing us a documentary on dinosaurs, and that's when Victor had started to express his desire for what he would see as a better world...” Moynihan closed her eyes as she began to recall that day...


	17. Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

FLASHBACK: 

Victor Veloci and Joanne Moynihan were sitting on the couch in the living room of their apartment. It wasn't much, but it helped them get by until they were able to find better jobs. They both worked at cashiers, although at two completely different stores. It wasn't much money, but it was enough to make a living anyway. The apartment they were living in was small, although neatly kept. There was only one bedroom. The two didn't mind sharing it. There was also only one bathroom. The couch they were sitting on was the only piece of furniture in the living room, the largest room in the apartment. Connected to the living room was a small kitchen, containing a fridge, a few cabinets, and a stove. Down a small hallway where the bathroom was included a small laundry room, big enough for a dryer and a washer and not much else.

The walls were painted a pale bone yellow. Not a very attractive color, but it was easy on their eyes and not too distracting. Their house was almost entirely carpeted except for the tiled floor in the bathroom and in the kitchen. Next to the kitchen was a small black table with two chairs. This was where the two would have eaten their meals during the day. And not far from the table was the TV, black in color and a decent size, not too big and not too small. The two were looking at the TV together, passing the time by watching some programs that had caught their interest. The light above them flickered a little, but they paid it no mind. Although it was dark out now, the television offered enough light for them.

Although the two were living together, they were not officially married. They had no plans anytime soon to get married. The human wedding customs of this continent confused them greatly. They didn't like the idea of being bonded by a simple ring and they felt that, if two people wanted to be together, they should just get together. It felt like a waste of time to go through all the trouble of planning a wedding, paying for it, buying all those nice clothes, and gathering family members and friends all for the simple union of a male and female human. Victor and Joanne considered themselves mates and nothing more, and refused to partake in human customs.

Victor held the remote in his hands, mindlessly pressing the button to flip through the channels to see what was on. He immediately stopped on one channel when he saw a flash of something that looked familiar. He turned up the volume and he leaned in to listen to what was going on. The television set was filled with the image of what looked like a large sickle claw. Victor and Joanne recognized it immediately. It was the claw from a species of raptor, possibly the creature humans call Utahraptor.

The sickle claw was being held by a human scientist, who was eyeing it with great curiosity and fascination. He started to speak, “For years since its discovery, scientists have speculated that this claw was used to disembowel prey. But our tests have shown that this action was impossible.” He started to point at the tip of the claw. “Only the tip of the claw was sharp.” He then started to rub his finger in the inside curve of the claw. “The inside of the claw is dull, and this creates a problem. When the animal would strike a prey item with this claw, only the tip of the claw is doing the cutting. With a blunt inside edge, there's no way a raptor, of any size, would be able to successfully slice open an animal...”

Victor curled his lips back in disgust as the scientist began to say these things. What did this pathetic creatures know anyway? They had never seen a living raptor in their lives! There's no way they would know any of this. There's so much about dinosaurs that they do not know. And it disgusted Victor to hear this human try to disprove the raptor's ability to do something that he and Moynihan had done countless times in the past. “If I was there, I would disprove him very quickly...” As he said that, his right foot transformed into that of a Velociraptor's, and he lifted it up and wielded his sickle claw in pride.

“Don't blame them too much, Vic.” Joanne responded, although sounding a bit upset as well with the scientist. “I mean, all they have to go on with their claims are fossilized bones. They are lucky to find anything else. How are they to know everything about dinosaurs? I hear they're still debating on whether or not we are warm-blooded like mammals or cold-blooded like other reptiles.”

Victor hissed. “Us? Warm-blooded like those lowly rodents that ran across our feet before the extinction?!” A little bit of drool dripped from his jaws as it would if he were in his Velociraptor form. “Don't make me laugh!”

“While they have gotten that part wrong, Vic,” Moynihan spoke up, running her fingers through her dark hair. “I don't think you should judge them too harshly on that mistake. They found some pretty good evidence to support that theory. Quite interesting. They also think that Velociraptors were completely covered in feathers like birds.” She had to admit that she was a little disgusted by the idea of being covered in feathers and wondered how that idea came about. But after seeing what the humans had found, she could understand how they made that mistake.

“One of these days, I feel like marching down to one of those science labs and giving them a piece of my mind.” Victor hissed through bared teeth, his eyes still locked on the program he and Moynihan were currently watching. “All these darn theories about dinosaurs..they have no idea what they are talking about! I don't care if they don't know any better. There's no excuse for these kind of theories! I mean, really, warm-bloodedness? Feathers? Slow and stupid? I've even heard a theory that creatures like Pteranodons were covered in fur!” He shuddered. “Disgusting!”

“Fur huh?” Joanne contemplated. “That's a new one for me.”

“I still don't know how they come up with these things.” Victor said softly.

“Easy.” Joanne responded, giving Veloci a smirk. “They have never seen a live dinosaur before. All they have are bones. So how are they to know everything? All they can do is take the evidence and make an educated guess. Seriously, why do you insist on judging them so harshly?” Joanne chuckled lightly. “They aren't so bad.”

Victor turned his head from the television set and looked at Joanne. “Yes, I know that. But still..sometimes I wonder how they became the dominant species of this planet. They hadn't even been here that long! They...”

“They earned this position through hard work, Vic.” Joanne said, leaning back into the couch. “Humans worked harder than dinosaurs to get to the top. Dinosaurs developed their skills over tens of millions of years while humans achieved world domination a lot faster because of their intelligence and their weapons.” She paused briefly to look at the expression on Victor's face. She knew that what she was saying was upsetting him, but to her, it was the truth. “And not to mention, they're a highly social species, even more so than Velociraptors. This allows them to communicate and work with one another to achieve a common goal.”

“And that's exactly what bugs me about them! They rely on artificial skills and what they call intelligence to make themselves feel like they're so important! At least when it came to us dinosaurs, we relied on our natural born skill to make it.” Victor said. “And if they are so eager to work with one another, then why have there been so many wars? Tell me, since when have you heard about a dinosaur war?”

Joanne tapped a finger against her chin lightly as she thought over Victor's response. “You make a good point, Victor. But still...” She shrugged. “That doesn't change the fact that...”

Victor interrupted her sharply. “Doesn't change the fact that..what? That humans have taken over the world in only a few thousand years or something while it took dinosaurs millions of years?!” His eyes narrowed as he spoke, causing Moynihan to lean back a little. “But to do, they had caused a lot of damage to this world! If making species to extinct isn't enough, they're polluting the air and the water and the land! What kind of dominant species would do that?”

“Humans are a young species, Vic.” Joanne said, trying her best to hide her tension she was starting to feel now. “Don't blame them for their arrogance and ignorance. In time, they will learn. Some are already striving to change this world.”

“And look at where it's taking them.” Victor said darkly. “Most humans care only about money and how to get more of it. They will not listen to those whom they deem 'treehuggers'. They do not care what happens to this world as long as they can get rich quickly.”

Joanne narrowed her eyes slightly. As much as she wanted to agree with Victor, she just couldn't bring herself to. She had started to like these unusual ape species that took over the world so quickly. In the past, she would agree with Victor, or at least understand where he was coming from. While she disagreed with him now, she still understood his reasons. She was also upset at how humans were treating the world. But she saw great potential in the species. If they were only educated more in the ways of this planet, they could transform the way they live and reduce their impact on the planet greatly. “At least someone is trying to make a change....” She said in a low voice.

“Yeah and they are doing a great job too, huh?” Victor said, his voice filled with sarcasm. “And I suppose letting people continue cutting down trees and pouring pollution into the water is part of their plan, isn't it?” His voice grew angrier and angrier as he continued to speak. “And let's not forget about their poaching. I'm sure that is included on their 'save the world' plan, right?” He would have continued if Joanne hadn't smacked him on the head to shut him up.

“Victor! Please!” Joanne said sternly. “If it bothers you so much, then stop talking about it! You're only going to make yourself angrier, and you know what happens when you get too stressed.” Victor eyed her angrily, but Joanne didn't falter. “Look, I'm just as angry about what the humans are doing as you are. But that does not mean they should be condemned. At least give them a chance. And don't stress so much about it. I don't want to see you hurt yourself.”

Victor's expression softened a little, but he still glared at Moynihan. He rubbed the sore spot on his head where she had struck him. “Yeah yeah, I know.” He grumbled softly. “Still I can't help but feel that...” His voice trailed off as he was starting to draw a blank in his mind. He was so angry and frustrated that he couldn't think straight.

“Just that..what?” Joanne asked, leaning a little closer to Victor.

Victor just sighed and looked away, eyeing the television absentmindedly. He had forgotten about the program that was on, but he was no longer interested in it. The short-lived argument between him and Moynihan had killed his interest. “Oh nothing, just..nothing.” He said softly. Joanne could tell that he was sounding a little distressed. “Just forget I said anything.”

“Oh come on, Vic.” Joanne said in a comforting tone. She placed an arm around Victor in a partial hug. She had picked this habit up from the humans. It felt a little awkward, but at the same time, it also made her feel good. “You can tell me anything. You've got to believe that.” Victor didn't object to the hug although he clearly didn't look too comfortable about it. He turned and looked at Moynihan, his face completely softened by now. “Now come on, what's on your mind?”

“It's just that... well.. I have been trying to give these humans a chance. No matter how much they've angered me, I've tried to be like you, Joanne. I tried to tolerate it, and I have been for a very long time.” Victor said, explaining what he could to Joanne while doing his best to keep himself calm. “But I can feel my patience wearing thin. I want to give them more of a chance, I really do. But I can't help but feel that it's just too late for them. I mean... they've come all this way in their technology and they are still using it for personal gain...”

Joanne nodded her head. She shared the same frustration. These humans were supposed to be an advanced species like the dinosaurs were. Although the dinosaurs did what they did for their own benefit, it was on a smaller scale compared to the humans, whose actions impact many ecosystems and the planet itself. She often wondered why the humans, even though they could create weapons of mass destruction and all this stuff, they hardly ever to really attempt to create something to benefit the species and the planet in general. Were they afraid of change? Were they unsure if the ideas would work or not? Did they even care at all?

“I understand how you feel, Victor.” Joanne told him, pulling herself a little closer to him. “I sometimes wonder that myself, why they care more about profit than the benefit of their species. But really.. are they any different from dinosaurs in this sense? Dinosaurs didn't care about the well being of others. They just...we just lived only looking out for our own selves much of the time.”

“And that is still better than what humans are doing.” Victor said, closing his eyes. “I can't tell you how many times I felt my heart ache as I see more and more of the damage they are causing, both intentionally and unintentionally...”

“As does mine, Vic.” Joanne responded. “But there is nothing we can do about it. The only thing we can do is accept this world the way that it is, no matter how painful it might be.”

But Victor refused to accept that statement. He wanted to believe there was something that could be done. He wanted to believe that they could make a change in this world, a change that would be best for the planet. Joanne might have given up on trying, but Victor had not. “No! I will not accept that!” Victor said, his voice filled with confidence. “There is something we can do about it! I just..don't know what it is yet. But once we figure it out, we'll teach those humans how things are really run on this planet!”

“And how do you hope to accomplish that, Victor? Humans don't see dinosaurs as civilized beings, and frankly, they are correct. Dinosaurs did not have a government or leaderships or anything. We just..lived.” Joanne said calmly, slowly rising up off the couch to go into the kitchen for something. But Victor stopped her, grabbing her by the arm and forcing her to remain where she was.

“So what are you suggesting?” Victor asked, his teeth slightly bared. “That we just give up and let them wreck the planet?!” Victor could feel a strong dislike, even hatred, towards humans rise up inside of him as he started to come to terms to all the terrible things humans had done to Earth. “Why should we allow this to continue to happen, Joanne? Why should we sit back and let those..hairless monkeys.. ruin everything?!”

Joanne growled softly and pulled her arm roughly away from Victor. “Well what do you hope to accomplish? How do you propose we change the humans? Go door to door and ask them pretty please?!”

Victor's eyes narrowed into slits. “At least dinosaurs would have been able to run this place properly...”

Becoming increasingly frustrated, Joanne did something that she knew she was going to later regret. She flailed her arms into the air and shouted, “Then why don't you just bring the dinosaurs back and let them take over?!” Victor looked at her in shock when she said that. Joanne, still frustrated, continued on her rant without realizing what she was saying. “Why don't you just create..I don't know..something..that can magically turn everything on this world back into dinosaurs! Would you be satisfied then?!”

Victor stood there, frozen and stunned for several minutes. He couldn't believe that Joanne had just snapped at him like that. She hadn't done something like that since...since they were dinosaurs. Joanne's expression slowly softened and, realizing what she had just said, took a step backwards, wondering how Victor was going to react to the idea. Slowly but surely, an almost twisted smile made its way across Victor's face. Joanne shuddered. She didn't like that look on his face. She tried to turn around and get away from him, but Victor had grabbed her again, holding her in place. The smile he was giving her told Joanne that Victor seemed to wish that he thought of that idea first.

“Why Joanne...” Victor said in an elated voice. “That's a brilliant idea!”

“Now Victor...” Joanne said nervously, hoping to explain herself. She mentally scolded herself for speaking like that in the first place. She had never meant to say any of those things. She wasn't actually serious in trying to bring back the dinosaurs. She just wanted to say something to get Victor to stop complaining. Apparently she chose the wrong things to say. Now she realizes that she has just made Victor even more determined to change the world, and not in what she would see as a good way. “Let's think this over... Let's not jump to any conclusions.. I-I mean there isn't even a way to create such a thing that can..change things..”

Victor's smile only broadened more as he exposed his raptor teeth to her. “Oh that won't be a problem for two Velociraptor geniuses like us! Surely we'll be able to think of something that could work...”

“But..that could only lead to more problems...” Joanne tried to say, hoping to change Victor's mind about this. “I mean, we could end up only creating more damage...”

Victor paused for a moment and started to think about what Joanne said. The smile dropped from his face as if he was acknowledging and understanding the seriousness of the situation. And for a minute, Joanne felt relieved that Victor seemed to realize how wrong, and improbable, it would be to artificially create dinosaur species. Then Joanne felt fear rise inside her as Victor's face furrowed into a look that was filled with disgust. “The humans are doing enough damage as it is...” As quickly as it appeared, the frown disappeared, replaced with the smile he had earlier. “So what do you say? Let's work together to find a way to achieve this wonderful goal.”

Joanne tried to pull her arm away, but Victor just held on tighter. “Well I don't know Victor.. It just doesn't seem right to....” Victor pulled her closer and wrapped one arm around her like she had with him earlier, but this time there was no sense of comfort. Victor stared down at Joanne and felt somewhat more powerful due to his height and strength advantage over her in human form. “Victor...” Joanne said, struggling to get away. “You're scaring me...”

Victor responded with a low growl, his fingernails digging so deep into Joanne's skin that he almost drew blood. Through clenched teeth and a low hiss, he said, “Either join me..or die...” As he said that, Victor felt a brief pang of guilt in his heart. He didn't really want to threaten his mate with death and he felt as if he betrayed her by doing so. But he quickly overshadowed that feeling with the belief that he was doing the right thing. And he knew that if she cared about him, she would join him. As far as he's concerned, this was her idea, not his.

Joanne tried again to pull away, but she was soon confronted with the downside of being a female human. Unlike Velociraptors, where both genders were roughly the same size, female humans were almost ways smaller than their male counterparts. They weren't quite as strong and this became obvious to Joanne as she tried to get away from Victor but kept failing. She looked up at Victor fearfully, unable to believe that he would make that kind of threat to her. And judging from the look in his eyes, he was not believing it so much himself. So why was he still holding onto her and why hadn't he said anything else yet? Was it that he was starting to feel more in charge, more dominant, because of his human form?

“V-Victor..I....” Joanne stammered. “I-I-I don't think we should...”

“Should...what?” Victor asked.

“W-Well...” Joanne said, trying to look away but finding herself unable to tear her eyes away from Victor's gaze. “It's just that.. I only said those things because I was..frustrated. Not just with you, but with the humans and everything going on. But..I didn't mean what I said...” She continued to try to plead with Victor, hoping to get him to stop before he even started. “Please Victor...reconsider. Don't do this.. Don't do something that you will eventually regret..one day...”

But Veloci had already made up his mind and he wasn't about to be discouraged from it. He almost yanked Moynihan roughly to try and get her to change her mind, but he thought better of it. His expression slowly softened and he released his grip on Moynihan, who looked relieved and moved away from him. Victor closed his eyes and looked away, feeling guilty with how he had acted towards her. “Look, I'm sorry if I scared you or hurt you, Joanne. I..I didn't mean to...” He said apologetically. He then looked back at her, the same serious look back but lacking the anger it once had. “But I'm not going to abandon this mission. I love the idea you had suggested.. and I don't really understand why you aren't more enthusiastic about it. Don't you want to save this planet?”

“Well yes...but...” Joanne started.

“Then why won't you just agree to join me...?” Veloci asked, staring at her, intent on trying to convince her. “Or are you saying I have to save this world all by myself?” His eyes narrowed dangerously. “Is that it?”

“No! That's not it!” Joanne said quickly, taking another step back. She turned her head to one side, eyeing the kitchen with a wary look. “Look, I'm getting a little hungry. Can't we talk about this some more later?”

Victor reached out and grabbed Moynihan by the arm and pulled her closer. “Not until I get an answer from you. So..what will it be? Which side are you going to choose? The dinosaurs..or the humans..?” His voice was filled with venom as he said the word 'humans', making Joanne flinch. “And I hope you choose wisely...for your sake. I hate to think what might happen to you if you chose wrong.” His eyes darkened slightly, indicating to Joanne what he felt was the right decision. His expression quickly softened, and to try to calm Joanne a bit, he smiled softly. “What do you say? Will you help me?” He then released his grip on her.

Joanne hesitated, unsure of how to answer. Veloci's change in demeanor had scared her. She usually didn't feel this way, so helpless and unsure of what to do. But she had never seen Victor acting like this, at least towards her. She scolded herself mentally again for saying those things while feeling so angry and frustrated. She continued to stare at Victor, who kept looking back, waiting for her answer. She knew he was not going to take no for an answer. And deep down, she kind of agreed with him. She did want to help make the planet a better place to live. Maybe Victor was right. Maybe they should go about with this idea.

Yet she could not help wondering if she was going to make the wrong decision in joining Victor. Even though he was her mate, this does not mean she had to agree with everything he was saying and vice versa. She had started to like the humans and she wasn't sure if she could just give up on them like Victor apparently had. She was starting to see them as a rather fascinating species, more diverse in character and personality than the dinosaurs she recalls encountering sixty-five million years ago. She was hoping to get to know the humans even more, to learn even more about them. But if she agreed to join Victor, would she even have that chance...?

Joanne reached a decision, and it wasn't easy for her to make this choice. As much as she wanted to understand the humans more, she felt her first duty was to her mate. They've been together far longer than she's known these strange creatures who rule the Earth now. She noticed Victor was now holding his hand out towards her for her to accept. She gulped once and, slowly, reached her own hand out and grabbed Victor's hand. “Okay..I'll help you.”

Victor grinned as he and Moynihan shook hands. “Good. You won't regret it. I promise.” Despite the way she was feeling, Joanne managed to produce a small smile for Victor. But she couldn't help but feel that she had just made a huge mistake...

END FLASHBACK: 

After Moynihan was finished telling this part of the story, the room became quiet. An unsettling, almost ominous silence fell onto the group, many of the kids now staring at Moynihan in shock, some with an almost angry look on their faces. Moynihan, feeling ashamed, looked away, waiting for the kids to say something about what they had just heard. She already had a good idea on what they were going to say and she wondered if she wanted to sit here and listen to it. It would only make her feel a lot worse. As if she wasn't feeling bad enough as it is already.

Max tried to open his mouth to speak, but his muscles kept his jaws firmly clenched together. He was trying his best not to show his anger. He was feeling angry with Moynihan for not telling them about this, but that wasn't the only thing upsetting him. It felt very strange for him, and the others, to realize that Moynihan was the one who suggested the idea of primordial ooze in the first place. Even though she hadn't really meant for that to happen and that she even tried to coax Victor out of it, it was still depressing to know that their leader was the cause of today's problems involving the mutantsaurs. It made him question his loyalty, asking himself if he was truly on the right side.

Fiona swallowed hard as she tried to digest this new information. Moynihan was the cause of the mutantsaurs? No, that didn't seem to be possible. Moynihan wasn't the type of person to do such a thing! Fiona wished it was all a big mistake. She had spent so much time with Moynihan that she just couldn't really believe that the old woman had not only suggested the primordial ooze plan but that she had actually helped Victor at one time. She tried to look into the woman's eyes, hoping to find a sense of doubt in them, something that could discredit this story, but all she found was sadness and guiltiness.

Rodger hardly reacted. He was feeling too stunned and in disbelief to really think of anything. He felt almost numb inside. He understood that Moynihan had simply lost her temper and had said those things to get Victor to shut up. Rodger probably would have done the same thing, depending on how angry he would get. But he had always seen Moynihan as a tough old lady who wouldn't give in so easily to her emotions. She was the one who had always scolded the kids when they allowed their feelings get the better of them, like how Rodger let anger control him into pulling the pranks on his friends. But the difference was his pranks were relatively harmless. Moynihan's actions had done a lot more damage.

Buzz could feel his hands shaking. He slowly clenched a fist with both hands to try and get them stop shaking, but it was useless. He slowly felt his whole body shake as if he was cold, but he knew better. This is how he had reacted when he had seen Michelle a few times earlier. It was a mixture of rage and frustration. Why didn't Moynihan tell them this information before? Why had she kept this vital piece of information secret after all this time? Was it that she did not trust them enough earlier? If this shocking revelation shook him up this much, Buzz wasn't sure if he wanted to hear more. He didn't know if he wanted to know about the weapons. Maybe Moynihan was going to say that she created weapons of mass destruction or something along those lines.

After several minutes of complete silence, save for the sounds of breathing, Max broke the silence. “So..after all this time... all this..” Max said, his voice shaky. “..it's all because of you?”

“All those mutantsaurs...they came into existence because of you?” Rodger said, joining in.

“Unfortunately and regretfully...yes.” Moynihan said, her head still turned away from the teenagers. She found it difficult to bring herself to look at them after what she had told them. How were they going to react when she told them about the secret weapons?

“I..understand that you were upset, Ms. Moynihan.” Max said, his voice sounding a little calmer than before. “But what I don't understand is why you never told us about this before. Were you afraid that we were going to retaliate against you or something?”

Moynihan sighed and slowly shook her head. “No...”

“Then why keep this a secret?” Buzz inquired, eyes slightly narrowed. “I mean, if you weren't afraid of how we might react, then why would you continue to keep this information from us?”

“Yeah..I don't understand either. Did you not tell us because you..didn't trust us?” Fiona asked, one eyebrow cocked a little.

“No, that's not it either.” Moynihan turned her head and looked at her students. She winced a little as she saw how angry, hurt, and upset they looked. She couldn't blame them either. “The truth is...I didn't want you kids to get hurt. I was afraid that if I told you this story, you would go and find the weapons yourself and try to use them, or even destroy them. I was worried that you would get yourselves killed.” Moynihan tried to hide a tear that formed in one eye. “I was only trying to protect you...”

“Protect us...?” Buzz asked in a soft, almost inaudible voice. It was loud enough for Moynihan to hear however.

“Yes. That is all I ever wanted to do. I don't want you kids to go through what I had in the struggle to defeat Dr. Veloci.” As Moynihan said that, she gazed down at her ankle. She could, sometimes, still feel those jagged teeth piercing her skin. This is why she felt very protective of the kids. She had been battling Victor for many years and she still received the nearly crippling injury. The Dino Squad had not fought against Victor for very long. She feared that their lack of experience would make them more susceptible to such injuries, especially since Victor now knew they were human. Moynihan felt a sharp pain in her heart. Victor would surely take advantage of this information. “And now that he knows you are all human, and not 'perfect dinosaurs'....”

“He can find us with ease. We know that.” Max said, his voice slightly tinged with fear. He was fully aware that Veloci would have an easier time finding them now. Max was almost certain that Victor had seen them transform while he was at the lighthouse Saturday morning. He couldn't be sure because they did not see him until after they were all in dino mode. But regardless, he knew that it was best to be on the safe side, and assume that he did see them. Max wasn't sure how Victor would be able to find them if he had only seen them, however. So perhaps they were still safe. Then his heart sank as a realization came over him. He, Fiona, Rodger, and Buzz were probably all still safe, but Caruso wasn't safe anymore. Victor knew his face and knew his name. And Victor also now knew where Moynihan lives and could attack at any time.

Before Max could speak up again, Rodger decided to speak. He wanted to know more about these weapons, and he was sure the others did as well. Moynihan hadn't started talking about the weapons yet other than what she had already said. She hadn't talked about what they were used for or anything. “So what about these weapons? Where are they? What were they used for?” Rodger asked.

“Yeah...” Buzz chimed in. “What makes them so dangerous that you had to conceal them from us?”

Joanne Moynihan flinched as the two kids asked her these questions. She knew that this was going to come up sooner or later. But she was still not sure how to explain it to them. Thinking about the weapons brought back overwhelming feelings of guilt and not just because she kept the weapons a secret. She kept their actual use a secret from them as well and for a good reason. The weapons, still fully functional, were locked away in her lighthouse instead of being destroyed to remind herself of the awful mistake she had almost made when she still worked with Victor. It was something that she wanted to forget, but could not for fear the past would repeat.

How would the teenagers react when they find out what some of the weapons were used for? Moynihan flinched at the thought of them accusing her of betraying them. They knew that she would never betray them, but they would probably still feel this way if they were told that the weapons Moynihan had in her home posed a huge threat to humanity. Victor had managed to convince Moynihan to create weapons that would do a great deal of damage to a human being, even end their lives. After Moynihan realized what she was doing and the consequences for that, she had taken the weapons with her after she split with Victor and had hidden them. She had foolishly believed that it would have prevented Victor from advancing too much in his goals. It had only enhanced his efforts. It had only made him more determined to rid the world of humans.

It was not the birth of Raptor Dyne, no. Victor did not start recruiting humans at that time. For what seemed to Moynihan as many years, Victor had only one ally and that was her. They had worked together on many different experiments in hopes of transforming the planet. Victor thought that Joanne was the only ally he really needed. He truly believed that two Velociraptors could easily outwit the billions of humans that now inhabit the planet. Victor had never considered hiring humans. He felt that they would not be of any help and would only slow him down. He was also concerned that they would spread information about his plans to other humans and they would be found out. Joanne leaving did not make him start working with humans, but it did make him colder, more determined in his experiments and in trying to achieve his goals.

Victor did not start recruiting until after the final battle she had endured with him, when he had broken her ankle. She had no idea about it until she had witnessed Victor walking away with two humans at his side. She thought nothing of it at first, believing that Victor had finally given up his mission at changing the world. But she was soon proven dead wrong when she had witnessed one of the men contaminating an animal with a primitive form of primordial ooze, causing it to mutate although not to the same extreme as the mutantsaurs she saw today. And after that, she would learn that Victor was recruiting more and more humans. She still didn't completely understand how he was getting them to join him or why he had even started doing so in the first place. The only thing that made sense to her is that he was promising them something in return for their loyalty. Keeping the men in line was not a problem for a Velociraptor.

But now her thoughts quickly trail back to Rodger and Buzz's questions regarding the weapons. She swallowed hard as she tried to think of how to tell the children without them getting angry with her or distressed in general. Joanne briefly wondered if Victor was watching them now, at this very second. If he was, could he hear her? She bit her lip, wondering if Victor was going to find out about the weapons, and then her heart started to race a little. If Victor could scan the lighthouse, he would easily find the weapons...

“Ms. Moynihan?” Fiona spoke up, braking Joanne's train of thought. “Are you all right? You seemed to be zoning out there.”

Moynihan shook her head a little. She was starting to get a little headache and it seemed to have come out of nowhere. But she didn't want to worry the kids, so she spoke a lie to them. “Y-Yes.. I'm fine.” As she said that, she lifted a hand up and started to rub her forehead a little, revealing to the team that their mentor probably wasn't speaking the complete truth.

Not believing her, Max said, “Are you sure? Why are you rubbing your head like that?” He pointed a finger at her when he said that. He usually never sees anyone do that unless they weren't feeling well or they were becoming frustrated. His eyes widened very slightly. He wondered if Moynihan was going to have another one of those episodes. He quickly lowered his finger. The other members of the team looked just as concerned, but none of them could gather the courage to say anything.

“I am sure, Maxwell.” Moynihan said, her eyes closed lightly as she slowly turned her head from side to side. “It's..nothing to be concerned about.” She reopened her eyes and returned to the subject that they were just one. She believed that the thought of the weapons is what was giving her these headaches and if so, talking about them more would only make her feel worse. But she had to tell them about the weapons and get this over with. What the Dino Squad wanted to do after they found out was up to them. “Anyway, the weapons are located in a secret room in this lighthouse. And I have the key.” She lifted up her necklace.

“You already told us that was a key.” Buzz said.

“Oh, I did?” Moynihan asked, a little confused. Buzz nodded his head. Moynihan lowered her gaze slightly. She sighed softly. “Hmm..I must have forgotten...”

“How could you have forgotten?” Buzz asked, raising his arms into the air. “You just told us about an hour ago or something!” It probably had not been an hour since the teacher started to tell the story, but to Buzz, it surely felt like that.

“I'm not as young as I used to be, I...” Moynihan stopped talking almost immediately. Her thoughts went back to earlier that day when she had to feed Rump. She recalled that she had a very hard time finding his food, even though it was in the same place as she normally puts it. And what frightened her just as much is that she was having a very hard time reading. The letters appeared the same as usual, but she was not able to decipher them. She started to become a little afraid as she realized that she was starting to forget again.

Max noticed Moynihan's change in behavior. He could recognize the look of fear on her face. It was slight, barely noticeable. But he was able to catch it. “Ms. Moynihan, what's wrong?” He asked, not wanting to see her afraid. “Why are you afraid?”

“It's..it's nothing.” Moynihan slowly shook her head, doing her best to keep her hands away from her head despite the pain and frustration. “Let's just..move back onto the weapons...” She straightened herself in her chair, doing her best to relax her face and calm her students, to get them to believe that she was fine and nothing was going on. She briefly wondered how long it would be before they notice something was really wrong with her. How long could she keep this memory loss a secret? “These weapons are very dangerous. I had stolen them from Veloci when I had first left him to make sure that he would never be able to use them.”

Buzz gulped and reluctantly asked, “What..what did the weapons do?”

Joanne closed her eyes. “Terrible things, Buzz. Very terrible things.” She reopened her eyes. “They were...killers. Tormentors. Torturers. Destroyers. They were nothing like the Chiller and the Spiller.” She slowly eyed Rodger. “And definitely nothing like that invention of yours.” She was referring to a model of the Spiller designed to suck up oil-based primordial ooze. They hadn't needed it much since that one incident, but Rodger felt it was still good to have.

“But...” Max said. Something was not adding up in his mind. “If Victor had made such dangerous weapons before, wouldn't he be able to..you know..make them again? He was the one who created the weapons in the first place...” That made him feel very uneasy. If what Moynihan said was true, and he was sure it was, then Veloci could easily create these same weapons if he wanted to and cause a whole mess of trouble. Even if they weren't the exact same design or had the exact same effect, he could still at least replicate the function. He could even make them better than before. He looked at his friends and could tell, judging from their expressions, that they were thinking the same thing too.

Buzz shuddered. “He could easily kill us...”

“Or our families.” Fiona added in, thinking of the mole mutant encounter she had with her family.

Moynihan pushed her glasses against her face. “No, he won't be able to replicate the weapons.” The team looked at her in surprise. She sounded so confident as she said this. The team started to wonder how she could be so certain that Victor would not be able to remake the weapons. “He can try, but he will fail.”

“How are you...so sure?” Rodger asked cautiously.

“Easy. Remember the bath of primordial ooze that you and the others were contaminated with?” Moynihan asked.

“Well..yeah.” Rodger said, tapping his finger against his head thoughtfully. “The primordial ooze that was in the water, right?”

Moynihan nodded. “And it gave you all perfectly formed dinosaur modes, did it not?” None of the team members responded. Instead, they simply looked at each other, and then back at Moynihan. They looked a little surprised, although they seemed to realize just what Moynihan was telling them. Victor had perfected the primordial ooze with that one formula, but has not yet been able to recreate it. And if he couldn't recreate the batch, maybe he wouldn't be able to recreate weapons that he probably never seen in use before. “Veloci was very lucky to get the results that he had with that one batch.” She explained. “And I am sure he knows that as well. He wants to recreate those effects, but has been unsuccessful. I theorize that the contamination in the ooze that absorbed into your skin is not only the reason why you are all immune to the Chiller and Spiller, as you already know, but also the reason your dinosaur forms are perfect and not just merely mutations.”

“But what about Rump?” Fiona asked, shrugging her shoulders. “He was in that same water and his dinosaur form isn't exactly..perfect.”

“It's downright ugly!” Rodger laughed, earning a glare from the others. “What?” He asked innocently. “You know it's true.”

“Right you are.” Moynihan nodded her head. She had almost forgotten about Rump's dinosaur form. She never did figure out exactly what he was supposed to be, though she theorized that he as most likely some kind of carnivorous dinosaur. “That's why I believe the contamination occurred sometime after you guys got out of the water, that something you did contaminated it. It's the only thing I can come up with that would explain why Rump and that shark turned into mutantsaurs while you kids obtained perfectly formed dinosaur modes.”

Buzz scratched his head. “That..doesn't make much sense. I didn't do anything differently than I normally do.”

“Not even come into contact with another chemical of sorts?” Moynihan asked.

Buzz shook his head. “Nope.”

Fiona nodded. “Me neither.

Moynihan looked over at Rodger and Max. “What about you two?”

“Nuh uh.” Max said, raising his hands in front of him.

“Negative.” Rodger said.

“I see. Well never mind that now.” Moynihan slowly got up onto her feet to stretch her legs a little. She was sitting down for a while and her legs were starting to feel slightly stiff. She didn't understand why. She couldn't have been sitting down that long. Then she started to walk away, confusing the team. It wasn't that she had forgotten about telling them about the weapons. She just wanted to stretch her legs. She was suddenly feeling restless, as if she just had to keep moving. She felt the urge to go explore, even though she knew this area quite well. She hadn't felt this way since her days as a full-fledged Velociraptor.

“Ms. Moynihan?” Joanne heard Max say, and she stopped in her tracks. She looked over her shoulder, giving the jock a sideways glance. “I thought you were going to tell us more about those weapons. What exactly were they used for?”

Rodger joined in. “Yeah. Why are you walking away?”

“Yeah...” Fiona said. “Why? It isn't like you to just walk off like that, especially in the middle of some important meeting like this one.”

Moynihan rubbed the back of her head, feeling a little embarrassed. “Sorry about that.. I don't know what came over me. I just..suddenly had this urge to..keep moving.” Judging from the confused expressions on the kids' faces, they neither understood what she had meant nor even understood why she had that urge to begin with. She didn't think they would anyway. The kids were, fortunately, spared from having to battle much, if at all, with their dinosaur half. She didn't quite figure it out herself, but she felt it had something to do with the fact that they were originally humans. She felt grateful that their human minds were in control.

Max stated, “Are you sure you want to continue on with this? I mean, you've been acting a little weird lately.” As much as he did want to hear about the weapons, he didn't want Moynihan to continue speaking of them if she didn't feel up to it. They could always learn about these instruments of torture later on. It wouldn't kill them to wait. It wasn't like Victor was going to come into the lighthouse right now and try to take them. “Maybe you should hold off with this...”

He was quickly cut off. “No!” Moynihan interjected sharply, eyes narrowed. Max snapped his head back in surprise. Quickly regaining her composure, Moynihan's expression softened up and she repeated herself again, this time in a gentler tone. “No...I have waited way too long to tell you about this, and, as much as it hurts me, I won't stop talking about this until you know what I want to tell you.” She walked up to where Max was sitting, her head tilted slightly downward so she could look at him in the eyes. She reached out and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “But trust me on this one. This isn't easy for me to talk about.”

“I know...” Max said, acknowledging what she told him. Moynihan offered a small smile, looking happy that he seemed to understand her.

“So..can you please tell us about the weapons?” Buzz asked as politely as he could. The punk teen was growing a little anxious to hear about these weapons. “I mean, I know they are dangerous and all... but... Hmm..how should I ask this...”

Rodger decided to help out. Placing a hand gently on Buzz's back, he said to his mentor, “What Buzz is trying to ask you is what was the purpose of the weapons? What were their functions?” Buzz gave him a slight frown, straining to see the hand on his back. Realizing what Buzz wanted, Rodger quickly moved his hand away, smiling apologetically to him. He returned his gaze to Joanne. “What were the weapons originally designed for?”

“Rodger, you do realize that all those questions are pretty much the same, just reworded, don't you?” Buzz asked, smiling slightly.

“You know what I mean!” Rodger barked at Buzz before turning back to the old teacher. “Well..?” He asked, hoping he didn't sound too impolite.

Moynihan took in a deep breath before she answered the boy's question. “Where to begin....where to begin...” She muttered to herself. When she thought of how she could explain, she cleared her throat loudly to make sure that she had the four teenager's attention on her. “The weapons were created for..genocide of the human race.” There was a collective gasp among the group, but none of them were able to say anything before the weapon continued. “Victor had originally wanted to try and kill all humans, or at least as many as he could find. This was before he had found out how to mutate human DNA with the primordial ooze. You see, at first, Victor didn't want humans to share the glory of being the dominant species. He just wanted them all dead. And he would have gone on with the genocide if I hadn't taken the weapons from him.” Moynihan explained, her heart slowly increasing its pace as she kept talking. “If Veloci manages to find them, he could use them against mankind. The weapons are highly effective.”

“Highly effective...” Rodger managed to say through his shock. “Like..how? What do they do...?” He had a feeling he was going to regret asking that question.

“..terrible things.” Moynihan responded, confirming what Rodger had suspected. “Destroy molecules, tear open blood vessels, freezing, electricity, heating, terrible illnesses, almost everything you can imagine. The only good news I can offer you all is that some of the weapons might not even work as they weren't tested or completed.” The group sighed in relief, happy to hear that things weren't as bad as they thought they were. But their relief was quickly shattered when Moynihan narrowed her eyes. “But some of the weapons do work...”

As Moynihan began to explain more about the weapons, the kids slowly realized just why she had kept them a secret all this time. Moynihan explained how she had helped Victor design the weapons when he had proposed genocide of the human race. She said she only agreed because, as much as she hated the plan, she did not want to betray him. It was around thirty-five years ago that the genocide was supposed to take place. But Moynihan had gotten a wake up call after witnessing a horrific accident and decided that she couldn't go through with it.

She had gotten into an argument with Victor about the plan and how she was now greatly opposed to it. Veloci was confused at first, not understanding why she would suddenly change her mind. Thinking that she would get over it quickly, he continued to coax her to help him set up the plan, picking areas where they would strike first. But Moynihan wouldn't have any of it and continued to verbally challenge him. The argument started to accelerate to the point where it had turned physical. Victor had gotten so angry and frustrated that he had struck Moynihan across the face, causing her to smack against one of the tables and fall down. She retaliated and fought back, slamming him against another table. While neither of them had turned into Velociraptors in the fight, they still fought fiercely, wrestling with each other on the ground, trying to slash or bite the other.

Before she had suffered any serious injuries, Joanne quickly fled the hideout, running off into the night. Victor did not have as many scanners at the time and quickly lost sight of the woman. Moynhan returned that night only to take the weapons they were working on with her. She managed to take all the weapons and quickly fled into an empty lighthouse, which soon became her new home and new hideout. She quickly hide them and hoped that Victor wouldn't be able to find them. She would not get the scanners up and running until sometime later after she had obtained her job as a teacher at Kittery Point. She'd taken the job not only to get to know humans a bit more, but also because Veloci would not think to look at a school for her.

Moynihan explained that Victor was very angry when the weapons had gone missing and had managed to confront her at least one time regarding the weapons. He had tried to force her to tell him where they were, but Moynihan flat out refused. She knew that there was not much Victor could do to force her to talk. Victor could put her through so much pain, but he would not be able to kill her because he would no longer be able to get information. And he could not expose her because he would risk ruining his plans. It was a double-edged sword for him, and both edges would only work against him, not for him.

“And that's what happened...” After Moynihan was finished talking, she became silent. She glanced at each of her students, trying her best not to allow herself to become consumed in guilt. While it was clear that the students really wanted to say something, they were too in shock to say anything. Moynihan was relieved that, so far, not one of them had shown any strong anger towards her, and not one of them had made an outburst against her while she was talking. Moynihan hoped that, since she told them what she wanted to, things will settle down and get better. But, to her dismay, this was not the case.

Rodger stood up quickly, his eyes narrowed. He was feeling quite angry, similar to how he felt when the others laughed at him when his experiment had failed, but not to the same extreme. He did his best to hold back. He didn't want to shout at Moynihan, despite how frustrated he was feeling regarding what she had just told them. He had trusted Moynihan, and now she had told them that she was in charge of a genocide that would have taken place thirty-five years ago. But his mind was more focused on something else. “Why didn't you just destroy the weapons?” He asked through clenched teeth. “Why didn't you get rid of them so that Victor would not be able to get his claws on them?! Why?!” His voice rose as he continued to speak. “Didn't you think that would have been easier?! Or are you deliberately keeping the weapons, hoping he'd stop by and then you could...!”

Max swiftly stood up and placed a comforting yet firm hand on Rodger's shoulder to try and calm him down. “Rodger..settle down.. I think you're being too harsh on her. I'm sure she had the best intentions in mind...”

Rodger's expression softened up and he slumped his shoulders. “I know... But it's just that..it doesn't make any sense, if you understand what I mean.” He glanced over at Moynihan. “Why didn't you destroy the weapons? Wouldn't that have been a wiser move than keeping the weapons somewhere where Veloci would be able to find them one day?”

“I had a feeling you were going to ask that, Mr. Blair.” Moynihan said, her eyes downcast. “It was a safety measure. You see, if I had destroyed the weapons, Veloci would have found some part of them and would be able to replicate at least part of the weapon. Each weapon had its own unique structure, color, and so on. So all Veloci would need to recognize one particular weapon is just a single fragment.” The teens nodded their head as they acknowledged this information. It was starting to make some sense to them now. “There was no way I could have destroyed this dangerous machines without leaving some piece behind. I did not want to take the chance of Victor finding them. That's why I hid them instead.” She raised an arm and began to rub her chin thoughtfully. “Although I wonder if the weapons could be of some use to us...”

* * *

Caruso groaned in pain as he slowly crawled into his bed. He had just finished eating and he was still in pain from it. His mother managed to find some apple sauce. It wasn't much, but it was still food, and it was cold and soft so it wouldn't cause as much pain as some other food would. She had helped him eat the best that she could. Caruso had managed to eat most of the apple sauce, but, despite his hunger, had to refuse the rest of it. He insisted on trying to get to bed on his own. He didn't want his folks fretting over him like this. It was making him feel guilty.

He pulled the sheets up off his bed to make room for himself. He was feeling unusually cold still, even though it was around seventy degrees in his room right now. And it was only going to get warmer because it was still early in the day. He wondered if he was shivering because he was afraid. He shuddered a little as he looked out of his window, imagining a certain big red raptor jumping through the window and attacking him. Caruso had never taken Victor so seriously before. He had always imagined him as mostly a pushover. Sure, Victor did show some smarts when he created that robot and those cameras that followed them, but he thought it was just luck or desperation. He had foolishly believed he knew all of Victor's moves.

But he was quickly proven wrong. Caruso would never underestimate Victor Veloci ever again, not after what had happened to him. Victor showed intelligence that Caruso had no idea he had, and he also proved himself to be far more vicious than even his friends would have expected. Victor had almost killed him that day, forcing the boy to get a newfound respect for the mad scientist. He had seen first hand what Victor was truly capable of. And now knowing this, Caruso wondered if he really wanted to continue being part of the Dino Squad. Sure, he would get better protection with them, but would he ever be truly safe knowing that Victor might be out there, anywhere, ready to strike?

“W-Why d-did this ha-happen to me...?” Caruso muttered to himself, trying to stop the tears of fear and pain from strolling down his face. “I-It isn't fair...just not fair...” He yelped as he felt a sharp pain in his jaws and inside of his mouth. He wanted to get away from the pain, but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it. Knowing that he was going to have to endure the pain, he allowed the tears flow down his face. He was about to rest his head on his bed when he heard a knock on his door. “H-Hello...?”

The door slowly opened and Caruso's father slowly stepped into the room, carefully shutting the door behind him. He slowly walked towards Irwin, who was now laying on his back in his bed, the covers pulled over his shivering body. “Hey...” Jack asked silently, standing at the edge of the bed. He reached out and carefully placed his hand on his son's head, avoiding the injury. “How are you feeling now?” He regretted asking that. It didn't seem like the best question to be asking Caruso now, especially since he could see that his son was still in pain. He hadn't had much time to heal yet.

“So..So much p-pain..” Caruso managed to say, placing his hand very lightly onto his mouth to indicate where the pain was coming from. Jack frowned, concerned. He didn't think Irwin should be talking with that deep cut in his tongue. He was probably just making it worse. Irwin opened up his mouth to attempt to say something else, but his dad quickly silenced him.

“Shhh...” Jack pressed a finger against his own lips as he shushed his son. “You should give your mouth some time to heal before you try to talk. You're only doing yourself more damage if you continue to try to talk with an injury like that.” Irwin slowly nodded his head and shut his mouth. Jack smiled slightly, and proceeded to stroke Irwin's hair a little, careful not to hurt him. Caruso slowly closed his eyes as he became more content. Having his father around made him feel safe. His breathing started to slow down a little and he started to feel himself beginning to drift away to sleep.

Caruso was interrupted from his attempt to get some sleep when he heard the door open up again. His mother came in, her hands nervously clasped together as she walked over to the bed. She was silent and didn't say anything for several minutes. She looked as if she did want to say something, but she either didn't know what to say or couldn't bring herself to say anything. Her eyes were slightly reddened but not as puffy as they were before. There was a slight glint in her eyes, indicated that she was going to cry or had been crying a little. She reached out and gently gripped her son's hand.

Amanda, in a trembling voice, said, “Irwin...”

“He's going to be fine, dear.” Jack said, trying to sound as confident as he could. But deep down inside, he could feel a pang of doubt that Irwin would be completely fine. He turned his head to look at his wife. She was looking a little tired now. She hadn't gotten any sleep. But then again, neither did he. And he just now started to feel the effects of sleep deprivation. He rubbed his head with his free hand as he felt the familiar slight dizziness he'd feel when he'd get very sleepy. “Look, we've been up for some time. Why don't we get some rest, hmm?”

“How can I sleep when...” Amanda started to say, not tearing her gaze from her son's injured body lying on the bed. “..when he's like this? How can we sleep knowing that there might be a madman who will come to..finish him off..?” She squeezed Irwin's hand tighter as she spoke, her voice shaky and broken, filled with pain. “I-I..I don't want to lose him again...”

Jack wrapped an arm around his wife's body and pulled her close. “We won't lose him again...I promise you that.” He said in a comforting tone of voice. Not knowing what else to do, Amanda released Irwin's hand and wrapped her arms around her husband, hugging him tightly as she let her tears flow from her eyes. Jack hated seeing her like this. Amanda wasn't usually like this, but then, she had never had to witness something this terrible happen to their only son. He moved his other hand away from Caruso to stroke his wife's hair for a short time. It was one of the only things he could think of to try and comfort her.

Irwin glanced up at his parents through barely opened eyes. He really wanted to say something to them. He wanted to tell them a joke or anything to help them feel better. But he had an sudden overwhelming feeling of tiredness overcome him. All those hours he had to suffer through without sleep was starting to catch up to him. His vision blurred dramatically and he slowly closed his eyes, drifting off into an uneasy sleep, darkness enveloping both his vision and his mind. As he slipped into unconsciousness, the pain he was feeling slowly faded away. Soon, he was totally out of it, breathing in slowly as his body entered a deep sleep.

Jack glanced down at Irwin, and noticed that his eyes were closed. He smiled softly, happy to see, for once, Irwin looking content, any expression or indication of pain completely gone. He loosened his grip on his wife and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. Amanda looked up at her husband, trying her best to stop her crying. She wanted to be strong. But something about knowing her son's life was in danger was making her feel so weak, so pathetic, at least in her eyes. Sensing what Amanda was feeling, Jack gently cupped her chin in a strong yet comforting hand.

“We should let him sleep, Amanda. We should get some sleep as well.” Jack said before leaning in and planting a kiss on his wife's forehead to soothe her. Amanda continued to look up at him. Her expression had not changed, her eyes still filled with fear and pain. Not even the faintest of a smile appeared on her face when Jack had kissed her and comforted her. Slowly her eyes went back to her son. Jack slowly frowned, but not in anger, but with concern. “Everything will be all right..you'll see. Victor will get what's coming for him, and he will not be able to hurt our son or any one else ever again...”

Amanda managed to speak. “Are...are you sure, Jack..?” She asked softly, unsure if she should believe Jack or not. She knew that she should trust him and believe in him. He was her husband after all and he hadn't done anything before to give her reason to doubt him. But something about this past incident, Irwin getting kidnapped and possibly still in danger now, was making her less willing to believe what Jack was telling her. And she couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

Jack leaned in towards his wife again, pressing his forehead against hers. He was so close that he couldn't see her very well. His vision was blurred because of how close he was. But he didn't care. He closed his eyes and whispered softly, “I am sure, honey.. I am sure...” With that, he leaned back and kissed her again, this time on one of her tear-stained cheeks. “I know you are worried because of what happened.. I am worried too. But I want to try and think positively... Try to look on the brighter side of things.”

“The brighter side of things..?” Amanda whispered, pulling away from her husband. Her eyes quickly narrowed almost into slits and her teeth became bared. Shocked by this sudden change in demeanor, Jack took a step back, his hands slightly shaky. “How can we possibly look at the brighter side of things when this happened to our son?!” She pointed a finger quickly in Caruso's direction. “How can we possibly believe things could get any better when they could easily become worse?! How can we just sit here and do nothing while some..some.. monster is..might come after him!” Amanda seethed through her teeth, her breathing coming in short, barely spaced bursts of breath. “There is no way that he or anyone is safe, Jack! No way! The only way that anyone will ever be safe again is to have that..creature..killed! Dr. Veloci doesn't deserve to live! I'd say we march right down there, and...!” She stopped, grinding her teeth as she started to cry with frustration and anger. “And if you don't agree with me, then you might as well be the enemy!”

“Dear...I...” Jack tried to say, reaching out towards his wife. But he quickly withdrew his hand, unsure of he wanted to provoke her even more. He would tell that she was having a nervous break down, and he felt that if he tried to stop it, he would only make her feel worse, angrier, more bitter. And that was not something he wanted to risk doing.

Realizing what she had just done, Amanda quickly softened up her expression and looked at Jack in shock. She couldn't believe what she had just said to him. She hadn't meant to make an outburst like that. She hadn't meant to say any of those things and she surely didn't mean to make Jack sound like the bad guy. She looked at her hands, trembling in fear. She had almost thought about hurting Jack as she said those things to him. How could she even think of doing that to him? How could she let her anger get the better of her? Was she to become like Professor Moynihan, the way she had acted back at the lighthouse?

“Jack..I'm...” Amanda said, her voice so softly spoken that she felt Jack would have a hard time hearing her very well. “I'm.. so sorry..so very sorry. I-I didn't mean anything I said... It's just that...” She reached up and wiped away a few of her tears. “I'm just so afraid that something terrible is going to happen again.. We almost lost our son before..and now we have him back...” She wanted to run away from the room, wanted to get away from the pain that she was feeling. But she couldn't bring herself to move her legs to do so. She remained firmly planted where she was, breaking down in front of her husband, who could only look down at her sympathetically. “I'm so afraid that he will be taken from us again, Jack..so afraid...”

Jack took a step forward and slowly opened up his arms. He wrapped them around Amanda and pulled her into a tight, but gentle hug. He rested his head on top of her head, brushing his cheek against her dark hair as he said, “Shhhh...it's all right....” Amanda didn't resist the embrace. She turned her head side ways and pressed her cheek against her husband's upper chest, wrapping her arms around him to hug him back. “Just let it all out, dear...”

“I..I just wish that...” Amanda started to say.

“Shhh...” Jack whispered again, cuddling her a little tighter. “Don't talk.. Just cry. Let it all out...”

Amanda complied and remained quiet for the next few minutes. She didn't speak a word or make a sound except for her crying and whimpering. She started to hug her husband tighter for more comfort, hearing his heart beat as she pressed her head more firmly against his chest as she continued to cry. She could see Irwin out of the corner of her eyes, although it was hard to make him out because the tears were blurring her vision. She wanted to reach out towards him, pull him into a hug and take away all of his pain. But all she could do was sit back and allow him to heal on his own. There was little they could do for him regarding the pain except try to give him strong pain killers. Despite being comforted by her husband, she still felt a little insecure and unsure. Somehow, she could sense that, whatever had happened, it was not over yet...


	18. Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Two weeks had gone by, although it felt like an eternity for some people, especially those who were either excited for something that was about to come, or, for the unlucky few, those anxious because of some hidden danger lurking in the shadows. Caruso had made a slow recovery, although he was not yet completely better. The pain had lessened some, but it was still agonizing in his mouth. Talking was still prohibited for fear that he might reopen the wounds inside. Caruso's parents had decided against a hospital stay for fear of the doctors discovering his dinosaur DNA. To make up for not being able to take him to get professional help, Amanda and Jack, along with the Dino Squad, had helped treat Caruso's injuries more, to the best of their ability.

The smaller cuts had disappeared completely and there was no signs of them left. Some of the cuts on his face had disappeared as well. But the majority of the cuts on his face, particularly ones on his cheeks, remained. The scab of dead skin that sealed the wounds shut was still present, and if Caruso pressed his hand against them, he would flinch in pain. Everyone became concerned that these wounds would not heal properly, leaving Caruso with visual reminders of what had happened to him. And no one was more frightened of this than Caruso himself. For someone whose dream is to become famous and rich, having these ugly scars ruining their faces was torture. Caruso was still interested in achieving his dream, but he feared he would never be able to realize his full potential. Who would want to see someone with scars?

The time to pass between when they got Caruso back and now had been mostly the same. They were fearing what was going to happen next, and some had their guard up for a short time. But after two weeks had gone and no signs from Victor or anyone from Raptor Dyne, the gang started to relax. There hadn't even been any mutantsaur sightings. While this was a sigh of relief from the team since they could relax more, it only made Moynihan more concerned. It was unusual for Victor go to this long without some kind of experiment going on. Well she mentally corrected herself. Victor had gone this long in between experimentations before. But still, she couldn't help but become very concerned. She had a feeling that Victor was plotting something sinister, but she couldn't think of what it was yet.

Something else was worrying Moynihan as well. She had noticed a change in her own behavior. Ever since they had brought Caruso back from that horrid warehouse, she had noticed herself becoming less able to control her emotions. She has a harder time keeping herself from snapping at not only her students, but her superiors as well. She had almost gotten fired at least twice within the two week span. This wasn't like her at all and she couldn't understand what was happening. She had also noticed her memory loss was becoming worse and worse as the days passed by. She was starting to forget where her house was, locations that she had been to before, and she had even forgotten some of their students' names. Up until a few days ago, memory loss and increased aggression where the only symptoms that she appeared to be suffering from. But not too long ago, she suffered a third, more frightening symptom.

Moynihan had started noticing that she was starting to enter stalking phases where she would follow someone and not take her eyes off of them. It never went beyond that, but it frightened her. She had never done something like that before, not ever since the dinosaur extinction that is. She had stalked at least twice since the symptom first showed up. The first time it happened, she was outside overseeing another field trip to the tide pools. She noticed one of her students, a young female teenager, walking along the shore and Moynihan suddenly felt the urge to follow her intently. She was able to stop herself before anyone could see what she was doing. The second time had occurred when she was in the cafeteria and she saw a student walk passed her. She had started following them and this time people did notice her. She was able to cover it up by saying that she wanted to see the student after class. She had to quickly come up with a good explanation afterwards.

As Moynihan was worrying about her own condition, the team was growing concerned about Caruso's behavior. His parents did not notice as much of the behavior as the team did. Caruso would stay in the house all day and, unless they went out somewhere, would not show many, if any, signs of fear because he was within his own element where he felt safe and secure. When he was at school, however, his demeanor would change. He would constantly do his best to avoid anyone whenever and where ever he could. He refused to talk to anyone except for the Dino Squad and Ms. Moynihan. And he seemed to be showing an increasing fear of being alone anywhere. Whenever the team asked him about this, Caruso would simply say that he was just catching up to them or that nothing was really wrong.

But his explanation was not going to work for long. The more times he seemed to show uneasiness in general, the more obvious it became to his friends that he was afraid of something. They would continue confronting him about it, but he would never offer an explanation. They had eventually gave up trying to get information from him and had spoken to his parents and Moynihan about what they were seeing. Amanda, Jack, and Moynihan were all equally concerned about Caruso's change in attitude. Moynihan had suggested in giving Caruso some more time. He was probably still frightened about what had happened to him. That would explain his desire to keep close to those he trusted, even if it drove them insane. If Irwin didn't improve soon, Joanne suggested that they all have a talk with him.

There was something else that Moynihan had started to realize. Despite the fact that Michelle had been enrolled in the school, she has not shown up for class since the incident at the lighthouse. She has been continually marked absent and the principal was considering expelling her. Moynihan thought that was a little harsh even though she knew what Michelle had done to her and her team. The principal was getting tired of Michelle's lack of response. Whenever she was called, she never picked up. They would only get a voice-answering machine and no return phone call. Moynihan wasn't at all too surprised that Michelle would disappear. She probably only joined to spy on the team, but since she revealed her true colors, there would be no way that she could be able to fool them. Her scent alone would give her away.

But it wasn't Michelle that Moynihan was worried about. Other than Victor Veloci, she was more concerned about Oscura Witter. The sly, obnoxious Troodon, the same one that had poisoned her students, was clearly the most vicious of the two small dinosaurs. She showed an aggression that she felt surpassed even Victor's. She couldn't help but briefly feel sorry for Victor for having such a violent dinosaur on his side. If Oscura were to run the place, Moynihan was certain that Raptor Dyne would become a more hostile, dangerous place to work and they would see an increase in dino mutants. They would probably also see an extreme increase in violence from both the mutants and the workers there. Not even Victor was that crazy, and that was saying something. Moynihan would keep an eye out for Oscura in the future.

The lighthouse shield was back up, but extremely weak and would not block out all of Victor's attempts to scan the lighthouse. She was able to get the shield back up and running with help from Fiona's little sister, Terri. After she found out what had happened, Terri had willingly volunteered to help rebuild the lighthouse shield, with her parents' permission first of course. With Terri's help, the shield was put back online within a few days. Despite her computer savvy skills, the teen was not able to make the shield as operational as it once was. She had apologized for that, but Moynihan said that the lighthouse shield was working again and that all that mattered was that she had tried her best. While Moynihan and the others considered Terri a semi-member of the team, she didn't visit too often because she had to study.

Moynihan was sitting at her desk in the classroom. The students had been recently dismissed for lunch. Her next class was going to start soon. She was sitting in her chair, pulled up close to her desk. Among all the stuff she had on it, the one she paid the most attention to was a stack of papers, presumably homework from the recently dismissed class. She examined them one at a time, writing down a grade as she oversaw what they had wrote. As time went on and the stack of papers got smaller, she looked up at the clock. It was almost time for her to leave for her lunch break. She would have to hurry. If she waited too long, her next class would start and she would not have to skip lunch. Swiftly, she shuffled the papers she hadn't graded yet and put them in her desk to deal with later. She pushed her chair back and got up from her seat and walked up the stairs to the door. She opened it and then walked outside.

She walked down the hallway, greeted by other teachers once in a while as well as seeing some of the students from her next science class. She didn't say much back to them. She just swiftly walked by, making brief greetings herself to avoid being rude. She just didn't have the time to chit chat for very long. Her next class was going to start in about twenty minutes, so she needed to hurry and get into the cafeteria and get her food before time ran out. It was not incredibly urgent as she had gone a few times skipping lunch at the cafeteria. But today, she was feeling unusually hungry and did not want to skip out this time.

When Moynihan reached the cafeteria, she completely bypassed the student entrance to the cafeteria. Instead, she made her way towards another entrance, which lead straight into the kitchen. Since she was a teacher, she was permitted back here to get her food so she didn't have to wait in line with the students. She walked through the kitchen, wiping her brow as she felt the heat of food being cooked hitting her face. It seemed the school was making some steak. It wasn't something they usually cook, but it wasn't unheard of at this school. Moynihan could also hear the sound of vegetables being fried on a skillet for the students along with the sound of potatoes being mashed with a mixer. The different smells mixed in with one another as they entered Moynihan's nose, causing her to feel even more hungry. She immediately grabbed a plate and went to get her food.

But when she went over to where the vegetables were and grabbed the large spoon to scoop some onto her plate, she paused. She stared at the vegetables for several long seconds, hesitating. For some reason, she was starting to feel nauseous about putting vegetables on her plate. She didn't know why, as she had loved vegetables for a long time, especially the ones that the school had made. But now, staring at these plants was making her feel sick. In disgust, she pushed the spoon back in the vegetables and swiftly moved away, trying to find something else more appetizing.

A familiar scent caught her attention, causing her mouth to water a little. She followed the smell to the back part of the kitchen where food was stored until it would be cooked for the students. She made her way towards the large refrigerator where they kept the thawed food that was going to be cooked within the next day or so. She opened it up and immediately found the source of the small. There was a large plate of raw, uncooked steaks piled onto one plate, a plastic covering blanketing over the slices of meat, but not tightly enough to escape her sense of smell. Without hesitating, she ripped the plastic off swiftly, and seized one of the large, raw steaks and put it onto her plate. She reached in and grabbed another one, and then another. She decided to grab one more, but instead of putting it onto her plate right away, she sniffed it and licked her lips.

Moynihan managed to slip out of the kitchen without being seen by any of the cafeteria workers or by any other teacher. She went out of the door and entered the main cafeteria room. There were still a bunch of students in there having lunch, including the members of the Dino Squad, who were hanging out at one of the tables, talking to each other about certain topics. She took brief notice that Liam was also with them, probably talking about Maine again. Liam was another student that would sometimes visit the lighthouse, although more infrequently than Terri did. Liam's different way of thinking sometimes helped, but usually his advice is misunderstood so he rarely makes suggestions nowadays.

Moynihan quickly sat down at one of the long tables and set her plate down. There were no teachers at this table. She looked left to right, making sure that no one was around to see her. She didn't notice anyone looking in her general direction and there was no one relatively close to her. Satisfied that no one was going to see her, she turned her attention back to the plate of steaks. Her stomach growled and her mouth filled with more saliva as she continued to stare at the suddenly appetizing raw steaks. Licking her lips again, she seized one of the steaks in one hand. Opening her human jaws as wide as she could, she bit down onto the uncooked meat, ripping off a good sized piece, and began chewing it. Red liquid flowed from her mouth and dripped onto her plate. She took another bite, enjoying the feel of the liquid against her mouth and chin, flowing through her fingers. She was about to take a third bite when a shocked voice got her attention.

“...Professor Moynihan...?” Moynihan immediately recognzied that voice as belonging to McFinn, the former bully who used to pick on Neil Buzmati. She swallowed the piece of meat still in her mouth and turned to look at him. The kid was looking at her with an expression mixed with fear and shock. McFinn, stammering, said, “Wh-What are you doing...?” He pointed at the raw steak that was still in her hand and his eyes were locked at the red fluid all over the woman's hand and mouth and on the plate as well. It looked almost like blood, but thinner.

Realizing what she was doing, Moynihan quickly took the steak out of her mouth. She tried to come up with a good explanation for her actions. “N-Nothing, McFinn.” Moynihan said quickly, offering the best smile that she could. Realizing that she was only scaring the kid more with her mouth covered in red, she picked up a napkin that was close by and wiped her hands and mouth. “I just..suddenly got a very weird craving for..rare steak. Yeah..that's it. Just a craving, nothing to get concerned about.” She smiled again.

McFinn wasn't sure what to think about this. He had never heard of anyone getting a taste for raw meat before, ever. And wouldn't it make people sick if they ate them? “If..if you say so...”

Sensing the boy was still feeing uneasy, Joanne said, “Look..why don't you just go back to your table? Just forget what you saw, okay?”

“O-Okay...” McFinn said, immediately turning and getting out of there as fast as he could. As soon as he was gone, Moynihan immediately returned to eating the raw meat, cautiously looking around to see if anyone else was watching.

Feeling rather embarrassed about what she did, Moynihan quickened her eating pace to try to avoid getting spotted by anyone else. She also was careful about how she ate so that the red liquid from the steak didn't drip down as much. Red on skin was something that was very noticeable, and especially noticeable on her green shirt if any drops should land on it. As she took bite after bite, she looked around to make sure no one was watching her intently. At the same time she was wondering why she was even eating the raw steak in the first place. Being human for so long has made her accustomed to eating what humans did, and she had lost any interest in raw meat. But here she was now, wolfing down bite after bite of an uncooked piece of meat. For some reason, it tasted so good to her where before it would disgust her due to her acquired taste she developed over the years of being a human.

* * *

The rest of lunch went without incident. No one else had stopped by to ask her what she was doing and she did not see anyone giving her a weird look. She sighed with relief as she finished the last bit of meat. She leaned back in her chair and picked up the napkin again to wipe herself off and the plate. But as she stared at the plate, she found an overwhelming desire to lap up the red liquid that had collected at one portion of the plate. She licked and smacked her lips as she leaned in a little close, feeling her mouth water up with anticipation. She heard someone walking up beside her and she immediately straightened up, moving her gaze away from the plate.

“Hello, Ms. Moynihan.” The voice said. Moynihan immediately recognized it as Fiona. She turned to look at the girl in the eyes, offering a smile in greeting. Fiona seemed to take no notice of what little redness remained. In fact, she acted as if she had not seen what Moynihan had done, which relieved the old woman. Fiona smiled in return, although it was small and not completely genuine, which worried Moynihan a little bit. “May I..sit down with you?” Fiona asked almost timidly.

Moynihan blinked a few times. No one had ever asked to sit with her before, at least none of her students anyway. The only time she usually has someone ask this is if a teacher wanted to talk to her, either about her performance as a teacher or if something important was about to happen, or had happened. But no student had asked to sit down with her, not from what she can recall anyway. She would have said no due to what was happening to her lately, but she couldn't bring herself to refuse Fiona's request. Nodding her head slowly once, she said, “Sure..go ahead.” She gestured towards the round blue seat next to her.

“Thanks.” Fiona said with gratitude in her voice. She moved towards the seat and quickly sat down on it. She rested her head on her hands, her elbows supporting the weight.

“So what brings you here?” Moynihan asked. “Why did you want to sit down with me?” Fiona didn't respond. Instead, she just looked at Joanne with eyes filled with confusion and perhaps even sorrow. It was obvious that there was something on her mind, something that was upsetting her or worrying her. “...is there something you wish to talk to me about?”

After delaying herself for a few seconds, Fiona finally answered. “..yes.”

This didn't surprise Moynihan. She had worked with her Dino Squad students for a long enough time to know when something was bothering them and when they wanted to talk about something. She suspected Fiona was probably still worrying over what Victor was going to do and what to do with Caruso. Lifting her head a little, she noticed Caruso was sitting down with Max, Rodger, and Buzz. He seemed to be doing pretty okay with eating more food than he could before, and it didn't look like anything was troubling the boys. They were laughing, probably having a pretty jolly conversation. While she wasn't surprised something was bothering Fiona, it was a little confusing that she wasn't with the guys, laughing with them.

Then she started to wonder if it was another topic that Fiona wanted to talk about. But what could she want to talk about? Was she being bullied? Was she having family problems? Was she having issues with school projects? Was she starting to feel less confident in battle after being defeated by Michelle and Oscura? Moynihan couldn't tell for sure unless Fiona said so herself. The old woman hoped that Fiona did feel comfortable enough to talk to her about it. Moynihan cared about Fiona and would do whatever she could to comfort her. And she was certain Fiona knew that too, especially after the way the teacher had comforted her when they all thought Caruso was deceased.

“Fiona..what is troubling you?” Moynihan asked, reaching out with one hand and gently placed it on Fiona's shoulder and squeezed it gently. “I don't like to see any of you kids like this.”

Fiona wasn't sure how to tell Moynihan. She could have talked to the guys about it, but she didn't feel comfortable about it, especially with Caruso around. Irwin wasn't really the problem..or was he? He was the topic of the subject that she wanted to talk to Moynihan about. But it had nothing to do with him being in danger. This was something she felt most comfortable talking to Moynihan about. After all, while Moynihan might be old and really a dinosaur, she was still a female just like she was. She would probably be able to help her more than some guy could.

“Well it's..it's about Caruso...” Fiona started to say.

Moynihan nodded in an understanding manner. “Are you still worried he might still be in danger?” Fiona slowly shook her head. This surprised Joanne a little, but it did relieve her a little, knowing that Fiona probably wasn't worrying herself too much regarding Caruso's safety. They would all make sure he was safe. But then, if that wasn't the reason Fiona was troubled, then what else could be bothering her that involves Irwin? “Then why are you worrying about him?”

Fiona fumbled around with her fingers nervously. Moynihan noticed a faint blush develop on the young teen's cheeks and almost immediately she suspected what the 'problem' might be. But she waited for Fiona to say something before she could confirm her suspicious. Fiona bit her lip, unsure of what to say. She could feel Moynihan's eyes boring through her as she waited for her to answer. Fiona couldn't just squeeze her way out of this. She had already stated that something was bothering her involving Caruso. To walk away, she wasn't sure if she could do that. She finally managed to give Moynihan an answer. “Well it's just that...I...well.. I think I...”

“You think..what?” Moynihan asked, gently encouraging Fiona to continue.

The blush deepened on Fiona's face slightly as she answered. “I think I might..have a crush on Caruso...” Fiona looked at Moynihan to see her reaction. To her surprise, Moynihan was just smiling back at her. She had expected Moynihan to at least be a little confused by this confession.

“Is that what was bothering you?” Moynihan said sympathetically. She moved her hand further across Fiona's back and pulled her into a half hug to comfort her some more. “Oh Fiona, that's nothing to be ashamed of. Why is it upsetting you so much?”

“I-I don't know...” Fiona looked away. “I mean...after all this time, I thought he was..just a friend you know? And that's all I thought he was. But..but when I thought he was dead...” She tried to hold back her tears. “I began to realize that..I was wrong.. He meant more to me than I thought so in the past...”

Moynihan nodded her head as she listened to Fiona telling her this. She had thought that Fiona would be a little more positive about this new development. And yet here she was, talking with her, sounding like a lost little kid who didn't know what to do or where to go. Fiona had acknowledged that she had, indeed, developed a small yet developing crush on Caruso. Moynihan had noticed this a bit herself over the past few days. She noticed how she spent a little more time with Caruso and vice versa than she ever had before. One thing in particular came to her mind. Had the two kids talked to each other about this? Probably not, otherwise why would Fiona turn to her, a Velociraptor, for advice?

The two sat at the table, exchanging thoughts to one another, sharing their feelings about the situation. When Moynihan had asked the girl if she had spoken to Caruso about how she felt, Fiona was quick to say no. She felt too unsure about it, and didn't feel comfortable with it. Moynihan took it as Fiona being too afraid to admit her feelings, or perhaps she felt too proud to succumb to such an emotion like love. As far as Joanne knows, Fiona had always been the tough tomboy who rarely showed a weak, emotional side. The one of the few times that she had seen this rarely seen side of her was when she was comforting her for Caruso's supposed death. Even before that, there were a few times that Fiona did display a sense of insecurity. But this was one of the few times that insecurity was focused on the subject of love.

While Joanne would have loved to help all that she could, she knew there wasn't much she could do outside of giving her advice. She couldn't really make Fiona feel much better. She was not her mother and she was not Caruso. If Fiona wanted to get over this sense of insecurity, the only thing that she could do was talk to Irwin herself, alone. She was confident that the two could work this out together far better than they could alone or with anyone else. Moynihan had some ideas on how to get the two by themselves so that they could talk. But convincing them probably was not going to be very easy. They might get the wrong idea. But who knows? Maybe they might like the idea.

Placing her hand back on Fiona's shoulder, Joanne said in a calm voice, “Well, I think I just might know what you two kids could do so you can sort this whole thing out.”

“What do you mean?” Fiona asked, tilting her head slightly. “I thought you were....”

Moynihan slowly shook her head. “I am sorry. But while I can provide some advice, I am not the one you should be talking to about this.” She turned her head to look over at where Caruso was sitting with the other boys in the team. “He is the one you should be talking to. You should be sorting this out with Mr. Caruso.”

Fiona immediately shook her head. “No..no I can't talk to him about this! I mean..what would I say..? And I don't want to talk to the other guys about it!” She immediately stopped when Moynihan gently cupped her chin and looked into her eyes.

“Fiona, you are making this more difficult than it should be.” Moynihan said gently, a smile spread across her face. “I know that it is going to be difficult nonetheless, if you fret over it too much, you will find that you have a harder and harder time dealing with this. Irwin Caruso is your best friend. You should not be too afraid to tell him how you feel.” Fiona bit her lip and tried to look away, but Moynihan wouldn't let her. “Look, if you want my advice, here's what I think you should do.” Fiona looked up at her. Moynihan took a deep breath, hoping Fiona wouldn't cry out or anything when she told her. “Go on a date with him.”

If Fiona were eating or drinking something right now, she'd be joking on it. She was so startled by Moynihan's suggestion that she almost fell back and onto the hard cafeteria floor. She looked at the elderly teacher as if she had lost her mind and had gone crazy. “What?!” She snapped in a low voice so no one else could hear her. “Have you lost it? I can't go on a date with him! I mean..we're not ready..It's too sudden...”

“You wanted my advice.” Moynihan simply said, not fazed by Fiona's reaction. “And I gave it to you.”

“But..to go on a date just like that.. I'm not sure if that's a good idea. I mean, wouldn't he think I'd be rushing it?” Fiona said, glancing nervously over to where Caruso was. “And what if he thinks the idea is ridiculous? What if he laughs at me?”

Moynihan slowly narrowed her eyes. “After what he's been through, I don't think he'd be laughing at something like this, dear Fiona.” She leaned a little closer to the teenager. “Look, just go talk to him when you get a chance to see him alone. Call him on the phone if you have to. He might like the idea. This date could help him get his mind off of his worrying about getting attacked again.” Moynihan smiled a little more at the last statement. This date could be mentally good for both the kids.

Fiona looked downwards a little as she thought about this. Perhaps Moynihan was right. Maybe the date could be good for Caruso's mental state. And it would help her feel better as well. The date would give them a chance to talk to each other alone and she could tell Caruso how she felt, even though she was still feeling nervous about the whole idea. “Well..I suppose you are right...”

Moynihan withdrew her hand, but continued to smile at the young teenager. She felt happy that Fiona was at least considering her advice. “If you do decide to take my advice, I wish you the best of luck, dear.” She then slowly got up off the blue seat, holding her plate in hand. “Well I should take this back up, eh? Class is going to start soon.” She said, eyeing the clock nervously. She had only a few minutes to get to the class before the bell rang.

Fiona nodded her head. “Yeah. I'd better get going as well.” She glanced up at the clock as well. She didn't realize how swiftly the time had gone by. “I don't want to be late for my next class.” She got up as well and started to head towards the exit. The bell hadn't run yet, but Fiona, the kind of person for the need of speed, wanted to get to her next class as swiftly as possible. Moynihan watched her go, shaking her head and thinking how fortunate everyone was that Fiona had stopped using her roller skates to get to classes faster.

Moynihan walked over towards the front of the cafeteria and carefully placed her plate down with the others. This is where the plates were supposed to be put so that the cafeteria workers could take them and wash them off for tomorrow. Then Moynihan proceeded to grab some napkins and wiped her hands off a little more, then moved towards the garbage can and threw the piece of paper inside. Her next science class was going to start in a few minutes, so she immediately want out the exit and made her way towards the classroom before the bell rang. But as she walked out of the door, something that happened earlier slowly crept back into her mind, almost freezing her in place. She had just eating a raw steak, and not only that but she wanted to lap up the red liquid as if it was...blood. Her heart started to race, but she struggled to calm it back down and keep the disturbing thought in the back of her mind. But the thought kept returning, and then she started to wonder something. Could this be what Victor said about the next few days being 'unforgettable'...?

* * *

About two minutes later, Moynihan pushed the door to her class open. The classroom was already filled with her students, who were chatting as usual. As she made her way down the staircase, the class grew silent, watching her as she made her way towards her desk. Moynihan glanced up at the clock. Class would start in about a minute. She turned around to face her class, leaning against her desk. They all watched her intently, a few of them looking back towards the door as a few more students hurried inside before the bell rang. As soon as the bell rang, Moynihan moved over to the light switch. “Okay, class, yesterday we talked the controversy of cloning, the advancements it has undertaken, and how it could one day be used to save lives.” Moynihan said, the class having officially begun.

* * *

After a couple more hours of school, the final bell had rung. The doors immediately flew open and teenagers poured out, eager to get back home or to hang out at their favorite places. A few did stay behind, mostly for sports. But the majority of the students left school immediately and disappeared down the streets. After the huge wave of students went through the doors, the door closed only to open up again, slowly but surely. Caruso cautiously looked out of the door, looking left to right trying to look for someone familiar. He could feel his heart racing in his chest as he couldn't see any of his friends nearby. He started to feel himself become a little sweaty. Where were his friends? They would usually be over by the rack that was relatively close by, where their motorcycles would be. But they weren't there.

They are probably still in class, he thought, or at least somewhere in the school. Sucking in a deep breath, Irwin moved backwards and closed the door, feeling somewhat more secure inside a large building than out of it. He turned around to walk down the hall to see if they were in one of the nearby classrooms. But as he turned, he slammed into something firm and nearly fell down. He backed up immediately, tensing up as he prepared himself to face what he thought was his adversary. But his demeanor quickly settled down as he recognized who it was that he had just run into.

“Liam?” Caruso asked, a little bewildered. He wasn't expecting to see Liam here at this time. He knew it was Liam because he recognized the short tawny hair, the orange-brown t-shirt and the light brown-colored jeans.

Liam was brushing himself off, but other than that he seemed just fine and he didn't look very angry. But Liam didn't act like most of the teenagers Caruso knew about, so he couldn't really be one hundred percent certain that the kid wasn't upset with him. After Liam was finished brushing himself off, he looked up at Caruso, making eye contact. Liam was doing his best to keep eye contact, knowing that if he looked away, he would be rude. But it still wasn't too easy for him to do this. “Hello, Caruso.” He said in his usual, quick-paced manner of talking.

“Hey..hi Liam.” Caruso said, greeting the autistic teenager. “What are you doing here?”

Liam stared at him for several seconds, ignoring Caruso's question. His eyes seemed locked on Caruso's face, more more specifically, what was on his face. Lifting up a finger and pointing it at Caruso, Liam asked, “What are those on your face? Are they scars? Did something happen to you? If something did happen, then what happened?” If he had spoken any faster, Caruso would not have been able to understand him that well.

Caruso slowly lifted his hand touched his cheek. He felt his heart skip as he felt the familiar formation of the scars on his cheeks. He was a little surprised that Liam had noticed the scars. He had put as much make-up as he could on them to make them as unnoticeable as possible. He looked back at Liam, who was looking at him, waiting for his answer. While he waited, Liam would rub his hands together repeatedly, or tap one of his fingers against his chest, both of which were habits he had a hard time breaking. Caruso gulped, and managed to choke out, “W-Well I'm fine..i-i-it's nothing really...”

“Are you certain? You do not look fine. No, you look like you are hiding something.” Liam said quickly, taking a step forward towards Caruso. “Too much adrenaline perhaps? You play sports a lot? They can make you tired. Are you tired?”

Caruso held out a hand to silence Liam. “Look, I said I'm fine, all right? Just leave it at that!” But as he started to clench his teeth in frustration, he accidentally bit his tongue where the deep cut was. His eyes opened and he let out a quick cry of pain before holding his mouth tightly. “Ow....” He yelped, trying to make the pain go away.

Liam looked at him as sympathetically as he could. “You should really see the nurse. Do you want me to walk you over there? I will help you if you want me to.”

“N-No thanks..” Caruso said as tears of pain started to form in his eyes. “I can..I can bear through it.”

Before Liam could say anything more, the two heard rapid footsteps coming from down the hallway. They both looked over and saw Rodger running towards them, a horrified look on his face. Liam immediately moved out of the way as Rodger rushed passed him and up to Caruso. The computer geek looked Caruso over, trying to see if there were any new injuries on him. Within a few seconds, Rodger looked over at Liam.

“What happened to him?” Rodger asked, a sense of urgency in his voice. “Why did he cry out in pain.”

“Something with his mouth. He talked and then he yelped in agony. I did not do anything to him.” Liam opened his mouth and pointed inside to emphasize that the pain Irwin was feeling was coming inside his mouth.

“The mouth?” Rodger wasted no time in getting Caruso to open his mouth so that he could get a good look inside. Caruso, at first, absolutely refused. He kept turning his head away. A few times, Rodger tried to pry the boy's mouth open himself, but Caruso managed to wrench free of the larger boy's grasp. Finally, Rodger leaned back, frowning at Irwin. “I'm only trying to help you. Why won't you open your mouth so I can take a look? I'm not going to hurt you.” Caruso seemed to think about this for a few seconds before finally complying to Rodger, slowly opening his mouth. Rodger pressed a finger against the top of the lower incisors to keep Caruso's mouth open as he reached out for a flash light and shined it in the boy's mouth, looking at the wound on the tongue. Although the wound had started to heal, it still looked very inflamed. And what scared Rodger more is that he could see signs of bleeding again, and he began to fear the wound would become infected this time. “Oh no...”

Eyes widening in fear, Caruso immediately wrenched his way from Rodger and backed up. “What?” He asked in a frightened voice. “What did you see? What's wrong?” He was speaking so fast now that Rodger wondered if Liam had rubbed off on Caruso. “Did you see something bad?” He would have said something else, but the sharp pain he had felt returned with a vengeance, causing him to hold his mouth once more. It wasn't as bad as it was when he had the bridle in his mouth, but it came pretty close.

“I don't think you should be talking, Caruso.” Rodger said in a serious tone, eyes slightly narrowed. “It seems you have reopened part of the gash on your tongue. If you keep talking like that, it's only going to get worse.” He placed a firm hand on Caruso's shoulder. “You have to be more careful, do you understand me?”

Caruso managed to nod and say, “Y-Yes..I understand...” He felt relieved when saying that didn't cause another bout of pain in his mouth.

“What is the matter with him?” Liam asked in a quick-paced manner, gently tapping Rodger on the back. This startled Rodger, causing him to jolt in shock. Realizing he had done something wrong, Liam took a step back and rubbed his hands together apologetically. “I am sorry.” He lowered his gaze as he said that. “I should not have done that.”

Rodger rubbed his face, shaking his head. “No..no it's all right, Liam. You just startled me is all. Nothing to apologize for.” Realizing that Liam had asked him a question regarding Caruso, the dark-skinned teen turned around, his expression still retaining the serious look it had when he was speaking to Caruso. Liam didn't seem to react too much to the expression, but this didn't surprise Rodger. He had read a bit on Asperger's Syndrome after meeting Liam, so anything out of the ordinary the teenager did, Rodger wasn't going to hold it against him. He thought about telling Liam straight out what happened. The teen did know about the lighthouse, after all, and he did know that they were dinosaurs. Maybe there wouldn't be any harm in telling him. But on the other hand, Liam might not be able to understand perhaps tell other students about it.

No, he wouldn't do that. Liam would probably be too afraid to mention it to anyone else. Liam had never told anyone about them being dinosaurs for fear of being ridiculed even more than he already was. The idea of kids turning into dinosaurs did seem far-fetched and silly, so Rodger couldn't blame him for not wanting to tell anyone, even if the temptation was great. Rodger decided to tell the boy, but he would have to be sure that Liam kept it to himself. The computer whiz wasn't sure what the consequences would be if this information had gotten out to the other students. He was certain that Caruso had a few enemies in the school who would jump on the opportunity to ruin Caruso's reputation if they found out about what had happened to him.

“Okay..I'll tell you.” Rodger said. “But you have to promise not to tell anyone about this. You hear me? Absolutely no one. Not even your folks.”

Liam nodded quickly. “I understand. I won't tell anyone. I promise you that. I won't tell.”

Rodger smiled. “Good.” Then the smile quickly faded, and a frown appeared on his face. “Caruso was..captured by Victor Veloci.” He hesitated saying that. It wasn't like they hadn't told Liam about Victor. He found out about him during one of his visits to the lighthouse. But still, he felt a little uneasy talking about what happened with someone else. Still, he continued to explain the situation to Liam, hoping he would understand. “Victor had tortured him with some kind of bridle that cut up in the inside of his mouth. It hasn't healed completely yet, and Caruso had just reopened part of the wound. That's why he's in pain.”

Liam flinched a little, glancing at Caruso as sympathetically as he could. “I am sorry to hear about that. I hope he gets better as quickly as possible. The longer that cut remains bleeding, the greater the chance it will become infected with bacteria and viruses.” Despite Caruso's eyes widening in fear, Liam just continued on with his explanation. “If the tongue gets infected, it will hurt even more and it will have to be treated. It might even need to get amputated, and...” He stopped himself when Rodger placed a firm hand on his shoulder to silence him.

“I know. I don't think we need a very detailed description, Liam.” Rodger said quickly. He gestured towards where Caruso was, and Liam slowly shut his mouth when he noticed the look on Caruso's face. “That's why we don't want Caruso talking too much until his mouth gets a chance to heal completely.” Rodger closed his eyes. “And we are also trying to help him get over his fears. You're..not exactly making things better, Liam.”

Liam lowered his gaze. “I am so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you guys.”

“It's all right...” Rodger said, smiling a little. “Look, it's time for us to go to the lighthouse.” Rodger said, looking towards the door. He wasn't sure what time it was, exactly, but he knew that Professor Moynihan would be expecting him and Caruso, along with the others, at the lighthouse. They usually go there straight after school. “We'll..talk to you later, okay?”

Liam nodded, his eyes slightly averted away from Rodger's eyes. “All right. Goodbye you guys. I wish you the best of luck. Bye.” He said quickly before walking past the two and exited the building, leaving Rodger and Caruso behind alone, looking back at where Liam had disappeared. As soon as the door closed, they returned their gaze to one another.

“I...I can't believe he started to say th-those things...” Irwin said softly, wincing as he gently rubbed his lower jaw, thinking about what would happen if his tongue did get infected and had to be amputated as Liam said. “I-I don't w-want my tongue cut o-off...”

“It won't get cut off.” Rodger said. “Don't get so worked up over it. As long as you are careful, the cuts will heal just fine. Just..give it some more time, okay?”

“Okay...” Caruso said, still feeling a little bit unsure. He trusted Rodger's input, but he can't help but still feel worried and fearful. After the two remained silent for about a minute or so, Caruso spoke up again, speaking a little more slowly than before. “S-So..aren't we g-going to leave?”

“Yes, of course.” Rodger said, rubbing his head a little. He wondered why he had briefly zoned out like that. Then again, so did Caruso. Maybe they were letting their fear get the best of them. He gestured towards the door with his head, his eyes remaining on the blue-haired teen. “Come on. Let's go.”

With that, the two teens made their way towards the door. Rodger pushed his hand against the door, and, using all the strength he could muster in his one, huge arm, he pushed the door wide open and quickly walked out of it. He turned around and waited for Caruso to get out of the door as well. Once he was out, they made their way down the sidewalk to where their motorcycles were waiting. Upon reaching there, they found that Max, Fiona, and Buzz were standing there, waiting for them. Judging from the expression on their faces, they were waiting for a decent amount of time and looked at Caruso and Rodger as if they couldn't believe it took them that long to leave the building.

“I'm sorry, guys.” Rodger said, smiling apologetically. “We had a little run-in with Liam.”

“W-Well I a-actually bumped into h-him...” Caruso said, rubbing the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed. He still felt a bit silly about bumping into someone like that. He was usually more careful than that.

“We knew that. We saw him walking out of the door, remember?” Max said, pointing his thumb in the direction of the school.

“Oh yeah...” Rodger said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

“What I'd like to know is what was Liam doing there?” Buzz said, rubbing the underneath of his chin in a thoughtful manner. “He's usually not in the hallway at the end of the school day.”

“Yeah, I was wondering that too.” Rodger said, holding up one hand to get attention as he spoke. “Liam's usually in one of the classes, isn't he? I think he said he is usually with a social worker when school is dismissed to help him with his communication skills. I was surprised to see that he was in the hallway at that time.” He then focused his attention on Max. He wondered if Max would have any ideas. Out of all of them, the jock did spend the most time with the autistic teenager. “Do you have any ideas, Max?”

But Max didn't have any answer either. He just shrugged his shoulders. “I don't really know, to be honest. He probably got lost, or maybe he forgot something.” But that idea was quickly rejected. “But he left the school. So that couldn't be it.” Max was just as confused as the others were. They had never seen Liam where he was today before. Then something came to Max's mind. “You know what I think it is? His social worker's probably sick and there was no substitute. So Liam figured that, since there was nowhere to go after school, he just decided to leave.” He looked over at Irwin. “That's probably why you and Rodger spotted him in the hallway.”

Caruso narrowed his eyes slightly and looked downward, thinking. “That d-d-does make s-sense...” He said in a low, calm voice. He was starting to feel a little better about what happened earlier when Liam had unintentionally frightened him. “S-Still I was s-s-surprised to see him...”

“I know.” Rodger said.

Tapping her foot a little impatiently, Fiona said, “Look guys, I think it's time we get going.” She sounded a little annoyed and slightly restrained as if she wanted to speak louder but was preventing herself from doing so. “We don't want to be late to the lighthouse.”

Buzz titled his head. “Late? I thought Ms. Moynihan didn't set up a specific time for us to arrive at the light house.”

“Yeah. We don't have a schedule there or anything.” Max said.

“You know what I mean!” Fiona snapped, but then quickly settled herself down when she saw the boys looking at her, a bit surprised. She started to feel bad. She hadn't meant to react in that manner towards them. “Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that.” She said quickly, apologizing for her behavior. “Anyway, I just don't want Ms. Moynihan to be upset with us for staying at the school longer than we should be.”

Forgetting about Fiona's little temper snap, Max let out a series of short chuckles. “Moynihan? Upset over that? Oh come now Fiona.” Max grinned in her direction. “We've been a little later than this at the lighthouse before and Moynihan was never upset. What makes you think she'll be upset this time?”

Fiona bit her lip nervously. “Well..with what has been happening to her lately..well...” She couldn't finish her sentence. But she had said enough for the others to understand what she was talking about.

“Ooohh....” Max said, lifting his head up slowly and nodding. He understood now why Fiona was so anxious. But he still felt like they shouldn't be getting too worked up over this. “I see... Well I don't see why she would be upset over something like this. I mean..it's not like we...”

“Provoked her?” Fiona interrupted, her eyes slightly narrowed. “We didn't provoke her before, and she still got angry. What about how she reacted to Caruso's mother?” She said, her voice increasing in strength and speed. “And what about you?” She said, pointing a finger in Max's direction. “Remember what she did to you?”

“I...” Max started to say in an attempt to defend himself. But he couldn't think of anything to say. He slowly shut his mouth, his gaze lowering. He knew what Fiona was talking about. She was referring to how Moynihan had snapped at him when he was talking with Caruso. He never would have known that Moynihan would ever react like that to any of them. He felt hurt and confused and even angry at the same time. “Okay...you're right Fiona.” He said finally, admitting defeat. Before Fiona could say anything else, he quickly moved over to his motorcycle and placed a hand on it. “Look, let's just get going, okay?”

Realizing what she had just said, Fiona's angry face was quickly replaced with a look of guilt and horror. She quickly made her way towards Max and placed a hand on his upper back gently. “Max..I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...”

But Max cut her off swiftly. “It's..it's okay, Fiona.” He said, trying to sound as understanding as he could. But Fiona could tell that, from the sound of his voice, he was a little upset with her. “Anyway, you're right. We should be leaving now.”

“Yeah...” Buzz said, eyeing Fiona cautiously. “As you said, Moynihan might get upset with us if we are late.” He had a little anger in his voice as he said that. He couldn't believe Fiona had reacted like that, but he couldn't bring himself to be too angry with her. She was his friend after all. They didn't want a repeat of what happened two weeks ago. Buzz quickly moved over to his bike. The other students did likewise, going over to their respective bikes and grabbed onto them. Pulling them away and setting them straight up, they each hopped on, gripping the handlebars tightly.

“Okay..everyone ready?” Max asked.

“Yes.” Rodger responded.

“I'm ready.” Fiona said, still sounding a little ashamed of herself.

“Me too.” Caruso managed to say through the pain in his mouth.

“Sure.” Buzz said.

Max nodded. “Okay, let's go.” He said, turning his motorcycle on, hearing the engine roar. The others did likewise, and the sound of a motor filled Max's ears. Within a few minutes, the teens drove off the school grounds and started to make their way towards where the lighthouse was.

* * *

Ms. Moynihan hadn't left the school yet. She was about to walk out of the door at the usual time that she does, but she was immediately stopped by the principal, who escorted her to his office to talk to her about something. Moynihan was fearful that it was going to be about the raw steaks she had eaten earlier. But to her relief, the principal didn't mention anything about the meat. In fact, the reason he wanted to talk to her had nothing to do with the cafeteria period. Instead, he wanted to talk to her about a new teacher that might come on within a few days. Moynihan asked him why he had wanted to talk to her specifically about it and the principal simply said that since Moynihan was here longer than most of the other students, and was one of the most highly respected teachers, he felt that she should be the one to decide whether or not this person should be hired or not. Moynihan wasn't familiar with schools doing this, but she still felt a little flattered by the compliments and that the principal valued her input that much.

When she asked about the woman, the principal said that the woman had no past experience working in a school, but had claimed to be pretty good with teenagers. The woman had called up on the phone earlier and asked about getting hired in the school. When asked about her name, the woman refused to give it out, saying that she would rather wait until she was hired before she'd give out a name. Normally, this would disqualify her for the job, but the woman's talents seemed to make up for that. The principal had decided that he would give her a chance. But he wanted a second opinion. That was why he had brought in Joanne. He felt that, if anyone could decide whether or not to hire this woman, it was Joanne. He had apologized earlier to her on putting this weight on her shoulders, but he trusted that she would make the right decision. They could only do one of two things: hire the person and risk making a huge mistake, or not hire the person and risk losing a possible hard-working individual.

Joanne was suspicious at first. She couldn't figure out why the person would refuse to give out their name unless they were hired. Just what were they afraid of anyway? It seemed very strange and out-of-the-ordinary for someone to call up about a job but not leave any kind of identification. The only thing that she had left was her cell phone number and that wasn't good enough for the school to find out who she was. Joanne wondered if this person was trust worthy at all. Should they risk hiring her and be prepared for whatever consequences that would bring? Or should they reject her and perhaps lose the help they would have had if they hired her. Maybe this person wasn't at all half bad. They could actually be a big help around the school. They were in need of a substitute teacher, anyway. Or perhaps a librarian could work.

Joanne knew she would have to make a decision soon. She glanced up at the clock and saw the time. Her students would probably be at the lighthouse, waiting for her. The Dino Squad wouldn't be too concerned about her absence. She had been away from the lighthouse before and never really caused an issue. Her students knew what to do if she wasn't there. She imagined they were working on their equipment, scanning, looking out for mutants, perhaps doing homework, or just hanging out, or anything else they could come up with. But she still wanted to get back there. She had wanted to try and resume the online game simulation training she had done with Caruso and Buzz a few weeks ago before all this had happened. She realized she hadn't gotten around to training Max, Fiona, or Rodger, or did she? She couldn't really remember, but she was certain she had trained Buzz and Caruso at least. She wondered if the online game was even still working. After the computers were destroyed, she wondered if the main server was taken down or if the game was erased completely.

If that was the case, then it was such a shame and a waste. The game would have greatly benefited the training process by providing scenarios for the kids to face without actually getting harmed. She had noticed how well Buzz performed in the fight with Michelle. He had claimed to utilize things he learned in the online game to help him win the battle. He didn't think it would work at first, but it did, and he was grateful for the online game Rodger had made. This wouldn't be the first time one of Rodger's inventions made a great improvement on something. Many of his other inventiosn made their mark, including the monitor he had made that showed information on their precious organs. Unfortunately, it wasn't working right now and hadn't been for a few weeks. Rodger was still working on what was wrong with it. If only they could have had it working when they found Caruso cut up on the ground, Joanne thought. Then they never would have thought he was dead.

“Well?” Joanne's thoughts were interrupted by the principal, who was staring at her intently, arms folded up. “Aren't you going to say something or am I going to have to read your mind?” He was starting to sound a little annoyed and the smile he had on before had completely faded away. Joanne had drifted off into her thoughts and had remained silent for several minutes, which was working on the principals' patience, especially since he had wanted to get home soon. “Have you thought of an answer yet?”

Moynihan nodded her head. “Yes, I have.”

“Well...?” The principal asked, wanting to hear her answer.

“Well, there is a risk involved.” Moynihan started to explain. “She might not be trustworthy enough to get this job. If she won't even give out her name, then how can we know if we can trust her or not?” She adjusted her glasses, pushing them back against her face. “But on the other hand, we could use the help around here. I know of a few areas in the school that could use more help. And who knows? She might be a great help.”

The principal clasped his fingers together and rested his chin on his hands. “But that still doesn't answer my question. So I shall ask you again. Do you or do you not think she should be hired? Don't have me reasons why or why not she should or should not be.” The principal narrowed his eyes slightly. “Just tell me yes or no.”

“Okay, sorry.” Moynihan responded, sounding slightly irritated. She decided it would be wise not to antagonize the principal further. She didn't want to risk losing her job. She had a hard time choosing which decision would be the best one. She wanted to say no, but what if this person was just shy? No, that was no excuse to not give a name. But on the other hand, this person could be a big help. Either way, would she be making the right decision? Judging from the expression in her boss's eyes, he was not going to wait much longer, so she blurted out an answer without much thinking. “Yes.”

The principal leaned back in his chair, his frown replaced with a broad smile. “Well I'm glad to hear that.” He turned to his phone and picked the phone off the hook. He had to make a phone call now. He looked over at Joanne and gestured for her to leave. “You can leave now.” He then turned away, facing the computer that was sitting at his desk as he dialed a number and held the phone to his hear. Moynihan nodded, and quickly got up out of the chair and exited the room.

Moynihan walked down the hallway, once briefly looking back at the office, wondering if she had made the right choice. She shook her head. She shouldn't be worried about it. What was the worst that could happen anyway? She had to get to the lighthouse now anyway. The safety of the world was more important at this moment than one wrong answer regarding a school. Victor might have been silent for the past few weeks, but that didn't mean he wouldn't start up again soon. She wanted to look at the scans for herself and see if she can spot anything. Without a second's thought, she immediately left the building and made her way towards her vehicle. Within a few minutes, she was driving on the road, making her way quickly towards the lighthouse.

* * *

Back in the office, the principal was on the phone, talking with the woman who had wanted a job at the school. He sounded a little happy about hiring someone new onto the school board. The woman seemed pretty happy that she was accepted herself. She seemed almost eager to start as soon as possible. This was a good sign, the principal thought. It showed that she had a great deal of worth ethic and would probably do a very good job. She didn't seem to be the type that was just getting the job to earn money. She honestly sounded like she really wanted to work because she thought she might enjoy this kind of job.

The principal looked through his computer, trying to find where the job listings for the school were. The woman had asked what kind of job she would be doing. The principal managed to find the list. When he found it, he looked through it, trying to find something that a newcomer would not mind doing. He found two suitable jobs that might work. He leaned away from the screen a little when he felt his eyes hurting a little from staring at it for too long. “Okay, we have two openings that might interest you, miss. We have an opening for a substitute teacher for one of our geometry teachers, and another opening for a librarian for our school library.” The woman considered her options. She seemed unsure of which to pick. Eventually the woman came up with her answer. 

“Ah, a librarian. Okay. I'll mark you down, and you can come over for an interview, okay? ...All right then. G-...” The principal quickly stopped himself. He had almost forgotten to ask the woman for her name. He would not be able to mark her down if he didn't know her name. “Excuse me, miss? I need to know your name now. ..Yes I know you said you didn't want to tell me, but if I don't have your name, then you won't get the job.” The woman seemed a little irritated, but since she seemed to want the job so badly, she gave into his request. She told him her name. The principal's eyes cocked up as he heard her name. “Kista Bakar?” That was a very strange name. But he wrote it down anyway. “Okay, thanks. You can come in tomorrow for an interview. Good day to you. Bye.” As she said goodbye, he hung up the phone.

The principal quickly turned back to his desk and pulled out a large calendar he had in his desk. He looked for tomorrow's date and quickly wrote Kista's name into the date so that he would remember there was an interview with her tomorrow. If all went well, then Ms. Bakar would be the new school librarian, which was good. The library was big and they could use at least one more librarian to help run it. After he was done, he returned to his usual daily duties to help run the school as a whole.

* * *

“I was accepted...” Kista said to no one in particular. She stared at her cell phone, which she still had open even though the principal had long since hung up on her. An evil smile made its away across her face. “Perfect...” She quickly closed her cell phone and pushed it into her pocket. She leaned back against the driver's seat. She was sitting inside her car, parked in a large parking lot for some kind of store. No one seemed to take notice to her and walked by without giving her mouth trouble. She wanted to be in a location such as this in case the school tried to trace her call. Whether or not this would work, she was not entirely certain. But it was worth a try, at least in her eyes.

Kista looked around the parking lot. It was a little less full than it was earlier. There were fewer people going in and out of the stores. She sighed. There was not much to do around here except watch humans go in and out of the stores. It got really boring really fast. She wanted Victor to give her some kind of exciting assignment. She knew she would see some action once she was accepted into the school, but until then, she would have to lay low and not do anything that would make the Dino Squad suspicious. Being accepted into the school was only the first step. She had two special tasks that Victor wanted her to perform, and if she failed at gaining the Dino Squad's trust, then she knew she would be severely punished by Victor Veloci. She couldn't let that happen.

She wondered why Victor had decided to hold off on his next assault for so long. For her, it did not make a lot of sense. The Dino Squad were weak and more vulnerable than they were before. They could have easily went to the lighthouse and finish them off, especially Caruso, who was the most vulnerable of them all. They had a huge opportunity to wipe out their enemy, but Victor refused to take it. He insisted on waiting for a good amount of time before making their next move. Victor had said it was so that their guard would be down. If he refused to attack, they might think he had given up, but Kista laughed at that, saying that it would only make them suspicious of the silence and they would be on higher alert. Victor refused to listen to her argument, however, and forbade her from deviating from the plan. Although upset, Kista had no choice but to comply.

This isn't the only thing that confused her. Victor had at least once told her about how he had found a virus, one from the ancient past, in the melted ice up at the Arctic Circle. He had explained how humans would not be so tolerant of it and would get sick very easily. He had seemed almost excited about the discovery, which kind of surprised Kista. She had thought that Victor would want to try and reclaim the Earth while claiming as little human life as possible. But the Velociraptor did have a strong hatred against humanity, so it might make sense for him to want the virus. But what got Kista is why he had never used the virus to begin with. If he did try the virus, she knows nothing about it. But as far as she knows, Victor had never used it, and she couldn't figure out why. If he was so interested in bringing back the dinosaurs and bringing about the fall of man, couldn't he have just spread the virus himself?

When she had confronted Victor about this, he had explained he had a good reason for not spreading the virus, well more than one reason. The virus could infect dinosaurs as well and he did not wish to harm any of the perfect dinosaurs or they would be useless for his study. He also explained how the global warming would spread the virus itself, slowly but surely, introducing it into the water and infecting many lifeforms that way, including the humans. But yet another reason Victor didn't want to spread the virus yet was because he still needed the humans. As much as he hated to admit it, he still needed humans to further his plans and help him perfect the primordial ooze before he could transform the planet. If he did away with the humans now, he would not have the chance to create a new world.

That did make sense, Kista thought. Victor shouldn't be so quick to wipe out the humans if he still needed them to get his work done. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if Victor would actually wipe out the humans or just transform them. Even he had admitted it would be a lot easier to just transform the humans rather than kill them off. Kista decided to put the whole virus thing out of her mind for the moment. That was one subject she didn't really need to concern herself with at this time. There were other matters at hand that she should be more concerned about anyway, more specifically the Dino Squad themselves. They still posed the biggest threat to Victor's righteous mission. She couldn't wait until she would have her first battle with the students. She particularly looked forward to facing off with the T-Rex.

Suddenly her cell phone lit up and a loud ring sounded out. She winced and immediately opened up her cell phone. She looked at the number and recognized it as Victor. She pressed a button and held the phone to her ear. “Hello, Dr. Veloci.” Kista said dutifully. “How may I help you? ...did they hire me? Oh yes they did. Suspicious? Naw! He seemed almost glad to hire me.” Kista wasn't telling the full truth. She wasn't hired; she was just called in to have an interview. But she felt Victor didn't really need to know that. Chances were in her favor that she would get hired. “It was almost too easy getting into the school, I....Oh, okay. I'll be sure to do that. And they won't find out, trust me...” Kista's eyes narrowed as she closed her cell phone and made her way towards her home.

* * *

In the lighthouse, two large arms, both belonging to Rodger Blair, were wrapped around Caruso's body, firmly held in place. Caruso struggled quite a bit to get away, but he was no match for Rodger. There was no way Caruso was going to go dino on his friend, so he relied on his human strength. But the computer geek had the advantage due to his size. But even with his size advantage, it was a struggle and took all of his strength to hold Caruso in place on his lap. He hated treating the teen like he was only five years old, but he was putting up quite a fight, and all they were trying to do was help him.

Caruso tried fighting back, but his arms were pinned at his sides. Not able to use his hands to defend himself, he immediately resorted to using his jaws instead. He snapped wildly from side to side, desperately trying to reach Rodger. But all his bites landed on empty air, saliva dripping on the ground almost each time. Caruso let out a few screams of fear as he kicked his legs on the ground, digging at the floor with his feet as he tried again, in vain, to get away. But the longer he struggled, the tighter Rodger held onto him, although the geek couldn't hang onto him too tightly or he'd risk choking him to death.

In front of them, the remaining Dino Squad kept their distance, watching the scene unfold. It was painful for them to watch this. Caruso did not go on another pain-filled rampage, but he was doing the next worst thing: panic. Rodger was trying to calm him down. They didn't want him to go dino and attack them. They didn't want him to hurt himself or anyone else, like how he had bitten and torn up Fiona's shoulder. Thinking about what happened, Fiona couldn't help but look at her shoulder worriedly. The wound had almost healed, but it still hurt to touch it. She glanced back at Caruso. She wished there was something she or anyone else could do to settle him down.

Buzz winced as Rodger gripped Caruso even tighter and jerked him to one side to keep him from escaping. The green-haired teen looked over at Max, who was just as hurt to see this happen as he was. But Max still held a serious look on his face, knowing that this had to be done for Irwin's sake. “Is this really necessary?” Buzz asked, giving an uncertain glance in Rodger and Caruso's direction.

“...yes.” Max responded, not moving his fixated gaze from the two teens struggling on the table in front of them. The teenagers were aboard the submarine that Moynihan had showed them before. She had told them to go there so she could take a look at Caruso's injuries. The only reason why she hadn't thought of using the sub before was because she couldn't locate it without her specialized scanner. She had made a scanner that would detect her 'invisible' submarine and guide her to it. But when Michelle destroyed the scanners and computers, she had prevented Moynihan from finding this contraption.

“But why?” Buzz asked, holding out his hands in confusion. “Wouldn't it just be easier to strap him down to something?”

Max shook his head, eyes closed. “No... Moynihan said that would be a bad idea. It might frighten him more and he would fight harder, and in the process hurt himself or one of us.” Moynihan had told them to hold Caruso still physically while she went and got some of her medical supplies she had aboard the ship. Caruso, knowing that what Moynihan might do would hurt, started to panic a little and tried to get away. “She thinks it might be a little less frightening of one of us holds him.”

“How would it be less frightening? Wouldn't he just start to associate us with the pain?” Buzz asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Max's eyes widened a bit when he heard that. Buzz was making a good point. Moynihan's plan might only made Caruso more afraid, and that was the last thing they wanted. But he still trusted her plan and decided not to deviate from it, especially since Moynihan was in the room with them, trying to get close to Caruso but keeping her distance when Caruso started to strike at her with his foot. She didn't seem to notice the conversation that was going on between him and Buzz. “Makes sense. Still..Moynihan hasn't really steered us wrong before...”

“Ms. Moynihan hasn't been herself lately!” Buzz hissed in a low voice. “She might have said those things without thinking! You never know!” He made sure his voice was too low for Moynihan to hear them. Caruso's fear-filled screams also helped to muffle their voices. “Look, it's not that I don't trust Moynihan, but given the circumstances..I'm not sure if it is wise to listen to her until she's feeling completely better.”

“She hasn't really snapped once today...” Max said, sounding a little surprised. He was pleasantly surprised that Moynihan's temper hadn't really snap today, or if it had, he wasn't around to see it.

“No, but McFinn told me about how he saw her eating a raw steak!” Buzz said in an urgent tone of voice. Max's eyes widened in shock. Before he continued, he glanced over at Joanne to make sure she wasn't looking at them. Then he turned to Max, speaking in a very low tone. “It's true. He saw her chowing down on an uncooked steak and she seemed to be enjoying it.”

Max shook his head in complete disbelief. Was Moynihan going to tell them about this? This is not normal, completely out-of-the-ordinary for Moynihan. If she were still a Velociraptor in both body and mind, then it would seem normal. Max could imagine Victor eating a raw steak. But not his own teacher! No, this has to be some huge mistake. Maybe McFinn had been mistaken. Maybe he thought he saw her eat a raw steak. Maybe it was just done rare like some steaks are. Yeah, that had to be it. “Maybe McFinn was mistaken, Buzz. Moynihan could have just had the meat cooked rare or something, making it look like it was raw...”

Buzz shook his head. “There was no steam coming off of the steaks, Max. And there was no hint of brown on it anywhere, or from what McFinn told me anyway. And the steak was dripping with that red liquid it sometimes has when it's not cooked all the way, or at all. It was dripping off the meat almost like it was blood.” Buzz was sounding a little freaked out at the idea of Moynihan eating raw steaks, and Max couldn't blame him. It was starting to creep him out as well. It was almost like she was obtaining a taste for flesh. “He sounded frightened as he told me, and from what he told me..I would be frightened too...”

“Did she..do anything else?” Max asked hesitantly. Buzz shook his head. “Well that's good at least... Maybe she is just getting those weird cravings like what pregnant woman get when they..well...”

Buzz smirked slightly. “You know how ridiculous that sounds? Do you really think Moynihan is pregnant?”

“Well no...” Max said. “I was just using that to describe the kind of craving she was getting. I don't' think it's anything too serious.” Max glanced over at Moynihan, who was still trying to get at Caruso. “I don't think we should concern ourselves with it. For now, we should focus on Caruso.”

“Hold still, Caruso!” Rodger shouted, holding Caruso as tightly as he could. Several times, he almost lost his grip on the boy when he thrashed around enough to loosen Rodger's grip. He almost slipped through, but Rodger managed to grab onto him again and held him in place. He didn't want to do this, but he had no choice. He was merely following orders from Moynihan.

“Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!” Caruso shouted, shaking his head violently from side to side. He bared his teeth at Moynihan, who continued to try and get close to him. He narrowed his eyes and kicked his feet at her again, almost making his mark.

Moynihan looked a little hurt when he kept on doing that. It pained her to see him acting like this, especially when all she wanted to do was help him. She wanted Rodger to hold him still while she checked on the injuries in his mouth, particularly the big one on his tongue. When Rodger told her about what happened, she immediately wanted to check it out for herself. But she knew that, since it was going to be very painful, that Caruso would fight back, or panic like he was doing now. She wanted Rodger to hold onto him instead of having him strapped down. She didn't want to appear to be the bad guy. And she didn't want to be like Dr. Veloci. Tying someone down is something he would have done.

“Irwin Caruso.” Moynihan said in a loud yet soothing voice. “Please, calm down. I just want to help you.” She slowly approached him again, but he kicked at her again and she took a step back. But she continued to try to advance on him. She tried to make herself appear as less menacing as she could. “Shh... I just want to help you. Please..calm down...” She said in a softer voice, and smiled, hoping it would help Caruso relax.

“Listen to her.” Rodger said. He was holding Caruso so tightly that he could feel the boy's heart pounding loudly in his chest. “We only want to help you. Just settle down and it will be over with soon.”

But Caruso refused to listen. His struggles increased when Moynihan took a step forward. He wasn't mad at her or any of them. He just didn't want his mouth to be touched. He didn't want to have to bear the pain once again. It was just too horrible for him. He didn't know how much longer he could withstand the pain in his mouth. And he would do anything to get away from it, including disobeying his mentor. “Just get away from me! Don't touch me!”

“Settle down.” Moynihan said again, a little more firmly this time.

Caruso continued to struggle in Rodger's strong arms. But as a few minutes passed by, his struggles seemed to lose more and more strength. He was starting to wear out. Rodger relaxed his arms just slightly so he wasn't holding Caruso as tightly. He didn't want to hurt him. Slowly, Caruso stopped struggling, but his face was still contorted into a fearful glare and his teeth were now bared, threatening to bite anyone who came close to him. If he had more energy, he would be trying to bite Rodger now.

Feeling a little more confident, Moynihan slowly approached. This time, Irwin didn't try to attack her. He just glared at her as she got closer. Lifting up one hand, she slowly brought it over to Caruso. Despite his low growling, she continued to get closer until her hand was on his head, carefully avoiding the area where he had the large head wound. As she stroked his hair to calm him down, Caruso's expression slowly softened and he was starting to relax a little more. Eventually, he lowered his head in submission, finally giving in. Moynihan smiled softly. “There...” She said in a gentle voice. “That wasn't so hard, was it? Feeling better now?”

Caruso slowly nodded his head. “Yes... S-Sorry about...”

“No need to apologize, Caruso.” Moynihan said, smiling. “I understand what you are going through.” With that, she moved her hand away from his head, now focusing her attention on his mouth. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a flashlight and some gloves. She immediately put her gloves on and turned the flashlight on. “Now..open up your mouth so I can have a look inside.” Reluctantly, Caruso opened up his mouth. Moynihan pressed a finger against his front teeth just like Rodger had to open his mouth a little more so she could get a better look. She shined the flightlight inside and had a good look around. She was horrified by what she saw. “Oh my...”

“Wha...? Wha ih it?” Caruso said, his words slurred and incoherent due to his mouth being wide open. “What you hee?”

But Moynihan didn't respond to him. She was seeing what Rodger was seeing earlier at the school, and now she fully understood why he was so concerned. Most of the cuts inside the mouth had healed and were closed completely. But a few were still red and bleeding a little, probably from Caruso using his jaws too much. But one wound in particular caught her attention. The deep cut in his tongue had reopened, having been split open a little wider than before but not bleeding as much as it was before. This could only have happened from excessive use of the tongue, which she sure Caruso was doing because the boy loved to talk. She saw the beginning signs of an infection and she knew that he needed to be treated as soon as possible or he would get sick.

Joanne leaned back, moving her hands away from Caruso as she gave him a solemn look. “The deep cut on your tongue has reopened, Caruso, and has resumed bleeding. I thought you were told not to speak so much.” Caruso's eyes widened, and he became unable to respond to what Moynihan said. The other kids looked shocked as well. Rodger closed his eyes, knowing his suspicion was just confirmed. “It's not only bleeding again, but it looks very swollen and it has split open once more. I also saw signs of it becoming infected.” Moynihan wasn't sure if she could do anything for it. She didn't have too many things for mouth injuries like this. And she knew if she put anything on it, it would put Caruso through excruciating pain. But if she didn't do something, then the wound was only going to get worse. “We have to get that treated.”

Caruso cringed back, almost knocking Rodger down onto the table as he did so. He quickly shook his head rapidly, not wanting Moynihan to touch him on that area. He didn't want to experience even more pain than he already was now, despite the fact that the wound could become infected. He didn't want that to happen, but he just didn't know if he could stand even more pain. He knew that Moynihan meant well. As she said, the 'mothersaurus' knew best. He knew he should trust her on this, but for some reason, he was finding it more and more difficult to completely trust her. He wondered if it was because of the change in her behavior or what he had experienced with Victor, who was a Velociraptor just like Moynihan was.

When Moynihan reached towards him again, Caruso started to struggle again, forcing Rodger to hold onto him tightly. Despite that, though, Caruso still struggled, hoping that he would get free this time. “No..no..don't touch me!” Caruso cried out when Moynihan managed to grip him by his lower jaw and carefully, yet somewhat forcefully, position his head so that he was looking at her, and not shaking his head from side to side like he was before. Caruso bared his teeth at her again and said, “Let me go... OW!” He yelped and closed his eyes tightly. A few tears of agony flowed from his eyes. The wound on his tongue had stung him once again.

“Shhh...” Moynihan said in a calm voice, doing her best not to be shaken by what was happening to Caruso. She needed to keep herself level-headed so that she could help him feel better. “I only want to help you. I know the treatment might hurt, but in the end, it might help you feel better...”

“Yeah...” Rodger said. “She's only trying to help you. But if you keep panicking like you are, then you will only get worse. You do want to feel better, don't you?” Caruso opened his eyes slowly and nodded his head. “Then listen to Ms. Moynihan. Just settle down and let her help you.”

“I do not blame him for panicking, Rodger.” Moynihan said in a calm, understanding voice. She slowly released her grip on Caruso, not wanting to make him feel like she was going to deliberately hurt him or anything like that. “He went through so much when he was Victor's prisoner. It's obvious that he doesn't want to experience anything like what he had then ever again. The pain he might feel could send him back into that state, and make him panic. That's why he doesn't want me to treat him.”

“Then...” Buzz interjected. “..if it just sends him back, would it be better to just let the wound heal on its own?”

“That's a worse idea than trying to treat him and risk making him panic.” Max explained, sounding a little more serious than he usually does. “Don't you get it? If we don't treat it, the wound could kill him!”

Buzz winced, glancing back over at Caruso. He and the others had gone through so much to get their friend back. He didn't want their efforts to be in vain all because of one wound. He didn't want Caruso to end up dying from something he suffered while in Victor's hideout, not after everything they did to try and save him. But he still wondered how they could treat a wound that was inside someone's mouth. On an arm or a leg, he could understand. But he knew little to nothing on how wounds inside the mouth could be treated. “How are we going to treat him anyway?”

Fiona stepped forward. “Yeah. The wound is inside his mouth. How can we treat something there?” She shrugged her shoulders, her eyes slightly wide with fear and apprehension.

“I have some medicine I could smear on the wound.” Moynihan said softly, not taking her eyes off of Caruso. It was hurting her to see him like this, so full of pain and misery, and to top it all of, he was becoming terrified, though for a very good reason. She did have something that could help make the wound heal faster, but she knew Caruso was not going to enjoy it. “Unfortunately, it will sting. It's almost like pouring lemon juice into an open wound.” Caruso's eyes widened so much that Moynihan could have sworn she could see the blood vessels in his eyes. She quickly shifted her gaze over to Rodger. “You will have to hold him still so I can treat the wound.”

Rodger nodded, but he thought of a better idea that might work better and relieve Caruso of having to experience the agony of having such medicine being put on an open wound. “Professor Moynihan, not to question you or anything, but wouldn't it be easier just to have Caruso go dino? We then could shoot him with the Chiller and make him go dormant and then treat the wound while he's asleep. That way, he won't have to experience nearly as much pain, if any at all.”

Max nodded his approval. He liked this idea. It would allow them to treat Caruso's wounds without having to restrain him. And Caruso would benefit from it too, as he would not feel any pain while he was unconscious. He turned his head to Joanne and said, “Yeah..I like that idea. What do you think, Ms. Moynihan? Do you think it could work?”

“Hmmm...” Joanne turned her gaze towards the ground, her eyes narrowed a little. She was thinking about what she should do. Should she go on with what she had mind? Or should she go for the plan that Rodger had proposed? She did she the benefits of Rodger's plan. It would make it a lot easier to treat Caruso's mouth wounds. But at the same time, it would create a problem. They wouldn't know how long he would stay unconscious and they couldn't keep him dormant for too long, or he could die. But if she went with her plan, they might not be able to do much for the boy. He would be lashing out at them to try to stop the pain. She started to rub her forehead as she started to get a mild headache from thinking about this too hard. She was having a hard time deciding, just like she did when she had to decide whether or not to allow that one woman to be hired into the school. What was wrong with her? She usually doesn't take this much time to make a decision.

Caruso had relaxed once again, still being held by Rodger. He did feel bad about the way he was acting. He didn't want to do this. But every time he felt a little afraid, he would end up overreacting, and panic. He felt a little grateful that Moynihan did not really blame him for his actions. After what had happened to him while with Victor, it was understandable. Victor had inflicted excruciating pain on him in an attempt to break his will and his spirit. And unfortunately for Caruso, even though he has been away from that horrid place for two weeks now, he still hadn't completely gotten over what had happened. And every time he panics, he fears that he will regain control after he already sank his teeth into one of his teammates, like he had with Fiona.

Fiona had forgiven him for what he had done, of course. He hadn't really meant to do it. He wasn't in complete control of himself. He was panicking, and was merely trying to defend himself. She couldn't blame him for that. But Caruso still felt horrible about it. Fiona had to go to the doctor about a week and a half ago. Her parents had insisted on it. They wanted to make sure that the wound did not become infected, especially since Caruso had been grinding his teeth into her to do more damage. Fiona's wound was disinfected and treated once she reached the doctor's office. Luckily, they did not try to draw a blood sample to see what the problem was. If they had, they would have spotted the dinosaur DNA that mingled with her own human DNA.

Buzz wasn't sure what to say at this point. He did like what Rodger had suggested. But part of him wasn't sure if it was a good idea. He remembered what the others told him about what happened at the dinosaur hockey game that he had missed out on. It seemed kind of scary to him that the team could not wake up Rodger, no matter what they did, until they breathed heavily on him that is. Buzz wondered if they would be able to wake up Caruso so easily after he went dormant, and what could happen to him if he stayed dormant for too long. And they couldn't be one hundred percent sure that Caruso would not react to the treatments, even if he was unconscious. He might still feel the pain and still react, perhaps clamping his jaws down on whoever is touching him and do some gruesome damage. In order to prevent that, they would have to wire his jaws wide open, but where would they get such a device large enough for a Stegosaurus?

Fiona hardly moved her eyes away from where Caruso was sitting. She bit her lip as the others, particularly Moynihan, were trying to decide whether or not to have Caruso go dino so they could make him go dormant. Fiona wasn't sure if she wanted that to happen. Seeing the boy on the ground again, and in Stegosaur form, would bring back so many bad memories from what horrible warehouse they were in before. Even though she would know he was just sleeping, those old feelings of hurt, devastation, and being heartbroken, they would all come flooding back to her. But that wasn't the only thing on her mind. Although she wasn't feeling entirely up for it, she did want to take Moynihan's advice and speak to Caruso when she had the chance to get him alone, away from the others. She wanted to tell him how she felt before fate would again intervene.

After what seemed to be a long silence, Moynihan finally made her decision. She decided to go with the easier option, the one involving shooting Caruso with the chiller while he was a Stegosaurus. There were still risks involved, but it was probably their best chance at helping the boy feel a lot better. “Okay, Rodger. We'll go with your plan.” She said, nodding her head. “You can release Caruso. We need to give him some room.” Rodger nodded and immediately released Caruso, who quickly stood up, but didn't try to run away. The others did the same thing as Rodger was doing, backing up away from Caruso in order to give him some space to transform. Moynihan gave a sideways glance to Fiona. “Fiona! Get the Chiller!” She then turned back to Caruso. “Caruso, go dino!”

Fiona hesitated for a few seconds, but quickly decided it was best not to question Moynihan. “Okay, Ms. M!” She quickly left the room to locate the Chiller, which she had somewhere near her motorcycle. They had brought their dinocycles with them. They thought it would be easier going to the submarine with their dinocycles instead of the Dino SUV because the dinocycles were easier to hide and store in the underwater ship.

Caruso hesitated, but complied to Moynihan's command. He closed his eyes and his entire body glowed. He rapidly grew in size, starting to take up the majority of the space in the room. Some of his teammates fell onto the ground to avoid being pushed by his large feet or knocked down by his massive spiked tail. When he reopened his eyes, he was completely transformed. He cast his almost glaring eyes down at this teammates, feeling bad about him taking up so much room. 'Sorry guys.' He thought spoke to them, lowering his head a little.

“It's all right, dear.” Moynihan said, using one hand to gently stroke the top of Caruso's Stegosaur head, careful to avoid the cuts that were still visible. It was frustrating that the wounds would not heal once they transformed. Instead, the wounds would remain in some way. For example, if Buzz's wing membrane was torn, lacerations would appear on the underside of his arms and perhaps his sides. “You don't need to apologize.”

Within a few minutes, Fiona returned, Chiller in hand. She made her way towards Moynihan. Once she was standing behind her, Fiona held out the device and said, “Here's the Chiller, Ms. M.”

“Thank you.” Moyihan turned around and grabbed it from the young redhead. She then turned her attention onto Caruso, who was eyeing the device with nervous, glowing eyes. “Okay, Caruso. This won't hurt a bit. Just hold still.” She said as she leveled the weapon up, one eye closed as she tried to make it right on target. Caruso didn't say anything. He just closed his eyes tightly and waited for the blow. He knew this was not going to hurt, but he still braced himself, part of him thinking that he will experience pain from the Chiller. Moynihan's finger pressed against the trigger, and then a foggy substance shot out at a very high speed.

Caruso bellowed loudly as the cloud-like material struck him in the face. He shook his head wildly, unable to open his eyes because of how fast the material was striking him, although he could feel no pain. He felt an overwhelming chilly sensation overcome him as Moynihan continued to spray him in the face. She then started to move onto his sides, spraying his back, his legs, and his tail. Caruso's whole body started to shiver as his body temperature rapidly dropped. Caruso started to curl up onto a massive, plated ball to try to get warm. But Moynihan just continued using the Chiller on him, making it useless for him to try to warm up. Finally, he started to feel drowsy. He shook his head, trying to fight the feeling of wanting to go to sleep. But the drowsiness wouldn't let him fight back for long. Caruso's jaws slip wide for a yawn, and then he slumped to the ground, his eyes closed softly. He laid on his side now, one leg crossover the other as he started to snore, the tell tale sign that he was now unconscious.

Moynihan removed her finger from the trigger, satisfied that Caruso was now out, unconscious. She lowered the Chiller at her side and then turned to Max. “Okay, he's out cold. No pun intended. Max, go get the equipment.”

“What equipment?” Max asked.

“The medical equipment.” Moynihan responded. “They are in the cabinets over there.” She pointed a finger in the direction where the cabinets were. “Please be a dear and fetch them for me.”

“Oh, okay.” Max nodded and proceeded over to the cabinets.

Moynihan then turned to Fiona. “Fiona, go get me the mouth brace. We need to make sure he doesn't close his mouth during the procedure.” Fiona gave her a look that made Moynihan feel bad about what she said, even though it wasn't the same thing as what Victor did. “Don't worry...It won't hurt him.”

“I know.” Fiona said, her eyes slightly downcast. “Just that...the name reminds me of that...that thing that was in his mouth when we found him.”

“The human bridle.” Moynihan said, a bit of anger in her voice. “I remember Victor designing a similar device before I parted ways with him. I'm not entirely sure why he designed it back when, as he did not work with humans. But I am certain that, recently, he created that horrid thing to break the spirit of any rebellious humans. That thing should be destroyed.” Fiona narrowed her eyes and nodded. “Anyway, I just want to make sure his mouth does not close on me when I'm treating the wound on his tongue. So, can you please get the mouth brace for me?”

“Sure.” Fiona said as she turned and walked away to get the brace for her mentor.

Moynihan turned her attention back onto Caruso. She didn't have anything else that she needed at the moment, so she had no orders to give to Rodger or Buzz. The two teens just stood there, watching her as she turned her attention on the large Stegosaurus in the room. Moynihan placed a gentle hand on Caruso's head, just behind his eye. “You poor dear...” She whispered as she eyed the scars that now covered his face. They were still noticeable, both by sight and by touch. She gently stroked his head. “You'll feel better soon..”

At first, the faint scent of blood coming from his mouth was worrying her deeply. She wondered if he had lost a significant amount of blood between the hours he was at school and now. She also wondered exactly how she was going to stop the bleeding. She could try to disinfect the wound with some kind of cream or medicine. But she couldn't bandage the tongue up. The saliva would weaken any adhesive she had available and cause the bandage to slip down or be torn off. She could only hope that it wound seal up on its own soon so that the wound couldn't become infected or inflamed again. She also had to make a note to herself to contact her herpetologist friend, just in case Caruso didn't get any better soon, and have her help out with the situation.

But as she stood there, waiting, the scent of blood was starting to arouse something else inside of her, something that almost frightened her. The feeling of hunger was starting to get to her. She had already eaten, but for some reason, she was feeling hungry all over again. The scent of blood was enticing her, taunting her, mocking her. It played around with her emotions, making her feel conflicted and confused. She shook her head and moved her head away a bit away from Caruso's head. But the scent of blood was still clinging in the air. Her eyes slowly widened as she felt herself drool a little, a response that many animals had in anticipation of food. Without realizing what she was doing, she slowly leaned in towards Caruso, her eyes locked onto his throat. She briefly licked her lips, and opened up her mouth...

“Okay, I got the medical stuff, Ms. Moynihan!” Max shouted as he walked back towards the old woman, in his hand carrying a box of medical supplies. Moynihan was quickly snapped back into attention, breaking the trance that she had just previously been in. She placed her hand on her chest and breathed a little quickly, realizing what she was about to do. Max noticed her anxiety and gave her a concerned look. “Hey...are you okay?” He placed the box down and moved towards her to help her. “Maybe I can help...”

Moynihan quickly held a hand in front of him, rejecting his help. “No..no, Max. I'm fine...” She said, not moving her gaze from Irwin. “I don't need any help.”

“Well...okay...” Max said, turning a little to pick up the medical supplies and handed it to her. “Here are the supplies that you wanted.”

“Thank you.” Moynihan grabbed the box from him and set it at her side. She made sure it was a good distance away from Caruso in case he moved in his sleep. But she kept it close enough so that she wouldn't have to strain herself too much trying to reach for the supplies.

Not long afterward, Fiona came back into the room, holding something large in her hand. It was a bright white color that bared a very vague resemblance to the human bridle. But this one was clearly of a different function. There were strong strings and two thick bars. It was designed to keep a huge mouth like a Stegosaur's wide open, but not too wide so that they didn't break the jaws. The leather and metal was smooth, not jagged like the bridle was. It was designed to fit comfortably on whoever was wearing it, and was even slightly padded in some areas. This reduced the amount of discomfort that the brace might put the wearer through. It looked to be about the right size for Caruso, but if it wasn't, there was no way to adjust the size.

Fiona carried the large brace over to Moynihan. “Here's that brace that you wanted, Ms. M.” She was about to set it down, but Moynihan held up a hand to stop her. “What do you want me to do with it?”

“Put it on him.” Moynihan pointed towards Caruso, whose mouth was already open. But regardless, Moynihan gently pulled the mouth open a little wider and held it in place to give Fiona the chance to slip it on him. Fiona moved in closer and carefully put the brace on, gently pressing the two bars against the top and lower jaw without causing any damage. Once it was on, she stepped back and Joanne let go of his mouth. They needed to make sure that the brace wouldn't fail during the procedure. When Caruso's mouth remained firmly wide open, they relaxed a little. But there was still work to be done. Moynihan turned to Buzz and said, “Buzz, go get me some large cloths! You know where to find them, don't you?”

Buzz nodded his head. “Yes I do.” With that, he quickly left the room to go fetch the cloths.

As soon as he left, Moynihan turned her attention back onto Caruso. She reached into the kit, and pulled out a large tube filled with a type of cream. It would help disinfect the wound and might also help seal the wound long enough for the bleeding to stop and the wound could heal. But before she could even put it on, she would need something to wipe the blood away from the tongue. And for that, she would have to wait until Buzz returned with the cloths. But as she was waiting, a dreadful thought plagued her mind. What would she have done if Max hadn't gotten her attention? Would she have bitten Caruso? She quickly shook her head, trying to keep focused at the task at hand, especially when Buzz had quickly returned with the cloths she had asked for.

“Thanks, Buzz.” Joanne said. She then proceeded to treat Caruso's wounds, hoping that they had started just in time. It was crucial that she get this done as soon as possible. But she still couldn't help but wonder about her behavior recently. She couldn't get it out of her mind. She knew there was something terribly wrong with her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She gazed down at her hand as she reached into the mouth to begin padding the wound to soak up the blood and was horrified. The kids didn't notice it, but she did, almost right away. Her claws had popped out from her fingers. “Oh..my....” She whispered, terrified.

“What do you mean I missed them?!” A tall blond man yelled, holding a relatively large video camera. The man wore a brand new outfit, a solid black jacket and an inner dark gray shirt, along with long dark blue jeans. He was standing in front of a construction worker, who was dressed in a bright orange outfit. The construction worker was giving him a hard look, holding onto his shovel tightly. The blond man was O'Ryan, a scheming newscaster obsessed with getting footage of dinosaurs. He was now working solo, having fired his cameraman, who kept complaining to him about how he always took all the credit. He liked it better this way. He could make all the decisions without anyone holding him back.

“I'm sorry.” The construction worker told him, sounding just as agitated as O'Ryan did. “The attack here occurred about two weeks ago. Where have you been all this time?”

O'Ryan growled, grinding his teeth from side to side. “Well it's not my fault that the stupid news station here decided to wait so long to let people outside this city know about what happened!”

From what O'Ryan is hearing from this construction worker, the news team from this city had decided to keep the dinosaur attack a secret to just this city until a certain amount of time has passed. It was probably done to avoid a panic attack across the nation. But it still annoyed O'Ryan to no end. He had been looking for a worthy, legit dino attack for a long time and he comes here just to find out he's too late! He growled under his breath again. He wanted to lash out at the worker, but he held back, knowing it was not going to get him anywhere. He would have to try again to find another dinosaur attack. He knew of five particular dinosaurs that constantly showed up, but he never did seem to get to the area in time. He would always miss them. If only he could just move a little faster, maybe he'd be able to get footage. Then no one can mock him again!

Being this close and then failing was bringing back some old, vengeful feelings he had locked up inside of him. He recalled how some annoying kid kept bugging him every time he and his former cameraman were trying to shoot some footage of the dinosaurs. He had to admit, though, the kid was persistent. Even after multiple times he's tried to lose the kid, he kept showing up. But that was the teen's only positive point. O'Ryan was still pissed off at how the kid had thrown his camera down into the ditch. He was certain that the boy had done that on purpose. And the footage contained something more than just dinosaurs. It contained someone actually transforming into a dinosaur! He could have become a millionaire with that!

The footage could not recovered at all. The camera was too far damaged. All that work, all his work, it was now gone for good. There was no way to get the tape fixed. It was charred by the electric current that flowed through it when it smashed. If the kids' darn friends hadn't shown up, he would have strangled him. He could have gotten away with it too. No one but his cameraman was around, and he could have always bribed his cameraman to keep his mouth shut. But, then again, what good would killing the kid have done? It wouldn't have gotten his precious footage back anyway. And if anyone had found out, he would have gone to prison. Maybe it wasn't really worth it.

But then again, maybe it was. The kid had lost him footage that would have stunned even the most skeptical of scientists. Maybe he could have sent it in to Victor Veloci. Even though Victor was a humanitarian and not a paleontologist, he might have been interested in such footage. He had heard the man has some interest in dinosaurs. O'Ryan, himself, was shocked by the footage. He was absolutely stunned to see some normal-looking teenager transform into a dinosaur. He wondered if the other dinosaurs were actually humans in disguise. That would explain why no one's been able to track them or even confirm they were actually dinosaurs. O'Ryan could visualize himself winning some kind of award for his discovery.

“Excuse me, sir.” The construction worker said. “I know you might be fascinated by what we are doing, but we have to get finished rebuilding this road. And you standing there is not going to make it go any faster.”

As he turned and left the construction site, a thought soon dawned on him. His thoughts had trailed back to that kid that was bugging him before. He recalled how he had seen a dinosaur, a large Stegosaurus, appear out of nowhere and just block the small, narrow road that he was on. And then it just disappeared. Then, out of nowhere, the kid shows up, acting as if he was tracking the animal. But O'Ryan nor his cameraman had seen any signs of the kid before the dinosaur showed up. They had noticed the kid after the Stegosaurus disappeared. O'Ryan thought it was a little strange that the kid would just appear out of nowhere like that after something as big as a dinosaur disappeared. He started to wonder something. Could this kid have been one of them? One of the dinosaurs?

His eyes slowly narrowed. That would explain why they had only seen the kid after the Stegosaurus disappeared. They were nowhere together in the same field of vision. They had not been there at the same time. And the Stegosaur did have similar colors as the kid. He could have sworn the kid's pants and the Stegosaur's plates were the same shade of red. And the kid's hair was the same shade of purplish blue as the Stegosaur's large body. Could that have been just a mere coincidence? Perhaps, but still, O'Ryan was becoming certain that the kid was a dinosaur. That could be why he destroyed his camera. He was protecting his T-Rex friend!

As he gritted his teeth a little harder as he made his way towards his car, another thought came to his mind. He knew he had to find this kid again. He must find him! He was the proof that he needed that dinosaurs existed! But where was he to look? He wasn't sure. They could be anywhere. He didn't know where this blue-haired boy lived, nor the other kids either. He could search for months, even years with no results. And he was not able to get to a dinosaur sighting fast enough to get a hold of them. He started to wonder if it would be pointless for him to even try. He probably had no chance on getting in contact with that kid or any of his friends again unless he got extremely lucky.

But as he placed a hand on his car door, pushing it open, he happened to look back at the wreckage and noticed something. Whatever dinosaur made this was heading in a specific direction. There were a few areas where it seemed to go off course, but it still seemed to be going in roughly one direction. It started to look as if the dinosaur knew where it wanted to go and was relentless on getting there. His eyes trailed up to follow the tracks of the large dinosaur. They seemed to be headed in the general direction of what appeared to be a large white and red lighthouse, although it was so far away he couldn't make it out one hundred percent clearly. At first, O'Ryan wasn't entirely sure if this was where the animal was headed. Maybe it was headed in the same general area, but not towards the lighthouse.

But as he examined the tracks and their general direction over and over again in his mind, he slowly started to become convinced that the creature was probably retreating and heading towards the lighthouse. That building was probably their hideout, where these so-called dinosaurs went to rest and replenish their energy, and whatever else it is that they do. If this was their hideout, O'Ryan had to admit that it was pretty good. No one would suspect dinosaurs hiding in a lighthouse. And the place looked pretty isolated as well, a good distance away from civilization, far enough away from them to even be dinos outside the lighthouse without being noticed by many people.

Grinning, O'Ryan got inside his car and quickly shut the door. He turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. He quickly pulled the shift back so that he pulled out of the spot he was previously in. He then pushed the shift forward so that he was on his way, back down a back road he had taken to reach this spot as quickly as possible. He knew just what he was going to do. But he had to get home first and look up a specific phone number. And then he had to set up an appointment. His smile widened as he thought of his potential discovery. “Okay, kid...you wanted to be a star? Well..then so be it...” He chuckled as he patted his camera that was sitting next to him. He continued to drive off as the lighthouse and the construction work went completely out of sight.


	19. Suspicions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“Ooooooo....” Peter groaned in pain as he tried to adjust himself in his white hospital bed. He was still stuck at the hospital, although two weeks had passed. Whoever informed him that his arm would be healed enough in two weeks was crazy. He was recently informed by a more experienced doctor that it was going to take a lot longer than that. Although he did have dinosaur DNA and thus would be able to heal a lot faster, it was still going to take a long time. That was just perfect, Peter thought as he glanced over at his arm, still in a sling. He was missing a lot of work at Raptor Dyne and Victor hadn't called him once to inform him if he even still had a job at Raptor Dyne. Peter reckoned that he did, but was still worried terribly, thinking that Victor will kill and eat him once he returned to the company. He might start seeing Peter as a liability.

“Stop moving around so much!” A nurse who was in the room at the time barked at him. “You'll only make your injury worse!”

“Sorry, ma'am...” Peter said, rolling his eyes.

The nurse didn't take too well to his attitude, but refrained from doing anything or she'll risk losing her job. She went over to his table and picked up his empty cup, which was previously filled with water. She took it and disappeared into the bathroom. Peter heard the sound of a faucet being turned on, and he knew that the nurse was refilling his cup. The nurse immediately returned after turning the faucet off and placed the cup on his table. She then proceeded in taking the scraps from his table. Peter had eaten a meal not too long ago. The same nurse had brought it in for him.

He and the nurse did not get along very well. She said that he complained too much and that he should just relax and let his arm heal. Peter had tried to get away a few times, but his broken arm prevented him from getting far. Peter felt the nurse was too naggy and annoying. He would love to tell her to shut up, but his better judgment told him that he should keep his mouth shut. He still wanted to get out of the hospital and back home. He never thought he'd miss that place so much. But here he was, two weeks cooped up in this one hospital room, hardly leaving his bed except when the doctor wanted to do something or to go to the bathroom.

“Look,” The nurse said as she bent down to empty the garbage can nearby. “..I know staying here is driving you crazy. But at least consider yourself one of the lucky ones.” The woman's eyes glanced over at him as she tied the small garbage can. “Some people in here have to stay here a lot longer. Months, maybe even years even. Consider yourself lucky that you don't have to stay here that long.”

Peter narrowed his eyes and grumbled softly. “Yeah, I know that.” He said somewhat bitterly, his teeth slightly bared. “You don't need to tell me that.”

“I know.” The woman said, turning around to head towards the door, garbage bag in hand. “Anyway, just try to relax. I'll be back in a couple hours with your next meal, okay?” She didn't wait for him to respond. She disappeared out of the door, shutting it behind her. Peter was now alone in the room.

Peter grumbled again. This was the only reason he didn't like the nurse leaving. There was no one around to talk to. And Zoom wasn't going to visit him today. He'd already given him a call about that. His only company now was the television hanging up on the wall. He picked up the remote and switched the TV on. It was on mute because he had muted it when talking with Zoom and just never undid it. The television flashed on and he began to flip through the channels, trying to see if there was anything good on. He was glad that he wasn't going to see anymore of that dinosaur attack on TV. He didn't need to be reminded again on how the Dino Squad defeated him, using his own size against him.

As he flipped through the channels, he heard the door knocking. He muttered something under his breath, then turned the television back off. “Come in!” He said, looking over at the door.

The door quickly opened up, and Peter's eyes narrowed at who stepped in. “Hello, Peter.” The individual was none other than Kista, who had decided to stop by and give Peter a little visit. “I see you are still not feeling so well.” She pointed at the cast that still bound around the man's arm.

“Don't remind me.” Peter said through gritted teeth. “So what are you doing here?”

“What? I can't pay a visit to you just to see if you're feeling better?” Kista asked through a mocking tone of voice, annoying Peter so much. “Do you think I'm that cruel?”

Peter shook his head. “No, not really. But you are..rather insane.”

Kista put her hands on her hips, snorting in anger. “Well excuse me for even coming here!” She said, sounding very offended.

Peter snarled under his breath and shook his head. Kista always was such a pain at times. She shows up uninvited, acting like she had every right to just waltz right on in. And when she's confronted about it, she sounds very offended, but Peter had learned to recognize her sarcasm. She doesn't feel sorry or offended. She was just being sarcastic. It was her way to annoy the people she was talking to. She did it deliberately to brush them the wrong way and make them angry. Sometimes, that woman reminded him so much of Oscura, that little brat that Victor had welcomed to Raptor Dyne some time ago.

To this day, Peter didn't understand the benefit of having two underage workers at Raptor Dyne. Both were still in their teens and they did not have any experience in most of the work they did at Raptor Dyne. Victor mostly used them for the pesky Dino Squad, although he had only recently had them do anything face-to-face. Most of the work Oscura and the other girl, Michelle, did involved going to recent dino activity areas and collecting data. Since they were dinosaurs, they could easily find evidence better than the other workers at Raptor Dyne. But other than that, Peter felt they were pretty much useless. He wondered why Victor would waste his time with them.

And he wasn't happy when he found out about Kista, who had worked at Raptor Dyne for quite some time now. He wasn't sure if she worked longer or shorter than Michelle and Oscura. Since she was older, Victor could find other jobs for her, one of her most recent jobs was tracking down two former workers of Raptor Dyne. Victor had wanted to make sure that they weren't spilling the beans on his company's secret. Peter thought this was ridiculous as well. No one was going to believe a couple of morons like those guys. So why waste the time?

“So why are you here?” Peter asked again, this time in a calmer voice so that he wouldn't make Kista act so mad again. The woman's frown disappeared, quickly replaced with a broad, sickening smile. Peter winced. He didn't like that look on her face. The blond woman started to approach him, staring at him intently.

Kista carefully wrapped her arm around Peter in a mock hug, careful to avoid his broken arm. She pulled him close. Peter struggled a little, but she just held on tighter, lowering her head and put her face close to his. “As I said..I can't just visit you because I want to?” Her voice was soft and playful, yet almost creepy at the same time. “Do I need a reason to visit you?”

“You always have a reason...” Peter muttered, pulling his head away.

Kista burst out laughing, startling Peter and making him cringe because of how close she was. She was pretty loud and it was hurting his ears having her laugh that close to him. But with her arm around him, he couldn't pull away that far. “Well, you'll be right on the button with that one, my dear friend...”

“For the last time, I am not your friend!” Peter snapped. “I am just a fellow co-worker! So stop calling me friend!”

Kista giggled and pulled her hand away. Placing her hands on her hips, she said, “My, you have a temper today. I guess you really have been here too long.” She grinned broadly as she said this.

“Very funny!” Peter hissed, looking away from her. He didn't want to deal with her, not today. But he knew she was not going to leave until she did what she wanted to do.

When Kista spoke again, this time she was sounding much more serious. “The real reason I'm here is because I want to ask you something.” Peter looked back at her, waiting for her to continue. Kista let out a short breath, snorting a little almost like a dinosaur would. “I need you to tell me the location of the lighthouse, the one that you were supposed to destroy. That is where Victor is sending me next.”

Peter narrowed his eyes. “So that's how it is, eh? He's going to send you to do the job that I had failed at...”

Kista shook her head. “No...that is not why he's sending me. I am not going there to destroy their saltatorial lighthouse. I am being sent there to obtain something that Victor has been looking for.”

“Dino DNA?” Peter smirked.

Kista responded, “No! He wants to get back his..weapons!”

Peter's smirk was wiped off his face when Kista told him this. He had heard Victor talk about his weapons a few times in the past. He would say that he had some weapons that he wanted to get back that would help him advance on his plot to transform the world. They were nothing compared to obtaining all the perfect dinosaurs, especially the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but they would still help him greatly, or so he says. Peter had thought the weapons either did not exist or that they were long gone, no hope of getting them back. But now it seems that Victor must have found the weapons, and they were at the lighthouse. Suddenly Peter's disgust at failing to destroy the lighthouse felt like a blessing. If he had succeeded, those important weapons would have been lost forever...

“The weapons...are at the lighthouse?” Peter whispered. “..so it was rather fortunate that those obnoxious children defeated me...”

“Oh by the way...” Kista suddenly interrupted him. “..just how did they defeat you? How could such puny dinos, well compared to you, defeat a large sauropod?” Kista couldn't understand why he could have been defeated. Peter was a fully grown Apatosaurus while in dino mode. How could the Dino Squad, all of which were smaller, possibly manage to defeat him?

“Do I really have to tell you?” Peter snarled.

Kista leaned in closely. “Yes....” She said, her voice sounding a little surly. “Yes you do..or do you want me to tell the nurse about your little secret...?”

Peter snorted, but he knew that Kista would not stop pestering him until he gave in and told her what she wanted to know. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he decided to tell her. But he knew that she was going to make fun of him for it, no matte how he was defeated. That's just how Kista was sometimes, when she was in this kind of mood. “They managed to make me fall down, okay? They knocked me over and I fell onto my own leg, snapping it. And with a broken leg, or arm if I was in human form, I wouldn't have been able to fight back. And they managed to get information from me by threatening me with those Chiller and Spiller weapons of theirs.”

Kista tilted her head. “How could they threaten you with such weak weapons like the Chiller and the Spiller?”

This immediately confused Peter. He leaned forward a little. “What do you mean? That one african-american kid..I think the Styracosaurus kid...he told me that the weapons were dangerous...”

Kista leaned back and laughed. “Oh man, they got you good!”

“What...?” Peter was completely confused now.

“From what Victor had told me, and don't ask me how he found this out, but the Chiller and the Spiller are harmless.” Kista laughed as Peter's shocked expression started to turn into anger. “Yeah, all it would have done was strip you of your dinosaur form, and make you feel a little cold. But other than that, they are harmless, nonlethal. They tricked you good!” Kista couldn't stop laughing, and this only made Peter even angrier. Peter's face was getting a deep shade of red and he was starting to look like a strawberry or cherry to Kista.

“Why that...that...irritable, pathetic little twerp!” Peter hissed. “When I get my hands on him, I'll kill him!”

Kista was amused at how Peter was reacting to this. It was funny for her to see someone realize that they have been duped, and it was funnier knowing that it took them so long to figure this out. This would have been even more amusing to Oscura had she been around. But Oscura wasn't allowed to go on any missions for at least three more days. She was suspended a few weeks ago after Victor confirmed that she had tampered with Michelle's journal. Victor punished her by biting her right hand to prevent her from writing anything for a while. The lacerations had mostly healed but were still sore. Despite being bitten, Oscura still remained a bit infatuated with the man and remained very loyal to him. And she continued to write with her hand, despite how much it was hurting her. She treated it almost like it was nothing, mostly when the wounds had sealed up. Kista wondered if biting her was a very good form of punishment for this kind of teen. Maybe there was nothing they could do to punish Oscura.

“Oh calm down...” Kista said, waving her hand at him dismissively in a way that said 'forget it, too late.', which only seemed to frustrate Peter even further. But Kista didn't have time to deal with the man's temper tantrum. She knew that Peter wasn't going to be able to get at the kids right now anyway, so him pouting about the whole thing was not going to make things any better. It was just a waste of time. “You'll get your chance later on, especially since Victor has his...”

“Has his what..on what?” Peter interrupted her, his eyes narrowed almost dangerously. He was still feeling very bitter about having been tricked by some kid so easily. He should have seen through the kid's lies! He should have realized that he was just fooling him into spilling the information that he wanted! He hoped that Kista was going to tell him that Victor has a job opening involving something to do with the Dino Squad. He wanted another chance to get them, to get even for what they did.

“Well Victor does still have an interest in that Caruso kid...” Kista said, scratching her chin thoughtfully. “Although I can't really imagine why...”

Peter's expression relaxed a little. “The Caruso kid?” He asked, recognizing the name immediately. “He wants him back?” He winced when he realized what kind of innuendo was in that statement. But Kista didn't seem to react much to it at all other than folding her arms up. “And you don't know why he wants him back? Does he wants you to capture him or something?”

Kista shook her head. “No..he doesn't want me to recapture him. He wants me to do...” She paused for a moment, hesitating slightly in telling Peter what Victor wanted her to do. She wondered if it was really any of his business. He might have worked for Raptor Dyne, but Victor had given her this assignment specifically. No, Peter didn't really need to know anything. He would find out on his own, though. She was sure of that. “...do something else. You don't really need to know what.”

“What? Why?!” Peter growled.

Kista reached forward and playfully pinched his cheek like a grandmother might do to a cute child. Peter growled again and tried to pull away, but that just made Kista grip his face harder. “Because you are still out of commission. It would be useless for me to tell you. And I just know that you are going to go nuts with the information and tell someone and then we'll all get into trouble.” She didn't get angry as she said this. Instead, she seemed to get happier and a little creepier.

“No I would not!” Peter protested, starting to sound almost like a bratty little child. Kista just sat there and ignored him. Getting angrier, Peter said, “Listen to me you...!” His voice was suddenly muffled when Kista clamped her hand tightly around his mouth, squeezing so much that she was digging her finger nails into his skin, causing him some pain. His eyes widened and he looked up at her in shock and fear, although not to the same degree that Zoom had showed to her before.

“Now listen here, you prodigious behemoth! You had better get me those directions that I had asked for within the next few minutes, or I'll rip your face off so bad that it will take the doctor's years to put your face back on!” Kista hissed through her teeth, bared like an angered wolf. She was getting tired of listening to Peter's complaints. She had wasted enough time as it is. She had to get down to that lighthouse very soon, although not before getting permission to go down there in the first place. Victor had told her not to make it seem suspicious. She would have to figure out some way to get in, and she couldn't use Michelle and Oscura's idea again. They wouldn't fall for it.

Peter tried to jerk his head back, but Kista's grip on his face was firm and unmoving. He tried to move her arm away, but she was a lot stronger than many would have anticipated, and he was incapable of moving her arm away, no matter how much human strength he put into his pushes and pulls. He could not transform in this bed, not without risk of exposing himself to hospital members. He could only look up at Kista in fear as she glared down at him, her eyes narrowed and filled with anger, much like how Victor's eyes sometimes are when he's really upset.

“Now...” Kista leaned in closely, almost pushing her head against Peter's. “..are you going to tell me where the lighthouse is, or am I going to have to...” Peter's eyes widened further and he shook his head rapidly. He mumbled something, but with her hand over his mouth, she couldn't understand him completely. But it sounded like he was just saying 'no' over and over again. Grinning in satisfaction, she removed her hand from his face. “That's a good boy.” She leaned back a little. “Now..talk!”

* * *

“Okay, I think the flowers had enough water.” Mrs. Corel, an old woman that lived next door to the Flagstaff's family, said as she walked along a stone path. She wear a black outfit, covered in colorful stains that were from the paints she had previously used up in her attic. She was painting another picture of a dinosaur, this one of Caruso's dino mode. She was making it as a gift for Caruso and was hoping to give it to him soon. She had heard about what had happened from Ms. Moynihan, whom she had become good friends with. After seeing a green raptor years ago, she was starting to think she really was crazy. Meeting Moynihan helped her realize that she was not crazy and it made her feel better.

When they first met, she and Joanne had a nice long woman chat in the kitchen while the members of the Dino Squad helped fix up her house. She had told Joanne about how she had spotted her in raptor mode running around in the outskirts of the city. This surprised the old woman as she was certain that she was being very careful not to show any human her true form. She was apparently wrong. This started to worry her a little. She wondered who else had seen her in dino mode. She explained to Mrs. Corel that she was probably just going for a stroll. She dare not mention the horrible truth about what she was really doing at this time. This was before she had parted ways with Veloci.

Moynihan had apologized for putting Corel through so much grief, being mistreated and made fun of because of her seeing a dinosaur. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to lose practically all of her friends over one statement, and forcing oneself to hide away from everyone, to avoid people at all costs and having no one to talk to. That must have been devastating for Corel and Moynihan had felt responsible for it. But Mrs. Corel had shown no ill feelings towards the woman or acting as if she held a grudge. She was just very happy to finally meet her after all these years.

“Okay, Mrs. Corel.” Terri said as she put down the pail of water by her feet. She was kneeling down when she was watering the plants, so she rose up to her feet and brushed herself off.

She had remained a recluse for so many years because of people who didn't understand her. She just simply refused to see many people and came off as cold and even very weird. But meeting Terri, Fiona's sister, helped her even more. She remembered how much she hated Terri at first, and her friends. But Terri helped her realize that her own actions were not helping anyone change their viewpoint of her. She was actually helping them believe what they did, and she felt bad about it. She knew she would have been a little nicer to the kids beforehand. Maybe then they would not have judged her so harshly.

Terri seemed to enjoy coming to her house a lot more often now. Mrs. Corel had not expected anyone, especially a youthful teenager, to even want to visit an old hag like herself. But the young girl seemed to enjoy her company far more than her friends. Terri would come by a lot to help out with chores and yard work in general. She seemed to love her garden and it always seemed to cheer her up whenever she was in a down mood. But a few weeks ago, it didn't have this same effect. The poor kid remained depressed during the job, and that's when the old woman pulled her aside to have a word with her.

That's when Terri told Mrs. Corel about what had happened. She explained how her sister had come out with a torn up shoulder and how Caruso was captured by Veloci and put through so much pain and torture and agony for no reason at all other than to gain control of him. She also explained about Michelle and Oscura, two dino-morphing teens who were working for Veloci. She warned Corel about them, and the old woman said that she would keep an eye out for those two trouble-makers. The old woman felt bad for Terri, who seemed very stressed about what had happened and was worrying about what would happen next. Mrs. Corel wasn't sure what she could do other than try to cheer everyone up. She had promised to pain them all a nice dinosaur picture to help lighten the mood. They gladly accepted.

Seeing how Terri was looking absolutely exhausted from the hard work she was doing, Corel walked a few steps towards her and said, “You look tired. Do you want to come inside and rest for a while, Terri?”

Terri wiped the brow of her face, feeling the moisture stick to her skin as she did so. The sun was shining down on her and it was pretty humid and hot today. She turned to Corel and gladly accepted her offer. “Yeah..if that's okay with you.”

“Sure, it's no problem at all!” Corel said with a smile on her face. Suddenly a shocked look appeared on her face, giving out an audible gasp. Before Terri could react, the old woman seized her by the arm and quickly dragged her back into the house, wasting as little time as possible. As soon as they were inside, she slammed the door behind them and looked out the left window, scanning the area cautiously.

Taken aback by what just happened, Terri didn't bother saying anything. She immediately went to the right window instead, and looked out the window. She wasn't sure what Mrs. Corel had seen, but whatever it was, it had to be important enough to drag her into the house unexpectedly. She put a hand over her head, and she looked left to right. But she wasn't able to see anything. She started to feel confused. Surely Corel wouldn't drag her into this house without warning without reason, would she? Something had to have been out there, but what?

“Mrs. Corel...what did you see?” Terri asked nervously, not taking her eyes off the street through the glass. She felt a presence behind her. Looking up, she saw that it was Mrs. Corel. The old woman motioned her to come over to the left window. When they got there, she pointed towards the left side of the window. Terri pressed her face against the window to try to get a good look.

“It's them again.” Mrs. Corel said with a bitterness to her voice that she hadn't used in so long.

“Who..?” Terri asked as she strained to see what the woman was talking about. Before she asked again, something moved in the corner of her eyes. She quickly looked over. She wasn't fast enough, but she was certain she saw a black and gray blur flash by before it completely disappeared down the street further. She only knew one kind of thing that was black and gray and would be moving down thes treet quickly. “Veloci's men!” She hissed in surprise. One thing was confusing her. Why were they moving around the neighborhood during the day? Wouldn't that be a little reckless?

But then again, it might not seem too far-fetched to people unaware of the truth. Most people saw Victor as a hero of humanity. Terri chuckled bitterly to herself. That was a joke! Terri then started to wonder if the creeps had gone into their house. Her heart started to race. She wasn't sure if her sister was home, but she knew her parents were. Did those creeps just run into her house to get her parents? She felt the urge to run home and see what happened. But something stopped her. It wasn't denial or any emotion. It was a strong grip from the old woman, who seemed to sense what she was going to do and was going to prevent her from going through with it. Terri glared softly at the old woman, but didn't try to get away. Instead, she only looked at Corel, a mixture of anger and confusion on her face.

Mrs. Corel slowly shook her head. “Don't go running out there. If they spot you, they'll think you've spotted them and they might try to nab you.”

“With all these people around?” Terri said, incredulous. “I don't think they're that stupid...”

Mrs. Corel narrowed her eyes. “You'll be amazed at what some people are capable of in such places.” She turned towards the kitchen and started to make her way over there. “Let's give your folks a call and see if they're all right, okay?”

Terri hesitated, and then nodded. “Yes, ma'am.” She followed Mrs. Corel in the kitchen. By the time she had gotten in there, the old painter had already dialed the number and had the phone pushed against her ear.

Corel tapped her foot against the wooden planks of her floor as she waited for the phone to pick up. After about a minute of waiting and getting nothing but the answering machine, Corel's face furrowed with concern. Something wasn't right. The folks were home. She had seen their car as clear as day when she looked out the window. Unless they were tied up with something, at the same time, and unable to reach the phone, there was something seriously wrong. She hung up the phone and looked at Terri, who eyed her fearfully.

Mrs. Corel shook her head. “I'm sorry, Terri..They wouldn't pick up the phone.”

“Something is very wrong..there's gotta be!” Terri said, sounding very afraid. “We have to go over there and see what's going on!” She tried running out the door again, but Mrs. Corel grabbed her by the arm again and pulled her back.

“It's too risky to go over there now.” Mrs. Corel said, slowly glancing out the door to the kitchen, where she could see the door to the outside rather clearly. Her eyes slowly narrowed. As much as she wanted to take action, she knew that she couldn't. She was too old to be fighting bad guys, and Terri was just too young, and she didn't have a dinosaur form like her older sister did. She hoped the girl's parents were okay, but at this time, she just wasn't sure if it was safe to go next door. While it is possible that everything is all right, things could be much worse than they thought. Perhaps those fiends had tied them up and if they were to come in to try and rescue them, the creeps would kill the couple rather quickly. She suspected Veloci's men were just as nasty as Veloci himself was.

“Then what do you expect us to do? Just sit here and wait until those creeps come by again and make sure they aren't carrying black body bags with them?!” Terri said, starting to sound a little hysterical. This wasn't how she would normally act, but the fact that this was her family changed everything. It was personal, and she loved her family dearly. She would want to protect them if she could. Who wouldn't, really? “Look, we can't just...”

Mrs. Corel pressed a finger against the girl's lips, silencing her immediately. “Look, Terri, I'm not suggesting just abandoning them, especially if they really are in danger.”

“Then what are you suggesting?” Terri asked when she pulled away from Mrs. Corel. She wasn't sure what Mrs. Corel was suggesting. The only options that she could see available was either going outside and going next door to see if everything was all right, or just sitting back and waiting to see if everything was going to be okay.

Mrs. Corel proceeded to dial another number. “Calling someone who can help.” She said, giving a reassuring smile to Terri.

* * *

“I still don't know why he had to do this to me. I mean, what was the point? All I was trying to do was help him from making a huge mistake!” Oscura muttered under her breath as she sat a chair in a large room. While she was eating some food that she had on an old plate, this was not the cafeteria. Rather, this was a large room that was normally not in use. This is where she preferred eating her meals. She didn't think she should have to put up with eating with other people, whom she often referred to was slobs or pigs when they eat their food. She calmly sliced a piece of beef off the steak that she was eating and slowly chewed it, careful not to have any part of the steak drip onto her shirt. For someone obsessed with violence, she can be a very clean eater, when she wanted to be.

Normally, she would dine in this room alone. But this time around, she had a little 'guest', some company that decided to follow her in here. But for what reason, she wasn't sure. She and this particular individual did not exactly get along very well. Heck, she was even plotting to kill this person. But she would have to wait. Good things come to those who wait, she thought to herself. Her eyes slowly lifted up to gaze coldly at the other person while she chewed her food slowly, intently. On the other side of the table was Michelle, the person who decided to follow her in this room. Michelle returned the glare, but only for a few seconds. She proceeded to eat her food, but at the normal rate. Despite Oscura's obvious malicious intentions, Michelle was not terrified of her, believing she could handle the insane Troodon. One of the reasons she was eating with Oscura, though, was she just wanted to rub her punishment in her face. Michelle had heard what happened, and was glad that Victor chose to believe her and not Oscura.

Oscura had insisted that she hadn't tampered with the journals. She claimed to have been on another floor, working on something else. But Victor could see right through her lies. For one thing, he had already talked to some of the workers that were on the floor that Oscura said that she was on, and none of the workers claims to have even seen her. She did not show up on any of the security cameras mounted in different parts of that particular floor. While there were no cameras in the area that Oscura had snuck into, a giveaway that she had tampered with the journal is her scent. Victor could smell Oscura's distinctive scent right on the paper and knew there's no way that scent could have been faked. And Michelle didn't carry that kind of scent, leaving only Oscura.

After some more interrogation, Oscura Witter finally confessed to have tampered with Michelle's journal, writing in lies about what Michelle supposedly did, including talking behind Victor's back. Victor was not at all pleased with what Oscura had done, and was also disappointed as he had not expected such behavior from one of the few dino-transformers he had known about, the only humans that he felt even the faintest kinship with, since they have dino blood in them just like he does. Despite being punished, though, Oscura's behavior did not change. She had even attempted to tamper with the journal again, but this time someone stopped her. Another employee had spotted her go into the room and had managed to grab her before she wrote anything down.

Michelle eyed the injured hand that Oscura was holding her fork with and couldn't help but smile smugly, almost arrogantly. She was confident that Oscura would not be able to get her into trouble, and she turned out to be correct. Because of what she did, it was Oscura who had lost some of Victor's trust, not Michelle herself. Victor had put her on probation and she was forbidden in certain parts of the building, including his laboratory. This frustrated Oscura, but she took it all in stride, much to Michelle's annoyance. She had hoped that Oscura would start to change her attitude after having her hand shredded by Victor and being suspended from parts of the building. But instead Oscura acted like it was just a minor setback. Still, the satisfactory of seeing Oscura eat her own words was priceless.

Placing a fork, spearing through pieces of lettuce and sliced carrots, into her mouth and starting to chew the food and then swallow, Michelle leaned over the table a little. If there was no table, they would probably be lunging at each other right now. The table was the only thing that separated her from Oscura. “You really thought you had me, didn't you?” Michelle said, grinning broadly. “Heh, you really thought you set up the perfect plan. But it backfired on you, didn't it?”

Oscura's eyes narrowed dangerously, her lips curling back into a snarl even though she still had the fork in her mouth, feeling her teeth press against the cold hard steel. “Shut up...” She said, hissing through her teeth and the steel.

“But I'm right, aren't I?” Michelle said arrogantly. She leaned back into her seat, placing her own fork on the now empty plate sitting before her. “You thought you could have gotten me killed. But it was you who suffered the consequences.”

“Oh just you wait...” Oscura threatened. “I am not finished yet. I'll find a way to expose to Victor the traitor that you really are!”

Michelle leaned her head back and laughed, irritating Oscura. She then leaned forward on the table, placing her hands around the middle and pulling herself so close that she was almost on top of the table itself. “That's a laugh! After what you did, do you really think Victor is going to trust anything you say?!” Oscura only responded with an anger-filled stare. Michelle smirked at this and said, “You know he won't believe another thing that you say, don't you? You know that there is nothing you can do to get your way now...You know..”

Not able to take another word from this girl, Oscura reached forward and clamped her hand around Michelle's throat, holding tightly but not enough to really hurt her that much. This caused Michelle to shut her mouth and cease speaking, staring at the younger girl in shock. Oscura pulled her closer, almost making her fall onto the table. Leaning very close to her, Oscura said, “Shut up why don't you?! You think you're all that! You think that you have beaten me! You think that just because I've compromised the trust of our leader that I won't be able to do away with you or anyone else that I wanted!” She allowed her talons to extend from the digits, digging lightly into Michelle's skin to cause her a little bit of pain. “Well guess what, sister?! YOU AREWRONG!” With that, she shoved Michelle away, causing the teen to topple backwards in her chair. Michelle fell backward and so did the chair, and she grunted in pain as she hit the ground.

Michelle groaned in pain again, rubbing her head carefully. She had hit her head pretty hard and she could feel a small bump forming where the blow had struck her. She hoped it would not bruise up that much. She looked up at Oscura, who looked down at her, smiling in satisfaction at seeing her in pain and in a vulnerable position. Michelle felt her heart start to race. She was on her back, her most vulnerable position. She knew Oscura could react quickly and if she wanted to make a killing blow, there was nothing holding her back. It wouldn't be that hard to drive claws into soft skin...

“I could just kill you right now if I wanted to...” Oscura said, eyes narrowing as her evil smile broadened. Michelle's eyes widened in fear and she turned her head away, waiting for the blow. This caused Oscura to laugh bitterly and evilly. Michelle's demeanor melted away very fast when she was put in real danger. Oscura scoffed at her. Michelle was weaker than Victor was aware of. There was no room for such a pathetic person such as her to be part of Raptor Dyne. Michelle was just as pathetic as Caruso was. As much as she wanted to kill Michelle, she decided to let her go this time. Just seeing her cower in fear was good enough for her. She turned away and sat back onto her seat.

Bewildered, Michelle slowly struggled up to her feet. She stared at Oscura, confused. She wondered why the raven-haired girl gave up the opportunity to kill her. No one was around to witness it. And the doors were shut, so no one outside the room would hear them. Oscura could probably have killed her swiftly, too fast for her to even make a scream. What had stopped her? What had held her back? Michelle wanted to ask Oscura this, but she thought better of it. Maybe she shouldn't temp her. Instead, Michelle proceeded to pulling her chair back up and sat back down in it.

“Just consider yourself lucky that I did not kill you, Michelle.” Oscura warned, showing Michelle her razor sharp teeth. “Next time you might not be so lucky, do you understand?”

“Crystal.” Michelle responded in a low, muttering voice.

Satisfied, Oscura leaned back her chair. She picked up her small glass, filled with some kind of flavored drink, and drank from it slowly. She decided to bring something else up with Michelle. She was bored and she wondered how Michelle would react knowing that Victor wanted to get Caruso again. She had overheard him talk about it anyway. Whether or not he'll go through with it remains to be seen. Still, regardless if she knows or not, one thing Oscura was certain of is Michelle's protesting against going after Caruso again. She would come up with some lame excuse like how he wasn't of use to Raptor Dyne anymore and how his friends would protect him more ferociously than before. But Oscura knew the real reason. She had grown to like the kid and she was trying to protect him.

Setting her glass onto the table, Oscura leaned forward, clasping her hands together in a mischievous way. This made Michelle look at her in such a way that it made Oscura laugh. Michelle knew that she was up to something. She knew her too well sometimes. “So have you heard the news. Ms. Brown...?”

Michelle winced at how Oscura was calling her so formally. It was unsettling and not something Oscura would normally do. But she responded anyway. “You mean about Zoom joining the team? Yes I heard about that...”

“No no no!” Oscura said quickly, waving her hands in front of her quickly. “Not that!” She narrowed her eyes, her hands held out in front of her, palms facing towards Michelle. “About that one kid that used to be our little prisoner? That...what was his name again...? Oh yes, Caruso!”

Michelle tilted her head. She was not liking where this was going. “Yes of course I remember him.. How could I ever forget him?” She said as she rubbed one of her shoulders where Buzz had grabbed her so roughly. She was surprised that she hadn't gotten any nightmares of Buzz. He was a really scary guy when he was angry.

Oscura grinned evilly. “We're going after him again.”

That statement nearly made Michelle jump from her seat. She looked at Oscura as if she had gone crazy. “What?!” Michelle gasped, gripping the table with both hands tightly. “That doesn't make any sense! I mean, we already got what we wanted from the boy didn't we? What is the point on capturing him again?”

Oscura shrugged her shoulders dismissively. “Oh I don't know really... Victor just seems keen on getting him back.”

“But...why?” Michelle raised her hands in the air. “Does he want to upset the Dino Squad to the point where they unleash their fury on him?!”

Oscura chuckled at Michelle's concern. The Dino Squad? Unleashing their fury on Victor Veloci? What a laugh! Those pathetic fools were not even fit enough to fight her, a Troodon. What chance would they stand against a fully grown Velociraptor? “You know, you worry so much that it makes me laugh, Michelle.” Michelle glared at her. “Don't give me that look. You know it's true.” Oscura hissed. “Despite how things turned out, you were still worried that Victor was going to punish you when I edited your little journal, weren't you?”

Michelle scoffed. “Yeah right! I was never afraid!” She said defensively. “It is you who should have been afraid, trying to fool an old raptor like Victor. What, you think he was born yesterday?”

Oscura's smile disappeared and she frowned. “Now it is you who should be afraid, my dear...” Oscura said in a threatening manner. “For I heard Victor has a new assignment for you, and if you fail...well..let's just say the consequences are not worth disobeying Victor over.”

“Assignment...?” Michelle asked. “Why didn't he tell me about this?”

“Oh he was.” Oscura said, turning her head to one said and waving a hand at her in an almost dismissive way. She then looked at her with an evilly playful look on her face. “I just figured I'd be... nice... and tell you before he did, so that you knew...”

“Well that's awfully nice of you.” Michelle said sarcastically and rolled her eyes. Shaking her head a few times, she gave Oscura a scrutinizing look and said, “So what is this new assignment Victor has put me on?”

Oscura glared softly and then looked away. “Hmm..maybe I should not tell you know.” She gave the girl a sideways glance. “It would ruin the surprise...” She said in an enticing, mysterious way, hoping to intrigue Michelle, get her attention. And it worked.

Michelle leaned in. She wanted to know about her assignment. Oscura had brought it up and now she wanted her to spill the beans. Why would Oscura bring it up if she was not going to tell her anyway? Part of Michelle told her that this was a trap of sorts. But the other side was itching to know what assignment she got. She could try and repair the trust with Victor by proving to him that she was on his side. That would make him leave her alone for a while. Perhaps Oscura could get an assignment too so she could get Victor trust her. Michelle winced at that thought. Perhaps it was not a good idea to allow Oscura the chance to redeem herself with Victor. Things could get far worse.

“And why won't you tell me?” Michelle asked.

“Maybe you don't need to know.” Oscura said, smiling softly. “Besides...you wouldn't like it.”

Michelle's eyes slowly widened. She was suddenly not sure if she really wanted to know. “..oh really...?”

Oscura nodded. “Yes. It has to do with the Dino Squad..oops!” She said in a mocking way, acting surprised. She had her hand over her mouth as if she was shocked by what she said. “I said too much, didn't I?”

Michelle nodded. “Yes you did. What of the Dino Squad?”

Oscura smirked as she watched Michelle's reactions to what she was saying. Oscura was lying through her teeth and Michelle was falling for it! She knew she could say just about anything at this point so long as it was convincing. If she said something that seemed too far-fetched, Michelle might catch onto her. She would have to tell her something that she would be expecting Victor to say. And she knew just what she was going to say to Michelle. The only thing that would be left to do afterward is to see how Victor responds to what Michelle was going to try to do.

“I don't remember exactly...” Oscura said, sounding as innocent as she could. “..but I do believe that Victor wanted you to capture..or kill.. at least one of the Dino Squad members, other than Caruso himself.”

Michelle narrowed her eyes slightly. She wasn't sure if she should be believing Oscura. After all, the girl was out to kill her. She could very well be lying about this just to try to get her into trouble. There was a chance that she was telling the truth, but that was very slim. Still there was a chance, and if Oscura turned out to be telling the truth, then Victor might get mad at her for not fulfilling the mission. But if her hunch is right, and it most likely is, Oscura is only telling her this to try and stir up some trouble. If she were to fall for it, she could end up in bigger trouble than before. And this time she would not be able to convince Victor it was Oscura's fault, for there was no witnesses around and no way to tie Oscura in with the incident.

If she was to avoid a dangerous conflict later, she could just pretend to believe Oscura. If she did that, Oscura would think that she was going to go through with it. But if Oscura did know that Michelle did not believe her, she might try harder to convince her, come up with something else, or come up with another plan to do away with her. Oscura was not always the straight forward one. She could easily take out Michelle with a bite of her Troodon teeth, for sure, but she wanted to make Michelle suffer a lot first. She didn't simply want to just kill her off; she wanted to make her suffering as slow and as painful as possible before delivering the final blow.

“Oh really?” Michelle said, trying to sound as surprised as possible. She leaned back in her chair, clasping her hands together. She tried to make herself sound as curious as possible, giving as little indication as possible that she was suspicious of Oscura's claims. “And just where does Victor expect me to find them?”

“At the lighthouse, of course.” Oscura said, smirking. “Or you could find them at the school... You've been at the school already, haven't you?”

“Yes, on a spying mission.” Michelle said.

“I bet that went so well...” Oscura smirked, leaning forward. “..didn't it?”

Feeling a little threatened, Michelle moved her head back, baring her teeth nervously. “Oh shut up, why don't you?” She said to Oscura, who only broadened her smile. Michelle didn't like thinking about that day. That was the only day that Buzz was ever nice to her, face-to-face. He was nice to her before that, on the online game. She sighed deeply as she thought about what happened. It was almost fun playing with him. She recalled how it took a while for her to realize that he was the person she was fighting against. She never would have known that. She just wanted to have some fun. But she knew Buzz was going to accuse her of using that to let his guard down.

She understood why Buzz hated her so much. She had fooled them all. She had pretended to be such a nice person. She had partially gained some of their trust. She noticed that perhaps the one who trusted her the most was Buzz. That was why he acted the way he did around her in their last confrontations. He must have been so hurt at what she had done, so devastated to learn that he had been fooled, that just seeing her filled him with rage. Michelle felt terrible about what she did, but knew that convincing Buzz that she was sorry was not only difficult, it was almost impossible. He probably not not let her get near him without trying to bite her head off.

If it were up to her, she would completely avoid the Dino Squad from now on so that the kids would not have to feel so angry anymore. If it were up to her, she never would have broken into the lighthouse, destroyed their computer equipment, and she would not have thrown Moynihan down the stairs. If she could have made the decision, she would have left. If she knew that her actions would have lead up to this, she never would have gone through with it. But it was either follow Victor's orders, or be considered a traitor and be chased out or, even worse, killed and eaten. She shuddered at the thought of him biting into her neck to break it. That was probably going to be her fate one day if she was not careful.

“So...you understand what you are supposed to do?” Oscura asked.

Michelle broke away from her train of thought. “Of course.” She absentmindedly responded.

Oscura smirked evilly. “Good.” Oscura glanced down on her plate. She still had some steak left that she did not finish. Transforming her head into a Troodon's, she siezed the piece of meat in her jaws and chomped onto it, shredding it into small pieces before she swallowed the pieces whole. Juice flowed down her neck as she did so.

Michelle grimaced. Oscura was not exactly being a polite eater now. “I hope you plan on wiping off your face, Oscura.”

In response to that, Oscura, without changing back, lifts up a napkin and wipes the juice from her chin and neck and set it back on the table. 'That satisfy you?' She asked in a sarcastic tone. She didn't wait for Michelle to reply. Licking her lips to get the last bit of steak juice off of her scaly lips, she decided to thought-speak to Michelle some more. 'Anyway, if you have any doubts on what I just told you, why don't you ask Victor yourself? He'll tell you the same thing.'

“And if he doesn't...?” Michelle inquired, her eyes slightly narrowed. “What am I supposed to do if it turns out that you were wrong?”

Oscura stopped for a moment to think about this. It was foolish of her to suggest the idea of talking to Victor. That would have already ruined her plans. Why did she even think of suggesting that? Now she started to feel stupid and realized that she was starting to slip, make mistakes. She looked at Michelle. Not wanting her to believe that she was realizing the mistakes she was making, Oscura decided to quickly cover it up the best that she could. 'On second thought, maybe it's best that you do not ask. Victor might get upset with having to repeat his orders twice in a row.'

Michelle snarled. “But Victor hadn't even given me the orders yet. So why would he get upset with me asking?” She sounded and acted mad, but she was really laughing inside. Oscura was starting to lose some of her edge, some of her cunningness. She was making mistakes and slipping up easily. She started to put forth a plan to get her into trouble, but she had just ruined it herself. Oscura had made the mistake of suggesting that Michelle go talk to Victor, who would have informed her that he never made such plans of sending her out after the Dino Squad. Not only that, but Oscura had said that Victor would get upset with her asking about the mission twice when in reality Victor had never even mentioned this idea to her. Oscura would have to try harder than this to get her way, that's for sure.

Oscura snapped her head back at Michelle's question and snarled in anger and frustration. She had just made another huge mistake. Of course Victor would not get upset. He never even told Michelle, or herself, anything about going after the Dino Squad! Oscura could try to recover again, but anything she came up with didn't make any sense. She could feel her hands shaking in rage. This plan could have worked out so perfectly if she didn't open up her big mouth! Michelle's probably already onto her now. As much as Oscura did not always like to admit it, Michelle was pretty smart at times and quick to catch onto things. After hearing two mistakes, she probably would have realized that she was just setting her up for trouble.

Growling and hissing in frustration, Oscura gave up. There was no use in trying to continue to convince Michelle into going after the Dino Squad. 'All right fine..I admit it! I made all that stuff up!'

Michelle's eyes widened a little. But they quickly returned to normal as a sly smile spread across her face. “I knew that...”

Oscura was slightly surrprised, but not too taken aback. 'You knew? How?'

“Easy.” Michelle responded, the smile still on her face. “I hate you. You hate me. You would do anything to get me out of the picture. So it would make sense for you to come up with these lies in order to trick me into doing something Victor didn't want me to do. So when Victor found out, I could not tell him you did it because there is nothing linking you to the incident. Thus I would have been punished.” She was sounding a little like Sherlock Holmes as she explained all this to Oscura. “That would have made you very happy, woudn't it Oscura? Well tough luck! You will have to do much better than that to get me!”

'Oh don't worry...' Oscura's Troodon eyes narrowed into slits. 'I will be sure to try harder... Your day will come. I can guarantee you that....'

“And why don't you try finishing me off now? Why wait?” Michelle asked, shrugging her shoulders. “No one is around to witness anything.”

'Tempting, really...' Oscura said, a dinosaurian smile spreading across her jaws. 'But I must decline..What is the fun of finishing you off quickly..when I can have you suffer instead?'

Michelle chuckled bitterly. That was typical Oscura all right. She always wanted to do things the long way. She usually liked to make things last. “Of course... You probably would want to slash me open with those talons of yours and pour salt and lemon juice into it, wouldn't you?” She winced as she said that, wondering if she had accidentally given Oscura some ideas of torture.

Oscura smirked at the suggestion. She would love to do that to Michelle if given the chance. But she was thinking of something that could be much worse than that. 'Perhaps..though I was thinking of something more..agonizing...much more painful...' She bared her teeth in a dinosaurian smile, drool dripping from the jaws.

“Uh huh.” Michelle just rolled her eyes. “You really are something, aren't you, Oscura? You are unafraid of telling me that you want to kill me, and yet you try to come up with these plans to get rid of me without me knowing it. And here I thought you were smarter than Caruso...” She winced when she said that. She didn't really mean it. It just sort of slipped out.

Oscura let out a loud, screeching hiss, forcing Michelle to cover her ears. 'I AM SMARTER THAN CARUSO!' She bellowed, the voice almost painfully echoing in the back of Michelle's mind.

Scratching the inside of one ear with a single finger, Michelle looked at Oscura with a single, glowing eye. She was starting to get angry enough to want to transform into her full dinosaur self. She did her best, however, to hold the urge back. “Then start acting like it!”

Oscura snapped her head back again, saliva dripping onto the table as she growled angrily, clenching her Troodon teeth, snapping them together in a threatening manner. Despite flashing her teeth and growling deeply, Michelle remained unfazed, glaring back at her with those glowing yellow eyes. Oscura felt the urge to transform right then and there and teach Michelle a lesson. What does she know about acting smart anyway? She knew nothing about what it was like to be a real fighter! She didn't know the glory of demeaning her opponents, to make them suffer for thinking they could take her on! She had no idea!

'Why you...you think you're so smart, don't you?' Oscura's teeth continued to flash and Michelle had a good, clear shot of the serrated edges that covered both sides of the teeth. 'If I can get my teeth into you, you will find out just how smart you really are!'

“Then why don't you try...?” Michelle said as she challenged Oscura. She slowly got up out of her seat, holding her arms out on either side like a raptor would when it was attacking. The sharp talons of her Guanlong hands poked through her human fingers in a threatening manner. “How about it, Oscura? You and me. One on one. Mono y mono.”

Oscura, tempted by the offer, got up out of her own seat. She slowly bobbed her head up on down, tilting it from side to side as if she was analyzing Michelle to see what way would be the best way to attack her. If she wanted to fight Michelle, now was the best time than any other to do so. Michelle was right of course. Oscura could get away with killing her. No one was around to witness it. But when she took a step forward, about to make the first move, she stopped. She narrowed her eyes further. This is probably exactly what Michelle was hoping for. Smirking slightly, she lowered her hand, which she had started to raise to strike Michelle. 'Nice try...'

“What do you mean?” Michelle asked, slightly confused.

'You were trying to get me to attack you so that the scent of blood would attract Victor.' Oscura responded, the smirk still on her face. 'Well guess what? It ain't going to work!'

“What are you talking about?” Michelle asked, the glow in her eyes dying down completely when the hope of a fight diminished. “I only suggested it because I thought that you wanted the chance to kill me. Isn't that what you want? I know it is. You've told me yourself.” Despite how calm she was sounding, Michelle was actually very afraid. She could feel her heart starting to race and she could feel her forehead and hands becoming damp with sweat.

'Oh I'm sure..That is what you say..' Oscura said, turning around to face the door. 'But I know you... I know what you are trying to do...' She gave Michelle a sideways glance, her glowing yellow eye looking like it was seeing right through her. 'I know you are afraid...' Michelle's eyes widened slightly at this, but she remained as calm as she could. 'I can hear your heart racing.. Oh how it is racing.. You are afraid of me, aren't you?' Oscura chuckled in a dinosaurian way, her laughs sounding more like hisses and grunts than actual laughter. 'You're more like a mouse, aren't you? I could attack you right now, and you'd run away. You don't wanna get bitten by my mouth, now do you?' Oscura taunted, pulling her lips back to show Michelle her teeth and gums.

Michelle growled. She was not going to be deterred like this. She was not going to let Oscura freak her out like that. She was not going to back down. She was not going to run away. She stood her ground. As Oscura turned her head back and headed towards the door, Michelle quickly moved forward, stepping in front of Oscura and blocking her path completely. Oscura took a few steps back, growling in frustration but not lashing out at Michelle. The two remained standing in front of the door, glaring at each other with their own pair of glowing dinosaur eyes. Both looked like they wanted to attack each other, but they just remained standing there instead. They were holding back, waiting to see what the other was going to do.

'Why are you blocking my path...?' Oscura finally asked after several seconds of tense silence.

“You know very well why!” Michelle snapped, baring her sharp Guanlong Wucaii teeth although her head was not transformed. “You're the one who threatened me first! If you want a fight, let's just do it now and get it over with! But you know who is going to win...” Michelle lowered her head like she would if she was in dino mode when she was about to attack. “Me.”

Oscura pulled her head back and laughed. 'You? Beat me? Don't make me laugh, Michelle.' She glared at Michelle, continuing to bare her Troodon teeth at her. 'You were just lucky that time.'

“I was not! I won because I was the better fighter!” Michelle insisted.

'Sure you were....' Oscura smirked, taking a step forward and lowering her head as if to challenge Michelle. But she did not make another move towards her.

Before any of them could make another move, they heard the sound of the door knob turning. Oscura immediately changed her head back to normal and Michelle withdrew her claws. They backed up away from the door to make room for whoever was going to come on inside. Even if neither would admit it, they were both worried that it was one of Victor's men who did not know the truth of the company. If it was one of them, then rumors, maybe even panic would spread through the company, and Victor was going to be upset with both of them.

But upon seeing who it really was, both of the girls relaxed. It was only Victor, probably coming into the room to eat something. He carried nothing in his hands, however, and from the way he was looking at the girls, he was looking for them for quite sometime.

“Dr. Veloci...” Michelle started, but stopped herself when Victor held up a hand. He didn't seem interested in having a very long talk.

“Save it. I am just here to give you and Oscura both assignments. And before you say anything, no you don't have to work together.” Victor said. “You two can work on this separately. Besides, after what Oscura did...” He eyed Oscura somewhat suspiciously. “..I don't think I can trust you two together for very long anymore.”

Michelle smirked at Oscura briefly, who returned the gaze with a harsh glare. They both knew just how right Victor was in keeping them separated. They would definitely be at each other's throats if they were left alone again. They almost attacked each other in this room because they were alone, they were both agitated, and they both wanted to fight each other. But it was for two different reasons. Michelle wanted to fight to defend herself. Oscura wanted to fight to rid herself of Michelle. Now the only thing that was keeping them from going at it with each other was Victor standing right there. If they did so much as claw at each other, he would step in between them and prevent them from fighting each other.

Michelle turned her attention back to Veloci, who was scowling at her. She winced. She wondered if he saw the way she and Oscura were looking at one another. He might have sensed that they wanted to attack each other. Hoping to change the subject quickly before it was brought up, she said, “So..what assignment did you have in mind for us, ..sir..?” Her voice almost squeaked because of how nervous she was feeling.

Victor narrowed his eyes slightly. “You two can approach this however you want...” He took a step forward. As he did so, both Oscura and Michelle moved out of the way to make room for him. “You two are to keep an eye out for the Dino Squad. When you find them..single out Caruso...get him alone, and I don't care how you do it..but...” He paused for a few moments, waiting to see how the two were reacting. Michelle kept a straight face, but seemed interested to know what he wanted them to do. Oscura was leaning in, clearly more interested than Michelle was, perhaps even too eager. “..kill him.”

Oscura's wicked smile returned, broadened across her face and she chuckled. While this was not exactly the lie she had told Michelle, it was pretty close. This would not have the same effect as she was hoping for, but it could still make her plan work. She glanced over at Michelle, who looked slightly shocked, but she knew that the girl was horrified by this assignment. Oscura knew that Michelle cared about Caruso and wouldn't harm him. She would most likely disobey orders and just let him go. That kind of disobedience would probably anger Victor and he would punish her severely. He already nearly killed Michelle with a bite to the shoulder. Oscura couldn't want to see what he would do to her this time, if Michelle were to disobey that is.

Michelle did her best not to seem too shocked by this new assignment. She didn't want to give Victor a reason to become suspicious of her. She was glad that he decided to give her another chance and, for the most part, trusted her again. But she started to wonder if it was worth it in gaining his trust back. If she did something to give him a reason to doubt her, he could give her a harsher punishment, perhaps even kill her if he felt she was a lost cause. She was becoming a little confused, wondering why Victor would assign them to go after Caruso. What good was he to them now? Victor had already tested some weapons on him. He had him fight against mutantsaurs. And he also obtained a blood sample from him, although a very small amount. Then she recalled that he had just said he wanted him dead. That confused her even more. Why did Victor want to kill Caruso? That didn't make any sense to her. She thought Victor would want him alive, since he has perfect dinosaur DNA.

“You...want us to kill him...?” Michelle asked carefully, almost hoping that she had heard wrong and Victor just wanted them to capture Caruso. But she was sourly disappointed when Victor had quickly proven her wrong when he gave a firm nod of the head, no hesitation at all. “...why do you want us to kill him? I mean, the kid has perfect Stegosaurus DNA. Why do you want to kill....”

“Because he knows too much!” Victor snapped, hissing through his teeth.

“He..knows too much?” Michelle said softly, sounding very confused. What could Caruso possibly know that would make Victor want to kill him? What did he see or hear that Victor found out about that would jeopardize any mission? She knew that Victor must be serious in killing this boy. Victor never considers killing a human unless that human has become a major threat to his plans in general. For him to consider killing Caruso, he had to have, at least to him, a very good reason. But for the life of her, she could not think of what it could be.

And for once it seemed that Oscura Witter agreed with her, much to Michelle's surprise.

“What could that little runt possibly do to you?” Oscura asked, raising her hands up in the air. “While I'm all for the idea of killing him, there is one thing that bothers me, just a tad.” She moved her pointer finger and thumb close together to give emphasize to her 'just a tad' statement. “Why the sudden decision to kill him? What made you believe that you needed to kill him? What could he possibly know that you think he would tell the other pathetic kids about and ruin whatever plans that you have?”

Victor narrowed his eyes. Then they suddenly glowed, indicating that he was probably becoming a little agitated. Worried, both girls took a few steps back. They were now at least three or four feet away from Victor, who was still in human form. They almost expected him to transform into a raptor right then and there and tear into them because of the way he was looking at them. They weren't sure what was wrong with him. He usually doesn't glare at his employers like this when he was giving an assignment. The only time he would usually get annoyed was if he was in a hurry, and this time he wasn't acting like he had to be anywhere anytime soon. He might get upset if he had to repeat the assignment, but this was the first time he's told them anything about this, so it couldn't possibly be that.

Victor let out a soft sigh, allowing his eyes to return to their human shape. He wasn't sure if he should tell the girls why he wanted Caruso to die. He was concerned that one of them might spill the beans, whether it be intentionally or unintentionally. For Michelle, he was worried that she would get captured and be forced to spill the information. That is what he believed happened back at the warehouse. They cornered her and forced her to lead the way. That almost ruined the plan because the Dino Squad did not pass through the rooms that they should have first. But the plan still went into motion because some of the experimental chemical that he had used on Caruso still lingered on his body, and the Dino Squad came into close range with him. The fact that the chemical smelled like death did concern him a little. He thought it would drive them away, but to his luck, it did not.

But for Oscura, he was more worried she would just blurt it out to gloat or to frighten them. Oscura was a very eager individual, willing to do almost anything to simply cause pain to another. She seemed to get joy from that, Victor couldn't understand it completely. He understood the joy of gaining dominance over one person, or possibly getting rid of a threat. But Oscura was much different in that she gets joy no matter what it is. She does not care about getting rid of a possible threat or gaining dominance, even if she might claim she does. She just cares about causing pain for the heck of it. She was a very violent person, which concerned Victor. Her violence was the reason he had been willing to let her on the team in the first place. But her violence, one day, could get her into big trouble. And, as much as he hated to admit it, he's the one who was going to have to help her out of that situation, if it came at all.

But in the end, he decided to take the risk to tell them. They were still his employers after all and since they had dinosaur DNA, he figured that they could be trusted with such sensitive information. They both know very well what would happen if they were to disobey him as well. Victor had made sure every member of Raptor Dyne that was helping him transform the planet knew extremely well what would happen if they were to step out of line. No one dared to challenge him, and it made him laugh. These humans had numbers on their side. He was only one raptor while there were probably thousands of humans working for him, and he knew this. Yet just because he's a Velociraptor, the humans feel helpless, and they cower like the vermin they really are. Victor scoffed. Humans were so pathetic. He still couldn't believe they became the dominant species of Earth. Well, that was going to change soon enough, he thought.

“...It's because he knows..the cure.” Victor said, his voice deepened, darkened, almost mysterious. The two girls looked at each other, then back at Victor, who just smiled back, a little pleased in seeing that they were confused yet clearly interested in what he was saying. “I had tested a chemical on Caruso before, and he knows how to stop it, because I stopped it myself, sometime after he recovered from the initial shock of it, before Oscura here came in and told me about the Dino Squad being in the warehouse. He might not remember now because of what he went through, but sooner or later, he'll remember...” Victor's eyes narrowed. “Then he'll tell his friends..and I cannot let that happen...”

“...what chemical?” Michelle asked carefully. She wasn't sure what Victor was talking about.

“I do not recall you saying that you were working on a chemical, Dr. Veloci.” Oscura said, sounding very interested and somewhat surprised. “What does it do?”

Victor smiled, the lips pulled up to reveal his teeth, which had changed into raptor teeth. “Let me explain....”

* * *

“Ooooo....” Caruso moaned as he slowly opened up his eyes. His vision was dark, almost black, and he was unable to see for a few seconds. He rapidly blinked his eyes, slowly turning his head left to right, and reopened his eyes. Colors and light started to come through, but his vision was very blurry and he couldn't make out anything except for a few moving shapes. He started to hear voices, but they sounded very far away and they seemed to echo so much that he couldn't understand what they were saying. He couldn't remember what had happened or how he got here in the first place. He doesn't even remember falling asleep. But he was too tired and confused to be frightened. He didn't even flinch when he felt something press against his forehead.

“Caruso...? Caruso...?” He heard the voice say. He recognized it as a young feminine's voice, and slowly, the name of the person came to his mind: Fiona Flagstaff. Despite how concerned and urgent she sounded, he couldn't bring himself to say anything back to her. He only moaned again, and slowly closed his eyes again. His head leaned to one side, and he fluttered his eyes open again. The room was starting to take shape, and memories were slowly flowing back to him. But he still remained too confused and out of it to say anything. It didn't help that he wanted to go back to sleep, but something was driving him to stay awake.

Fiona gently stroked Caruso's hair as she watched him struggle to remain conscious. The procedure was completed. Moynihan was able to treat the wound inside his mouth. She had also proceeded to treat some of the wounds on his head as well. His head was covered in surgical bandages after Moynihan had cleaned some of the wounds and applied medicine to them. She was not able to bandage his tongue with the traditional bandages, so she had to settle with doing something she would only do in case of emergency. She stitched up the gash. She didn't think she did a good job, and had warned the kids that Caruso might go crazy because of the possible pain he would feel. Despite this dire warning, however, Caruso remained unrestrained on the table. They figured that his own grogginess would keep him from trying to run away.

Caruso had been asleep for about an hour now, and Fiona was starting to wonder when he was going to wake up. The others had left into another room to discuss what they should do. Moynihan went off alone somewhere. Fiona didn't know where she was or when she was going to get back. She sighed softly. She wished someone was in here with her. She wasn't sure what to do when Caruso woke up completely, nor did she know what to say to him if he had any difficult questions for her, though she couldn't think of what difficult questions he could possibly have for her.

About ten minutes ago, her other teammates were in the room, waiting for Caruso to wake up. Moynihan had already left. She only said she wanted to be alone for a while, but when asked why, she refused to answer. They didn't question her and just let her leave. The others were trying to stay until Caruso woke up. They were going to see how he was feeling. But they wanted to discuss some things and they didn't want Caruso to hear them in case he woke up. They didn't want to frighten him, and in his current state, that's the last thing they wanted to do. So they left. They did try to get Fiona to come back them, but she refused, stating that someone had to stay behind and look after Caruso when he woke up. They couldn't just leave him all by himself.

It was difficult for Fiona to stay in the room alone with Caruso, even though it was only for ten minutes until he finally woke up. The silence was tense for her, and every time she looked at his face, she remembered how they found him in the warehouse, and she also remembered the conflicting feelings she was experiencing inside of her, confusing her. She gritted her teeth nervously as she looked at him, slowly coming to. She knew he couldn't see her that well, even though he was looking directly at her. His eyes would wander around the room, and he continued to moan. His eyes constantly opened and closed, and he looked like he was trying to regain his bearings.

Part of her wanted to talk to him right then about her feelings she had for him. Now was a good time than any other. She was alone; the others were in another room and could not hear her at all. But she hesitated. This was probably not a good time to talk to him, she thought to herself. Caruso was still very out of it. If she told him how she felt, he would probably not be able to understand her and wouldn't know what she was talking about. He might even forget it later on. She would probably have to wait until she was fully awake before she tried to tell him anything. And by then, the others probably would have came back anyway. She narrowed her eyes slightly. She would get her chance, but she would have to wait. Now wasn't a good time.

She decided to try to talk to him again. Maybe he would be able to respond to her now. Maybe he had woken up a little more. Fiona leaned in a little close to him and said, “Caruso...? You awake now?”

Caruso slowly turned his head towards her, his eyes only partway open. He opened up his mouth to speak. “Y...y..yes....” Although his voice was very slurred, sounding very tired and groggy, Fiona was able to make out what he was saying, and she smiled in relief, glad to see that he was becoming more alert. “W-w...What happened..?” He managed to say, and flinched slightly. Fiona froze, realizing that having the stitches put in might cause pain. She remembered Moynihan's warning, and started to feel terrible.

“Please..don't talk.. “ Fiona lifted a finger, causing Caruso to slowly shut his mouth. She was glad that he was alert enough to know what that gesture meant. “Moynihan treated some of your wounds, Caruso. She bandaged the ones on your face, well the ones that were bleeding again that is. She then stitched up the wound on your tongue, and she warned it might be very painful.” Due to his grogginess, Caruso couldn't react much to what Fiona told him other than his eyes widening up a little. “I'll just ask you yes or no questions, okay?” She sensed that he might want to try to communicate with her somehow. And he couldn't do that by talking, and he was probably too weak to use a pen or pencil. “Nod your head for yes, shake your head for no. Do you understand?”

Caruso slowly nodded his head after a few seconds. It took him a while to really respond to her. He was a little sluggish, most likely due to just waking up after a miniature operation. He was sleeping for quite a while and his brain hadn't fully awakened yet. He felt like he had stayed up for several days and it was a chore just trying to stay awake. But he didn't want to go back to sleep. He wanted to stay awake. He wanted to know more about what happened, and he did want to talk with Fiona. There was something he had wanted to talk to her about, but now was a bad time. He was too confused and groggy from the minor surgery to talk about much of anything.

“Do you feel tired?” Fiona asked. She decided to go for an easy question that wouldn't take much brain power to answer. She didn't want to overwhelm him with anything too complicated. A single nod from the boy answered her question. She already knew the answer to that question though. It was obvious the boy was very sleepy. “Yeah...I would be too if I were asleep for about an hour or so after being tranquilized. And if you are wondering how you are in human form now, I don't know. Moynihan did something and..I dunno.” Moynihan did do something to change him back, but none of the other kids could see what she did, and neither could Fiona. This was something else that Moynihan refused to talk about other than telling them that it was a trick she learned to defend herself against Victor. She wouldn't tell them how to perform it themselves though. She said it was too risky.

“Are you feeling any better now?” Fiona asked. Caruso took his time answering this question. Fiona understood that he probably needed to assess himself a little to know if he was feeling any better or any worse. He probably wouldn't be able to give an accurate answer, though, because he was very tired and probably wasn't feeling all the pain he will feel when he's completely awake. Caruso slowly moved his tongue, trying to assess the intensity of the pain. He flinched and stifled a cry of pain before positioning his tongue back down to let the pain subside. Although very groggy, he managed to slowly touch his face and gently applied pressure, trying to see if he could feel anything. He immediately moved his hand away when he felt some pain there as well. He looked up at Fiona and slowly shook his head. Fiona sighed and smiled weakly at him. “You'll feel better soon... I promise.” She whispered.

Caruso smiled groggily back at her, and slowly closed his eyes again. He was still very tired and as much as he wanted to stay awake, he couldn't fight his fatigue and was slowly slipping back into unconsciousness again. “Caruso?” Fiona asked, sounding concerned. She reached down and gently caressed his cheek. “Hey..don't go to sleep. Wake up.” She told him, hoping that he would react. Fortunately, he did, slowly opening his eyes back up and letting out an exhausted moan. “I know you're tired, Caruso, but you have to stay awake...please...” She didn't like to beg, but she couldn't help it. She was a little worried that he would fall back asleep and not wake up for many more hours. As long as he wasn't moving around much, she didn't see any harm in him staying awake as much as he could. She then asked him something without really thinking of it. “Do you think I could...speak to you privately later on?”

Caruso's eyes slightly widened and he looked up at her with a mildly shocked expression. Fiona sensed that he was wondering why she wasn't talking to him now. “The reason I'm asking is because..well...you're tired, and I'd rather talk to you about this when you're more..awake. I hope that's all right with you.” Caruso blinked a few times, trying to become more alert but the overpowering fatigue was still wearing him done. Nonetheless, he was able to respond with a simple nod, which made Fiona smile at him. “Thanks.” She said, moving her hand from his cheek to his hair and gently stroked it, running her fingers through his hair. Caruso seemed to like it, as he was smiling softly.

“Is he awake?” A masculine voice asked, causing Fiona to jolt in shock, though Caruso didn't make much of a response. She looked over and saw Max walking in. The jock noticed that he surprised Fiona and immediately held up his hands and apologized. “I'm so sorry, Fi!” Max said, grinning nervously. “I didn't mean to surprise you like that.”

“Oh, it's okay...” Fiona responded. She looked down and realized her hand was still on Caruso's head. Looking over at Max, she wondered if he had noticed this. Feeling a little embarrassed, she was about to pull her hand away, but she gazed down at Caruso. The boy seemed to be enjoying this and it was making him a little more alert. “I can explain...” Fiona said to Max, trying her best to stop the blush that she felt forming on her face when the jock suddenly took notice of where her hand was.

But Max held up a hand once again, an understanding smile creeping onto his face. “No need to explain, Fiona. I know what's going on.” Max said as he made his way towards Fiona. The girl had already explained to him and the others about her fledgling feelings for Caruso when she said that she wanted to stay behind with him, so he didn't find it odd that she was caressing his hair. Caruso himself had also said that he thought he had feelings for Fiona in the school cafeteria. It probably made him feel a little better as well as it was a nice distraction from the pain he was probably going through right now. He had to admit to himself, though, that he was feeling a little jealous. He had sort of liked Fiona as more than just a friend for a while. Even though it wasn't a huge crush or anything, it still hurt him slightly to see her take interest in Caruso. But they were both his best friends, so he was happy for them anyway.

Fiona looked at Max, a little confused. She started to lift her hand, but hesitated, giving Caruso a sideways glance. She couldn't see his face, but she guessed that he might start complaining if she moved her hand away. She gulped and said, “You...you know what's going on?”

Max nodded once. He hated seeing Fiona like this, so not like herself. She was usually not like this. What happened to the Fiona he knew? The Fiona that was always so confident? The Fiona that always seemed to know what to do? “Yes..of course! I'm your friend. Of course I know what's going on. I can see it just as plainly as you can.”

“And...what's going on?” Fiona asked, tilting her head curiously to one side slightly. She was curious to hear his answer.

“You're trying to comfort Caruso.” Max said, glancing over at Caruso. He could see the boy was awake, for the most part, as his eyes were open. But he could tell the boy was also still very tired as he looked like he was trying his best to stay awake and he wasn't reacting much to anything, except Fiona of course. He seemed to respond the most to her, probably because she was the closest thing to him other than a wall and the bed. “That's nothing to be ashamed of. That's a very sweet thing to do.”

“I know..but...” Fiona started to say, but she quickly stopped herself. She wasn't sure if she should be talking about this in front of Caruso.

“But what?” Max asked. Fiona didn't reply to him. She instead looked at him, her eyes slightly wide with concern and perhaps even fear. She then moved them slowly over to Caruso, and she closed her eyes herself, letting out a soft breath of air. Max quickly understood what she was trying to tell him and nodded his head in understanding. “Oh..I see....” He had almost forgotten that Irwin was awake now and could hear everything they were saying. He suspected that Fiona was not yet ready to tell him how she felt. And he wasn't sure if Caruso was ready either. “Sorry.”

“It's okay.” Fiona said. “I just...I don't know...”

“...you're not ready.” Max said in a low voice, hoping that Irwin couldn't hear him. “...is that it..?”

Fiona looked up at Max and nodded her head. She then looked back at Caruso, seeing if he was reacting to what was going on. He didn't react, however. He instead was just looking up at the ceiling, looking a little confused. It was like he didn't know what he was looking at. Fiona was starting to get a little worried. She thought that he would be becoming more alert as time passed. While this was the case, he was starting to become a little confused and she didn't know why. She thought that his grogginess would have started to subside. Moynihan hadn't used any strong tranquilizer on him; only the Chiller. The effects shouldn't have lasted this long, should they...?

“..don't you think it's strange..?” Fiona asked Max absentmindedly.

“Hmm? What?” Max inquired, cocking one eyebrow. “What are you talking about, Fi?”

“Caruso.” Fiona said, moving her hand down so that she was now touching his cheek gently. She was being extra careful not to cause him pain as she was moving her hand along a couple wounds that Moynihan had just treated not so long ago. “Shouldn't he be more awake now? He's still very groggy, and it's not like Moynihan used a strong tranquilizer on him or anything. Just the Chiller.” She moved her hand upwards a little more, reaching her fingers as far as they could go and gently started to lightly scratch the skin behind the boy's ear. She didn't know why she was doing this, something that she would normally only do with Rump. But something compelled her to do so, and Caruso wasn't complaining. “I didn't think the Chiller would take this long to have its effects wear off, do you? I mean, when Rodger went dormant, he woke up almost immediately after he was warmed up...”

“But Rodger wasn't shot with the Chiller.” Max pointed out. “And don't forget. Ms. M had to continuously spray him, even during the procedure, to ensure that he would stay asleep long enough for her to finish up. All that chilling effect probably would take longer to wear off. Maybe that's why Caruso still isn't fully awake, even though he should be by now.” He was honestly not sure if this was correct or not, but it did make sense to him.

Fiona frowned lightly, turning her head to look at the floor. “Hmm..I had forgotten all about that...”

Before any of them could say anything else, they heard the footprints of their friends returning into the room. They looked over, seeing Rodger and Buzz walk in, both wearing a solemn look on their faces. Their eyes were shifting from Max and Fiona, then to Caruso, then back again. They didn't have to say anything for Max and Fiona to know that they were interested in knowing how Caruso was doing. They also looked like they felt bad for leaving him like that, even if it was for only about an hour and Fiona was with him the whole time. They did look a little relieved that Caruso was awake, though. That was a positive sign.

Before Rodger or Buzz could say anything, or ask any questions, Max spoke up, pretty much saying what they were going to ask for in the first place. Max held up his hand and looked at them and said in a serious tone of voice, “Caruso's doing fine. He just woke up though, so he's a little groggy.”

“A little?” Fiona asked, narrowing her eyes a little. “He is having a hard time staying awake. He keeps closing and opening his eyes, as if he had been asleep all day and can't get himself to wake up.”

Max decided to ignore Fiona, much to her disgust, but she didn't say anything about it. Max kept his attention on Buzz and Rodger, who were still walking towards them but very slowly and cautiously. They didn't say anything as they walked right up to them and stood next to Max and Fiona, their attention still on Caruso. It looked like they were trying to figure out something else to say, but couldn't think of anything. Even though they both knew that Caruso was doing fine, they couldn't help but still be worried. Perhaps something could go very wrong and Caruso could... no! They shouldn't think like that! Caruso made it this far and he was making a pretty good recovery. He wasn't going to die now, not after all the progress he's made! He just couldn't!

Still, they couldn't help but remained worried. They weren't sure of Victor's status, what he was going to do next. They hadn't heard anything from him over the past two weeks and it was scaring them. They didn't know what he was up to, and since he knew they could hack into his system and see what he's doing and even reroute it like Rodger had to distract Victor long enough for the Dino Squad to reach the designated areas before he did, there was little chance they could keep much of an eye on him anymore. Heck, he himself could hack into their system and mess around with it, though luckily he hasn't tried that yet. They weren't sure if it was because he didn't know how to do it, if he wasn't interested, or if he was just waiting for the right moment to try it out.

But what was frightening them just as much regarding Victor Veloci, especially Caruso, was whether or not he was going to come back for Caruso. They weren't entirely sure if Victor would risk trying to capture him again because he knew that they would fight back even harder now. It wouldn't be easy to pull off the same stunt. But they were convinced that, given the chance, Victor would try to re-obtain Caruso and continue experimenting on him and torturing him. The Dino Squad would be sure that didn't happen, but they were still worried that Victor would catch them off guard one day and take Caruso or someone else away. The insane Velociraptor has been silent for quite some time and they can't figure out when his next move will be. Victor is not the type to give up so it wasn't like he just decided to quit. No, he was waiting for something, biding his time. They had to be ready, no matter what.

But as they thought of Victor, someone else came back into their memory, well two people actually. They remembered Michelle and Oscura. They were part of the raid at the lighthouse that resulted in Caruso being kidnapped by Victor Veloci. They started to worry about them. Even if Victor didn't come to the lighthouse, Oscura and Michelle could, and even on their own, they were vicious fighters. Michelle could use her smaller size to move faster than they could, and thus was a much harder target to hit. Oscura was even smaller in size and swifter, but that's not what made her more dangerous. She had a mouth full of bacteria and when she bit down, she would inject this into their system, making them very sick.

Even when Rodger and Buzz fought against Michelle when her partner wasn't around, they still performed poorly and were both easily defeated. Michelle's smaller size enabled her to be more agile and swift than they were, particularly Rodger. Buzz was faster and more lightweight, but he still wasn't able to dodge Michelle's attacks. He was surprised that she didn't shred his wings. She had the opportunity, but she decided not to do it. For Rodger, she beat him by using her speed to tire him out and then attacking him. But even though she could have killed him and Buzz, she didn't. But if Fiona and Max hadn't come in to help them, she probably would have ended up killing them anyway.

Hoping to break the uneasy silence that had fell onto the group, Buzz asked, “So..do you think he can make it to school tomorrow?”

Max narrowed his eyes a little as he gazed down at Caruso laying on the same white bed that he was laying in when he got infected with the dangerous mutant virus. Thinking of that virus, he had to shudder in fear. Fiona had made a very good point. With all the ice melting and such, the virus could easily spread to different parts of the wound. Both humans and animals would be infected and perhaps die from it because there's no cure for it other than what Moynihan has, and he wasn't sure if she still had any left. And he was sure that, if Victor discovered it, he would use it against humans. He silently hoped that Victor did not discover the ancient mutant virus.

Max slowly shook his head. “I'm not sure if he can make it, guys. He's still very weak from having the Chiller sprayed all over him. And with those stitches in him, he might be in too much pain to go to school anyway.”

“Max has a point.” Rodger chimed in. “While it is important that Caruso returns to school as soon as possible, after that minor surgery he might be too weak to go tomorrow. And it is just a Friday so he'll have a three day recovery time. On Monday, I'm sure he'll be well enough to go back to school.”

“And what if he isn't?” Buzz asked nervously. “What if he remains sick even after those three days are up..?”

“I really hope that isn't the case...” Fiona whispered, sharing Buzz's fears. “I really hope that you are wrong on this one, Buzz.”

“I hope I'm wrong too...” Buzz nodded his head, agreeing with Fiona. This was one time that he hoped that he wasn't right. And he was sure that the others, not just Fiona, would agree with him on that.

“I'm sure things will be just fine.” Rodger said, trying to give everyone a reassuring smile.

“I hope so.” Buzz said softly. He couldn't keep his eyes off of Caruso. To see Caruso in this state was very painful for him. He could only hope that, very soon, it'll be all over and everything will be back to the way it was before. Then he flinched slightly, feeling a sharp pain in his heart. He realized that things could never be the same again. Caruso would probably have changed forever because of this. The team would never be the same. And the entire battle against Victor would never be the same again.

* * *

“I must be crazy...” Zoom said to himself as he lifted up his hand, formed into a tight fist.

The man was standing in front of the home of O'Ryan. As much as Zoom hated to come here for personal reasons, he felt that he could use O'Ryan's help. No one else was as interested in getting dinosaur footage than O'Ryan himself was. The selfish newscaster wold do anything to get a good dinosaur story, even if it might lying in front of millions of people. Zoom had seen much of the guy's work on TV and he was impressed. He wasn't impressed with the special effects; they were old hat, very cheap, easy to tell that they were fake. He was impressed with O'Ryan's persistence and eageriness in getting real dinosaurs on the show. And that made him the perfect man for the job that he was going to offer.

Zoom didn't care what Victor had told him. Victor felt that the plan was too risky and would risk exposing Raptor Dyne and the perfect dinosaurs. Even though he could have used that as an opportunity to look like a hero in humanity's eyes and gain their trust even more, Victor felt it could have backfired should evidence be traced back to Raptor Dyne. Victor had worked too long and too hard to gain acceptance from the human race so he could manipulate them like he was in Raptor Dyne. And he wasn't about to let a silly stunt like Zoom's plan ruin all that. He had warned Zoom not to go forward with the plan until he gave the okay. But Zoom, being impatient, didn't want to wait and decided to go O'Ryan now. He was sure O'Ryan would be very interested in the job, and why wouldn't he be?

But still, Zoom couldn't help but think he was insane for trying enlist this guy's help. He has gotten some bad rap over the years for his dinosaur claims. No one really believed him. Everyone knew he was a fake. There was nothing believable about his claims or his show. And as for his own photos, Zoom knew that some people were already seeing through his edits and clever changes. With the two factors added in, Zoom wondered if there was even a point in going forward with the plan to frighten people into trying to hunt the Dino Squad. The bomb part of the plan might have been cut out completely to avoid issues that may ensue later on, but the plan was still risky. If the dinosaurs were killed, Victor would not be able to get the perfect dino DNA that he needed.

Zoom still didn't know why he decided to join Victor in the first place. The madman wanted to destroy all of humanity after all. Zoom might have been selfish, interested in getting insanely good photographs even at the expense of others, but he wasn't interested in seeing humanity die off as a species. He didn't want dinosaurs to return to the planet and take it over once again. The only reason he can remember as to why he joined Victor in the first place was just to get the opportunity of revenge on the Dino Squad. He closed his eyes and started to think. Was getting revenge really worth this?

Zoom O'Donnell took in a deep breath and gently knocked on the door, making sure he was being loud enough for whoever was inside to hear him. He stood there, waiting for a few seconds for the door to open up. But when no one came, Zoom knocked again, and he waited on the door step. Still no answer, so he resorted to using the doorbell. As he pressed it, a loud ring could be heard, reverberating throughout the entire household. Zoom winced, surprised at how loud it was. If this didn't get O'Ryan's attention, he wasn't sure what will.

Ringing the doorbell had a better effect than knocking did. Within approximately thirty seconds or more, the door knob turned and opened up to reveal O'Ryan. The man's eyes were narrowed almost dangerously and he didn't look too happy to be bothered by anything. He recognized Zoom, but didn't say anything other than, “What do you want?” His voice sounded cold, making Zoom shudder at the sound of it. But he quickly regained his composure, telling himself that O'Ryan couldn't be as scary as Victor or Kista. He wasn't a....

“Allow me to introduce myself...” Zoom said, holding out his hand to shake the guy's hand. “My name is Zoom O'Donnell and I am pleased to finally meet you, Mr. O'Ryan.” But O'Ryan didn't shake his hand in return. He just looked at his hand, frowned, and then looked back up at Zoom. Realizing that O'Ryan wasn't going to shake his hand, Zoom smiled nervously and quickly lowered his hand. “Well...can I..speak to you?” He asked nervously, hoping O'Ryan was in a talking mood.

O'Ryan leaned against the door, still glaring at Zoom. He had heard about Zoom before and has seen some of his work. This was the man who posted up fake photographs to fool the masses. He was surprised at how many people would fall for these cheap edits. Then again, he had to admit, Zoom did do a better job at scheming than he ever did. Almost no one ever believed him while many people are fooled by O'Donnell's pictures. O'Ryan felt a small smile creep onto his face. Maybe this man would have of some use to him. “What is it you want to talk to me about, hmm...?” He asked in a somewhat eerie voice, leaning a little bit forward towards Zoom.

“Well...I wanted to make a proposal.” Zoom said as he lifted up a finger. He took a step forward, hoping O'Ryan would move out of the way and let him inside. But O'Ryan kept on standing there, continuing to stare at him in a scrutinizing manner. Zoom gulped and took a step back. “..well are you familiar with the..um... dinosaurs...?”

O'Ryan's eyes widened a little. Maybe this guy did know about the dinosaurs after all! Maybe he would be of some use after all. He grinned more broadly and said, “Well yes...I'm sure you've seen my program, showing all those dinosaurs on television...”

“Except they were fake.” Zoom interjected. “It's kind of easy to tell that...”

“Don't remind me.” O'Ryan warned, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

Zoom immediately regretted saying what he had and quickly apologized. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just thought that...”

O'Ryan's frown immediately disappeared and the creepy smile returned onto his mouth. “Oh that's okay...” He tilted his head, cocking an eyebrow a little bit. The smile spread even further on his face, his lips pulling back so much Zoom thought he could see the man's teeth. “So what about dinosaurs? Why do you bring up that topic?” He didn't say anything more, waiting for Zoom to respond. O'Ryan was hoping that Zoom was going to mention something about kids who can transform into dinosaurs. If he did, then he would definitely think that Zoom would be useful for something. Perhaps he could even be his new cameraman.

“Well..you probably aren't going to believe me...” Zoom said, smiling apprehensively.

O'Ryan narrowed his eyes slightly. “Why don't you just try me? You might be pretty darn surprised...”

Zoom said, “Yeah..well.. This has something to do with kids who can turn into dinosaurs...” He had recalled that O'Ryan did claim to have footage of someone turning into a T-Rex, but he still wasn't sure if the man really believed today that what he had seen was real. He wasn't sure if O'Ryan had started to think that he was just seeing things, and that's why he was a little nervous to tell him this. He thought O'Ryan would think he was nuts.

“Turn into dinosaurs you say?” O'Ryan tilted his head, a little curious but didn't show any signs of shock or disbelief, much to Zoom's relief.

Zoom nodded his head. “Yes, that's what I said. Kids who can turn into dinosaurs and back at will.” He took a step forward again. “I know it's a little hard to believe, but it's true... I've seen it for myself.” Zoom shuddered when he thought about the transformations he had witnessed. It was scary seeing some human mutate into a monster. And he wasn't sure if it was scarier or not that they retained their human intellect when they transformed.

O'Ryan grinned almost evilly, sending chills down Zoom's spine. This was one scary guy, he thought. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to go to O'Ryan for help, even though he also held a grudge against the Dino Squad. But it was too late; O'Ryan knew what Zoom wanted and it seemed that he already had made up his mind. There was no turning back now. “Well yes of course I know it's true... I've seen a kid transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex myself.” His eyes narrowed. “But then some stupid kid came along and destroyed my camera. He was probably the T-Rex's little friend...”

Zoom nodded and said, “Yes..so I've heard. They were both members of the Dino Squad.”

O'Ryan looked at Zoom with a slightly shocked expression. “Dino Squad?”

Zoom nodded his head once again. “Yes. The Dino Squad. They're a group of five teenagers who can turn into dinosaurs whenever they want. I have heard that you head an encounter with them, and I was right....” Zoom allowed a smile to creep onto his face. “..and I have a bone to pick with those kids myself...”

O'Ryan smirked. “Oh really? What did they do to you? Destroy your precious cameras?” He jokingly said, pointing at the bag that Zoom was carrying around his shoulders. “I heard you are really attached to your equipment.”

“No! They stole my CD!” Zoom snapped, closing his eyes tightly as he recalled what happened. He would never forgive that punk kid for making him seem like a fool in front of Victor, or anyone. He had something great, something that could have made him a very rich man. But it was stolen from him by those darn kids! Oh they'll pay...dearly!

O'Ryan narrowed his eyes. “A CD?” He was feeling a little disappointed. He was hoping for something more interesting. “Is that all? What's so great about a CD? You have some of your shopping lists on it or something?” If it was just a picture, then perhaps he had wasted precious time standing out here with Zoom O'Donnell. What as the point of getting worked up over a picture anyway? What could there be gained from it? Nothing, O'Ryan thought. Absolutely nothing.

“It wasn't just a CD!” Zoom barked at him, forgetting his manners and letting his anger and frustration take over. He rushed forward and grabbed the slightly larger man by his shirt and pulled him towards himself. O'Ryan just stared at Zoom, not flinching. “It had a very important picture in it! If I could have kept that picture, I would have been a millionaire!”

O'Ryan turned his head to once side, but still kept his eyes on Zoom. “And just what kind of picture is this? It has to be very important for you to go nuts over it.”

Zoom gritted his teeth, grinding them so hard that he thought that they were going to break. He didn't know why he was getting so angry already. He tried to stop himself, but it was too late. He had to release his anger and he was going to do it on O'Ryan, whether he wanted to or not. He shook O'Ryan a few times rather roughly, and even managed to slightly surprise the larger man. But O'Ryan continued to look at him fearlessly, as if he wasn't fazed by anything Zoom could do to him. Zoom started to yell at him. “IT WAS IMPORTANT! IT HAD A PHOTOGRAPH OF A PTERANODON WITH A GIRL'S HEAD ON IT! I WAS GOING TO SELL IT TO DR. VELOCI BUT SOME PUNK FROM THE DINO SQUAD STOPPED ME! AND HE WAS THE VERY ONE WHO SOLD THE PHOTOGRAPH TO ME IN THE FIRST PLACE!” He stopped yelling and started to calm himself down through quick, hoarse breaths.

O'Ryan remained calm and quiet as Zoom unleashed his temper on the man in the form of screaming. When he was finished, all O'Ryan did was scratch the inside of his ear as if the sound had barely effected him. He had seen worse before, especially from himself when he gets angry. So he wasn't at all bothered by Zoom's yells. But something the guy said did catch his attention. It wasn't about the photograph itself, but exactly who sold it to him. He wondered if they could find out who this person was, and if they did, they could find the Dino Squad. He gripped Zoom's hands roughly and quickly, and easily, pried them off of him. He then pushed Zoom lightly, just enough to make him step back a few inches away from him. Zoom looked at him in surprise and seemed to immediately regret yelling at him. O'Ryan just smirked.

“So you think that if we find out the name of the kid...” O'Ryan thought, scratching his chin as he spoke. “..we could find the rest of them?” Zoom's eyes widened in shock. He was not expecting O'Ryan to come up with a plan that quickly, and Zoom himself hadn't thought of that, using the punk teen to try and find the others. It did make sense, and it could perhaps work. He did get a very good look at the kid anyway, and he still has the e-mail from the kid. Maybe he could inform Victor and see if he could trace the e-mail's signal back to the computer of its origin. “Don't you think that idea could work out, Zoom O'Donnell?” O'Ryan's smiled evilly.

“Oh..uh....sure?” Zoom answered, a little nervous by how O'Ryan was smiling at him. Then again, he was smiling a similar way just a few minutes ago. He cleared his throat and held out his hand towards O'Ryan again, hoping that the man wasn't upset with him yelling at him just seconds ago. “So..what do you say? Do you want to help me find those brats and make them pay?” He tried to offer an equally evil smile of his own, but every time he stared into O'Ryan's narrowed eyes, he faltered and his smile quickly disappeared. To his surprise, O'Ryan reached forward and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly, and gently moved it up and down.

“Sure thing...I'll help you.” O'Ryan said, his dark smile still on his face. He then pulled his lips back and bared his teeth in an evil grin. He then roughly pulled O'Donnell towards him so that he couldn't escape his grasp. “But first, let me tell you how things are going to work....”


	20. Changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Moynihan sat in one of the smallest rooms in the Mothersaurus Submarine. She wanted to get away from the other students so that she could think about what has been happening with her lately. She's been doing this several times, whenever she gets the chance, even during school. She really wanted to find out what was wrong with her. Now that Caruso has been treated and will make a recovery soon, Moynihan could now focus on the second problem: why she had been acting so aggressive and strange lately.

Why was she acting like this? She wasn't being provoked. She was no longer under much stress since the danger had passed and the computers were up and running again. Victor hadn't tried to attack for weeks, although she still thought it was a trap of sorts, a way to get them to let their guard down. She wasn't going to let that happen. She started to wonder if her increase in aggressiveness was the result of Victor trying to psyche her out. Maybe nothing bad was going to happen at all. Maybe there wasn't anything 'unforgettable' that would occur to her and the Dino Squad. Victor could have just told her that to make her feel paranoid and all this behavior was just all inside her mind.

Moynihan narrowed her eyes. That didn't make any sense though. How could her being paranoid account for how she started to feel disgusted about eating vegetables? How could that make her crave meat, and raw meat from the refrigerator to be exact? As far as she was concerned, there was no way that stress or nervous feelings could be responsible for such change in behavior. Something else was causing it, but she couldn't figure out what. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to think as hard as she could, trying to remember as much of what happened as she could.

Could Michelle have anything to do with this? Michelle was the last person she had encountered that wasn't on the Dino Squad team before her behavior had started to change. Could that girl have done something to her while taking them to Caruso? Moynihan recalled when Michelle had run off, telling everyone else to run as well because of some knockout gas that was being pumped into the room. Moynihan narrowed her eyes a little. She couldn't think of why Victor would use knockout gas in the hallways as that didn't seem like his style. He was more of a 'capture in cages' or 'invisible barriers' than trying to knock them out. Then again, his robot that he had built did have knockout gas, so maybe it wasn't so far-fetched after all.

Still, she wondered if Michelle was actually setting up a trap for them. Maybe the chemical was some kind of neurotoxin that affected the neurological system, wreaking havoc and causing its victims to go haywire. Moynihan, however, shook her head, quickly dismissing that theory. It just didn't add up. If the chemical was indeed a neurotoxin, then why weren't the children effected as well? She had no choice but to accept that Michelle was telling the truth. It was not any kind of poisonous gas; it was just ether which would have done nothing more than knock them out. So Michelle had nothing to do with what was going on with her.

But then that leaves only her students, as they were the only other people she had recently came in contact with before her behavior started to alter so drastically. She didn't want to believe that her own students had something to do with this, but who else was there? Moynihan wouldn't dare believe that they would do this to her on purpose. They could have been unwitting pawns in one of Victor's schemes perhaps. Or maybe they were forced into it by Victor. She shook her head rapidly, shouting 'no' multiple times inside her head. She was with them most of the time after Caruso was kidnapped. There was no way that they could have been captured within that amount of time and threatened. Just no way!

While this made her sigh with relief, it also brought about a pang of fear. If it wasn't Michelle or any of her students, what was causing her to act so differently and how did it all happen to begin with? She couldn't think of anything that they had done that would have triggered such a change. There was nothing out-of-the-ordinary about the rescue, or anything else in the warehouse, at least nothing she wasn't expecting. She didn't expect Michelle to help them, but she had already ruled Michelle out as a suspect. There was just nothing that Michelle did back there that would link her to what was happening to her.

Moyhinan looked towards the door. She knew that her students would be expecting her to return soon. She had been away for a couple hours now. She started to wonder how Caruso was doing. He should be awake by now. She hoped that he was not trying to move around too much. She didn't want him to hurt himself. Moynihan was glad that the operation seemed to be a complete success. Stitching up the wound on his tongue was a good idea and she wondered why she hadn't thought of it before. While it would probably cause Caruso a lot of pain, it would keep the wound from reopening again and allow it to heal. Caruso just has to refrain from talking as much as he could in order to let that particular wound to heal. But that was going to be easier said than done. This was Caruso after all.

Thinking about Caruso brought back feelings of apprehension to the old woman. While she had done her best to try to reassure her students that things will hopefully work in their favor, she couldn't help but fear that things will go very wrong for them again, very soon. She still wasn't sure if Victor was going to come back to get Caruso or not. If she concluded that he wouldn't, then he could catch her by surprise and they wouldn't be able to stop him in time from taking Caruso away from them again. But if she prepared herself and the students, then there could be a chance that Victor would not try to kidnap Caruso again, and all that training and preparing would have been for nothing. Still, Moynihan knew that they couldn't take any chances; they had to be prepared.

She looked down towards the ground, staring at her feet. She was sitting down in a small chair in the room. This is usually where she would run some of her diagnostic tests regarding the status of the ship. There were drawers full of off-white paper on one side of the room. On top of the desk that the drawers were attached to, there were different types of equipment, some of which are scanners, that monitor the ship and let her know if anything was going wrong. She had located this room in a secure location because she didn't want her students coming in here. She wanted them to stay away from this room, and it wasn't the scanners that were the reason why she didn't want them in here.

And as she moved her eyes slowly to another part of the room, her eyes caught the very thing that made her apprehensive about letting the children in this room: a photograph of her and Victor from about forty years ago, not long after they had first emerged and adapted to human life.

Moynihan walked over, and slowly picked up the picture frame. She didn't know why she was keeping this photo other than for old time's sake. She looked at the picture, nothing how happy she and Victor used to be together. In the photograph, they were wearing different clothing than they were today. Moynihan was young, taller, and still had her dark hair. Victor looked the same physically. Even after forty years, he still managed to look so young and, as much as she hated to admit it, handsome. In the picture, the two were sort of hugging, their arms over each other's shoulders as they grinned at the camera. Moynihan felt a single tear roll down her face and she felt a small smile tug at the corner of her mouth. What had happened to those days? What had happened to cause her and Victor to hate each other so much now?

She slowly closed her eyes and wiped away the single tear. She knew that they had seperated because it was the only thing that they could have done. Their views on what to do with Earth and the humans were so vastly different, and neither side was willing to compromise. Moynihan wanted the planet to stay as it is and allow the humans to live. She believed the humans would soon see the error in their ways and stop with what they were doing. She also wanted Earth to evolve overtime naturally, to allow life to change as it should, without the aide of some outside technology. But Victor, on the other hand, was the opposite. He wanted the Earth to return back to the way it was sixty-five million years ago. He wanted to artificially transform all lifeforms, to force them to deviate from the natural order, to reverse all evolution, to return to their original prehistoric forms. And he saw no place on Earth for humans. He wanted to either transform them or to kill them off. Moynihan knew that he didn't care which just so long as he didn't have to look at another 'ugly hairless monkey' ever again.

She slowly sat the photograph back on the small, brown desk that it originally sat on. She took in a slow deep breath. She might as well get up now and go find the Dino Squad. They were going to be in Sick Bay so it was not going to be hard to get back to them. She slowly got up from her seat and made her way towards the door. She gripped the knob and slowly turned it. As she walked out of the room, she quickly turned around. Reaching in, she flipped the switch and the lights went out completely, enveloping the room in darkness. She slowly closed the door, and quickly locked it with a key she had brought with.

Moynihan then made her way down the long corridor. Up head, she could see a narrow flight of stairs. She quickly went over to it and made her way down the steps. The steps were a little narrow. She wasn't surprised. The submarine was built when she was younger and thinner. But she still managed to get down the steps anyway. It wasn't that difficult. After she stepped off the stairs, she looked up, trying to find one of the signs that pointed to different rooms. She knew there should be one for the Sick Bay here somewhere. She had seen it when she was walking through here a few hours ago. The sign couldn't have just disappeared.

Looking all around, she finally managed to spot a long, glowing sign that hung from the wall. Smiling faintly, she looked up to see where the Sick Bay was. This was a huge submarine and it was a little easy to get lost, even though she had built this sub herself. But she quickly realized something was not right. To her horror, she realized that she couldn't read the sign. The letters did look exactly the same, but she couldn't decipher them in her mind. Her heart started to pound rapidly. This was exactly what happened to her when she was pouring Rump's food. It was happening again!

Moynihan backed up quickly, trying to think of what could be going on with her. Why couldn't she read the sign? It was still written in plain English! She should be able to read it! But for some reason, it looked like nothing more than chicken scratches to her! But that isn't the biggest shock that she was about to experience. As she tried in vain to read the sign, she felt herself becoming angrier and angrier. She gripped her head tightly, digging her nails into her skin, trying in vain to understand the letters written on the sign. She tried so hard to remember what those letters meant and what words they were forming. But the more she couldn't figure it out, the more frustrated and angry she was getting. She could feel her head starting to pound in pain as she tried to hard to remember.

When she reopened up her eyes, she looked up and still she could not read the sign. She screamed in frustration, but not loud enough for the kids to hear her. She didn't want them to see her like this, so frustrated and confused, so unlike herself. She tugged and pulled at her hair, ignoring the searing pain she was feeling when she did so. She was pulling so hard she thought the hair was going to be ripped right from its roots. She managed to stop herself, and she released her grip on her gray hair and lowered them to her side. She glanced down, and was horrified at what she saw.

Her hands had completely transformed into her raptor hands! It wasn't just a change in coloration or the talons peaking through the skin. They were completely transformed. Every bone, every muscle, every vein in the hand had transformed back into what it was when she was a Velociraptor sixty-five million years ago. She felt her hands begin to shake as she stared at this sight. She wasn't even thinking about transforming. It just sort of happened to her when she got so angry. She never felt so afraid before in her life. The only time she was even more afraid was when Victor tried to kill her thirty years go.

She tried to change her hands back, but they didn't seem to want to listen to her. They remained as they were: cold, scaly, green Velociraptor hands, armed with long, sharp talons. She slowly closed them tightly, feeling the sharp talons dig into her skin. Tears of fear slowly flowed from her eyes, her teeth gritted and bared in fear. Unable to hold it in much longer, she pulled her head back and let out a loud scream that reverberated throughout the Mothersaurus Submarine.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

* * * 

The sound immediately got the Dino Squad's attention. Their heads lifted up swiftly and they looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. But they didn't take off right away. They glanced back at Caruso, who was still laying in bed. He was still awake, but still looked very tired. They couldn't have him running along with him and they couldn't just leave him all alone. Fiona agreed to stay with him while the others went to check what that sound was. The scream sounded so familiar, but it was one that they had never really heard before themselves, not like this or with that much emotion and intensity. Fiona proceeded to sit down in a chair beside Caruso, holding his hand, while the others rushed towards the sound.

They couldn't be sure of the exact location because of all the echoing. But Rodger made a guess of where the sound most likely came from and he said that they should start there first. They made their way down one of the corridors in the large sub, looking around for any signs of an intruder, even though one is very unlikely on a submarine that was invisible to radar. Following Rodger's lead, the Dino Squad eventually reached one of the far sections of the submarine. They could see a catwalk right above them and the lighting was a little dimmer here than it was in regions of the ship that they were just in. The Dino Squad stopped and looked around, hoping that they wouldn't get lost. They had never been in this part of the submarine before. Moynihan had never let them back here. They hoped that she wouldn't be upset if she found them back here.

Moving forward, they stopped again, hearing some kind of sound. It sounded like scraping, and the very sound sent chills down their spines. It was like someone was taking their nails and scratching the chalkboard of a classroom. That sound would send chills down almost anyone's spines who had to listen to it. They came to a section that split off in two ways. Both areas looked empty, and they couldn't see anything except for a sign or two telling them where certain places were. They listened to the sound again, and this time they could hear where it was coming from. It was coming from the right, so they quickly moved in that direction. They didn't have to go far to see what was making the sound, and the sight made the kids stop in their tracks in fear and shock.

There, standing not too far from them, perhaps about ten feet, was their teacher. She was standing, but not straight up. She was hunched over a little, similar to how she would stand in raptor mode, but not to the same extreme degree. Moynihan's hands were completely transformed into raptor hands, although the rest of her arms remained human. Her teeth were bared and they could see her sharp, pointed teeth that she would have in Velociraptor form. Her eyes were narrowed, glowing intensely and they could see the slit pupils associated with dinosaurs. She had her claws pressed into the hard metallic wall of the corridor, and she was pulling her claws down. The scraping sound was heard once again, making the students cover their ears.

“What is she doing?!” Buzz hissed under his breath, his hands still firmly pressed against his ears.

“I think she's... AAAH!” Rodger pressed his hands against his face as tight as he could, but the horrible scraping sound was still getting through. “...sharpening her claws... Predators like lions do the same thing!”

“But why would she need to sharpen her claws for?” Max asked.

“I dunno..I...” Rodger stopped himself, looking forward, his eyes wide with fear.

Moynihan was looking straight at them. She was no longer scowling, but her eyes remained narrowed, still glowing a bright yellowish color. Her claws remained firmly planted in the wall, the muscles in her arms tensing up so much that the students could see her muscle tone. It made them cringe because they never realized just how muscular Moynihan actually was. Even if it was probably her dino half that they were seeing, it was still a scary sight for them.

Moynihan started to pant, as if she had completely exhausted herself from doing something for too long. Her gaze was glued on her students, but while her mouth was open she refused to say anything. She only stared at them, like a carnivore would stare at potential prey to see if it was worthwhile to chase after it. Moynihan may have been acting differently, but she was still somewhat aware of her surroundings. Recognizing her students, she felt her heart start to beat a little faster than before. She was wondering why they were here, of all places and of all times. She became fearful she was going to hurt them, or frighten them with what she was doing. She wanted them to get away, to leave this place. She didn't want them to see her like this.

Max swallowed hard, but he forced himself to walk towards Moynihan. He could tell something was really troubling her. Despite the vicious glare in her eyes, she looked afraid, lost, and confused. As he got within three feet from her, he started to reach out towards her, wanting to try to calm her down. “Professor Moynihan... What happened? What's wrong with you?” Moynihan didn't respond. Instead, she did something that no one would have expected. When Max's hand got too close, she gritted her teeth and lifted up one hand. She arched the fingers so that the claws were far apart and pointed downward. She then pulled her hand back and struck out towards Max, aiming to slash his arm.

Max screamed in surprise and immediately pulled his hand away. He made it just in time. The hand slashed by his arm, missing by a few centimeters, and struck the wall with a good amount of force. A loud scraping sound could be heard as the claws slashed into the metal, creating several long, very shallow scratches on the surface of the wall. Max stared at the scratches in horror, realizing what kind of damage that it could have done if it had struck him in the arm. He then looked back at Moynihan, his eyes wide with fear. “Moynihan...why did you do that...?” He managed to say, trying to keep himself from trembling.

Moynihan just slowly panted once again, her eyes remaining narrowed. But when she spoke, her voice was not filled with anger, but instead fear and shock. “You should not have come here...”

Buzz shuddered. “I'll say...”

“What's wrong with you?” Rodger asked. Both he and Buzz were also in complete shock at what Moynihan had just tried to do to Max.

Moynihan turned her head away and stared into the wall almost blankly. She looked like she was trying to fight some primal, powerful urge. It was like their fear was doing something to her, awakening a side of her that she never wanted to show to anyone. The students took a step backward, wondering what was going to happen next. “Just get away...please... I-I..I don't want to hurt you...”

“H-Hurt us..?” Buzz spoke softly, gripping his hands together in fear.

But despite being frightened, Max continued to try to reach out to Moynihan. He moved his hand towards her again, this time being more cautious so that he didn't get close enough for the woman to attack him again, if she would try again that is. “Ms. M..what is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this...?” But Moynihan didn't answer him. Her teeth were bared at him menacingly, but her eyes were now wide with fear. She looked as if she was either afraid of him touching her, or of herself attacking the jock. “Moynihan...please...I just want to help you...”

“M-Max...” Moynihan's voice was darkened a little, and there was a hint of a growling hiss to her voice. This frightened the three teens. Moynihan hadn't spoken like this before. Something was very wrong with her, as if seeing her sharpening her claws wasn't enough evidence. Moynihan seemed to struggle to back away, trying to put as much space between her and Max as possible. But as she walked backwards, the Dino Squad noticed her feet were extremely shaky and wobbly, as if it was taking all of her strength just to take a step backwards. Gritting her teeth so tightly that it felt her teeth were going to crack. “G-Get away from me...please....”

“What do you mean?” Rodger asked, looking both confused and afraid at the same time. “Why do you want us to get away from you?”

“Yeah..we won't leave you.” Buzz said, despite how afraid he currently was feeling.

Moynihan shut her eyes tightly, gripping her head tightly with her hands. The claws dug into her skin, and the kids started seeing blood trinkling from her scalp. “Just get away...b-before it's too late....” Her voice was so hoarse now it was hard to hear her let alone understand her. But the kids could tell just from the tone of her voice that she wanted them away from her. But why?

Max wasn't about to give up. Taking in a deep breath and trying to let go of his fear as best as he could, the jock took a step forward, reaching his hand out ever closer to Moynihan. “Moynihan...I...” 

But he wasn't able to finish his sentence. In that instant, Moynihan finally couldn't control herself anymore. She suddenly lunged towards Rolf, her mouth agape as her drool splattered all over the ground. Her hands were facing forward, the claws curved downward. Max's eyes widened in fear and he tried to respond, but the old woman was much faster. He grunted in pain as he felt himself being shoved onto his back, his head smacking against against the hard floor. When he opened up his eyes, before him lay a scary scene: Moynihan looming over him, eyes glowing bright yellow, and her teeth bared. She lowered her head towards him, growling fiercely.

Buzz and Rodger gasped in horror and they rushed forward to help their friend. Buzz grabbed onto Max's shoulders while Rodger went behind the crazed old woman. He wrapped his arms around her body, pinning her arms against her side. Moynihan struggled in his grasp, but Rodger refused to let go. He started to pull her back, getting her off of Max. As Moynihan was pulled off of the boy, Buzz pulled Max away from Moynihan. Once they were seperated, Buzz released Max and then looked at him with a worried expression on his face. He quickly looked over the jock, making sure that there were no visible injuries. Max was visibly shaken by what had just happened, but he didn't have any physical injuries on him, much to Buzz's relief.

“Max..are you okay?” Buzz still wanted to be sure that Max was all right.

“Y-Yes...I'm okay...” Max said, his voice a little shaky. His eyes were still glued on Moynihan, who continued to glare at him with rage-filled dino eyes.

Rodger pulled Moynihan further back. He then swung her around and pushed her up against the wall, using his large body to keep her from getting to his two friends. Moynihan struggled violently in his grasp, kicking once in a while towards him and digging her claws into his arms to make him let her go. But despite the pain, Rodger kept pushing her into the wall, trying to restrain her until she drained her energy on her own. Buzz and Max watched this scene play out with fear-filled eyes. They were worried that the situation was going to get much worse. The next few minutes were tense, with Rodger holding Moynihan as tightly as he could. Moynihan continued to fight back, although she has not yet attempted to bite the boy.

“Moynihan!” Rodger hissed, squeezing Moynihan's arms roughly, but not hard enough to hurt her much. “Stop it now!” Moynihan kept on struggling, and Rodger narrowed his eyes angrily. He put his face very close to hers and then shouted as loud as he could. “STOP IT!!”

The loudness of Rodger's voice caused Moynihan to finally snap out of the trance she was just in. She slowly calmed down, her expression quickly softening. She stopped fighting against Rodger and started becoming aware of her surroundings again. Her eyes, teeth, and hands changed back to normal, and she looked around the room, trying to figure out what was happening. She quickly realized she was being pinned by Rodger and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Max on the floor with Buzz, looking up at her in fear. Heart racing, she quickly realized what had probably just happened here.

“K-Kids...” Moynihan said softly, a look of terror spreading on her face. “I-I am so sorry...”

“What's happened to you? Why are you acting like this?” Rodger asked her. His voice was still firm, but he sounded calmer than he did earlier. He didn't release his grip on the woman, but he did loosen his grip up a little when he was sure that Moynihan's mysterious and scary episode was all over now. “I've...we've never seen you do something like this before.”

Moynihan slowly bowed her head. “I don't know what's wrong with me.... I just saw red and...” She looked up, staring at Max. What she had said reminded her of what Max said weeks earlier. Max had lost his temper and had later stated that he saw red, just like what she said just seconds ago. She closed her eyes and looked away. So this is what Max had felt afterward when he had done something wrong. The past was repeating itself, but this time it was her to had repeated it, not Max or any of the kids. “I'm so sorry...”

* * *

Fiona let out a soft sigh, wondering what had happened back there. She also wondered when Max, Rodger, and Buzz were going to get back. They were gone for about ten or fifteen minutes now. They had to go to McFinn's place soon and pick up Rump. They couldn't bring Rump with them on the ship. As much as they cared about him, that dog could have inadvertently caused damage to the ship and they would have gotten stranded or even worse. So they left Rump in McFinn's care for a few hours. The former bully didn't seem to mind, although he was a little apprehensive about watching Rump at first.

Fiona glanced over at Caruso, her eyes narrowed slightly in concern. Despite his best efforts, Caruso had slipped back into unconsciousness. While she was disappointed and worried about him, she felt a little relieved. Caruso did need some more rest anyway, and if he was asleep, that meant he wasn't going to be trying to talk for a while. That was good; his tongue still needed time to heal. She suspected that it wouldn't completely heal for a few days or weeks perhaps.

She leaned forward, getting a little closer to the boy. Fiona reached down towards him, pressing her hand against his cheek, caressing it gently. Caruso groaned quietly and turned his head slightly. He opened up his eyes briefly, making Fiona freeze a little. But when the boy slowly closed them, she sighed with relief. She was fearful that she woke him up. “That's it..just sleep, Caruso...” Fiona whispered as she leaned in closer and planted a quick kiss on his forehead, just like what Moynihan did with her back at the warehouse. “I...I love you...”

“Awww...isn't that sweet?” Fiona's head suddenly jerked up when someone from behind her spoke to her. She quickly turned around to see who it was, tensed up in preparation for a fight. But she quickly relaxed when she realized it was just Rodger, a sly smile plastered on his face. “I always knew you two would end up together someday.”

“Oh Rodger it's just you, I...wait what?” Fiona looked at Rodger in shock. He knew that they were probably going to be together, her and Caruso? How could he possibly know that? Neither she nor Caruso had ever acted like they liked each other like this before. There was no way Rodger could have known that they could end up together, unless he was some kind of psychic or something. “How could you possibly know that? I mean, we only recently started to...”

Rodger's smile tugged further against one of the corners of his lips, making his smile appear lop-sided. “You can call it...” He was suddenly interrupted when he heard the footsteps of other people coming into the room. He and Fiona looked over to see Max and Buzz slowly walk into the room, a solemn look on their faces. Rodger's smile disappeared as well because he knew what they were upset about. “How is she?” He asked carefully.

Fiona looked at Rodger, a confused look on her face. She knew that he wasn't talking about her. There was nothing wrong with her. But there was only one other person he could have been talking about. There was only one other female among the group and that was Ms. Moynihan. Gruesome images came flooding to her mind when she remembered the last time that Moynihan was in trouble. They had found her at the bottom of the steps, looking as still as a stone and they almost thought she was dead. Although she ended up being alive and suffered no fatal injuries, the memory of seeing the old woman laying so still like that remained fresh in Fiona's mind and it frightened her.

“What happened?” Fiona asked, gripping Rodger's thick arm tightly. He looked down at her. “What happened to Moynihan? Is she all right?” Rodger narrowed his eyes slightly, but not in anger. He was just confused as to how to tell Fiona what happened. “Please..tell me what happened...”

“She went nuts.” Came Rodger's reply.

Fiona's eyes widened. “...what?”

“You heard me.” Rodger said almost coldly. “She went nuts.” Fiona shook her head slowly and then looked towards Max and Buzz for some kind of comfort. But their eyes and expressions offered none.

“Fiona...” Max said, his voice very low. “She tried to hurt me... She tried to dig her claws into me...” The tone of Max's voice told Fiona that he was definitely being serious and that this wasn't some kind of sick joke. “She lunged at me, pushed me into the ground... If Rodger and Buzz hadn't stopped her, she would have...” He stopped himself. He didn't know exactly what Moynihan would have done to him, but he didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to know.

“It was like she couldn't control herself anymore. All the time she was staring at us so menacingly..she also looked so helpless...” Buzz said, recalling what had happened. “She wanted us to get away from her..she was trying to protect us.. She couldn't control herself...” Buzz closed his eyes and lowered his head in sadness. He could only imagine how Moynihan must be feeling right now. “I never seen her so frightened and so confused in my life...”

Fiona was having a hard time believing what the boys had just told her. Moynihan had just lost control of herself and had tried to actually hurt one of her own students. What was wrong with her? This wasn't the Moynihan she knew! This only confirmed their suspicions from before that something was very wrong. And now things were getting much worse. Before, she would simply yell at them, though it was still a frightening experience. Now she was trying to actually hurt them, slashing at them with her claws or maybe even biting them with her sharp raptor teeth. Moynihan was becoming more and more aggressive and now it was getting to the point where she was becoming too dangerous just to be around.

Fiona started to wonder how this would effect them from this point on. What was Moynihan going to do? Her temper is becoming harder and harder to control. And now she was probably starting to see her students as enemies, or even as prey. Would she try to skip out on school so that she wouldn't hurt anyone? Were they going to have a substitute teacher to temporarily take her place? And how long was this going to keep happening? When are things going to start getting better? Fiona closed her eyes and sighed softly. They had all believed that this would have been over after a few weeks. They had thought that Moynihan was only reacting out of extreme stress. But now it's becoming increasingly obvious that it wasn't stress causing the problem. Something else must be causing it, but what?

Before Fiona could say anything else, she and her friends could hear the soft footsteps of the only other person in the ship at the time. They turned over and they could see Professor Moynihan slowly walking into the room. She didn't dare look at them in the eyes. Her head was lowered in shame, feeling horrible about what had happened earlier. She had obviously found her cane as she was now using it to support her weight a little because of her bad leg. Moynihan slowly made her way towards Caruso, walking in a wide circle so that she could avoid walking too close to the other students. They eyed her cautiously as she reached her hand towards Caruso. They wondered what she was about to do.

Moynihan spoke, though her voice seemed detached and lost, as if she was confused. “He seems to be doing a little better now.” Normally she would have been happy, but not this time.

Gulping and hoping to avoid bringing up the issue that had just happened, Fiona asked, “When do you...think he'll wake up again? He slipped back into unconsciousness and...”

Moynihan slowly shook her head. “I do not know when he'll wake up again. Just..give him some time and he'll wake up on his own. He did that the first time.” Her tone sounded so monotone, plain, and emotionless, making the students flinch a little. She noticed this out of the corner of her eyes and she let out a soft sigh. “I'm sorry.. It's just that...”

Max interrupted her abruptly. “Are you...still upset about what happened?”

Moynihan turned to face the boy, looking slightly shocked at what he had just said. “Well aren't you? I tried to hurt you, Maxwell... I tried to hurt you... Isn't that the least bit unsettling with you? It is with me.” Her voice had a slight tinge of anger to it as she spoke. “It never should have happened... Oh, what is wrong with me...?” She looked away again.

Max flinched at the tone of the old woman's voice. He couldn't tell if she was angry with him or with herself. He gathered up his courage and took a few steps towards Moynihan. Although memories of what had happened were still fresh on his mind, he continued to move closer to Moynihan. She didn't look directly at him, but he could tell she could see him from the corner of her eyes, and she was starting to grit her teeth in anticipation. She was worried that she was going to hurt him again, Max though as he continued to get close to the old teacher. He didn't really blame her for what happened. It wasn't hurt, and he was sure of it. He didn't want her to continue feeling guilty about what had happened back there.

Once he got up to her, Max put a single arm around Moynihan in an attempt to comfort her. He quickly noticed her continuing to flinch, but he didn't release his grip on her. He wanted to let her know that he wasn't upset with her and that she could try to not to let what happened bother her so much. But he knew that no one was going to let this incident go so easily. How could anyone forget what had just happened? “Don't beat yourself up over this, Ms. M.... It wasn't your fault, I'm sure of it. Please...try not to let this get to you.”

Moynihan looked back at the boy, feeling a little touched by what he had told her, but still couldn't help but feel very guilty about what she almost did to him. She felt a little confused by his attempting to comfort her. How could he even look at her as if nothing had happened, after she almost badly hurt him? How can he say it wasn't her fault when she was the one who was baring her teeth at him? Moynihan felt a few tears escape her eyes, and she wiped them with a single finger. She froze for a few seconds, looking to see if her hand had changed again, and then lowered it to her side. “I appreciate your words of reassurance, Maxwell. Really I do. But...but I cannot agree with you..that it isn't my fault. How could it not be my fault? I'm the one who...”

“I know it wasn't your fault...” Max interrupted her again, holding onto her a little tighter. “..because I could see it in your eyes. When you were glaring down at me...I could see it.. It wasn't you doing those terrible things. It was something else, and you couldn't control yourself.” He then frowned softly, sudden worry rising up inside of him. “But my question is..who is really pulling the strings here?”

Moynihan looked to the ground, averting her gaze from Max. She didn't have an answer for him, and she didn't know what they should do now. “I..I don't know, dear boy. I don't know.”

“I bet Michelle has something to do with this...” Buzz said, his eyes narrowed dangerously. He truly believed that Michelle had done something to Moynihan to make her act this way. Other than the Dino Squad, she was the last person Moynihan had come into contact with before she started acting strangely. Surely Michelle had done something before she left to have caused this to happen. It wouldn't surprise him. That jerk would probably do anything just to make their lives more miserable.

“Yeah...” Rodger nodded his head. “It would make sense. She must have done something when she was leading us to Caruso.. She must have!” He glanced from one team member to another, addressing them all as he spoke. “It would be just like her. All she had ever done since we met her was cause trouble! So it makes perfect sense for her to be involved with what is happening to Ms. M!”

“Guys...” Max spoke up, his eyes narrowed as well. “..we don't have any proof. There is no evidence linking Michelle to what has happened to Moynihan. I don't think we should be jumping to conclusions already.”

Rodger and Buzz shot a glare at Max. It was Rodger who spoke. “So are you saying that she is actually innocent?” He felt a little disgusted that Max would even think of defending someone like Michelle, who would probably just lead them to another trap to capture one of them if they dare give her the chance to do so. They both had learned not to trust her, and they hoped that their team mates wouldn't fall for her trickery again.

Max shook his head. “No. I'm just saying that, before going after her, we should have some kind of evidence to back up our claims.” He said, trying to be as calm as possible. “We can't just waltz up to someone, capture them, and take them in for questioning without some kind of proof, even if that person happens to be someone like Michelle, or Oscura.”

Buzz grumbled softly, still glaring at the jock. “They wouldn't do the same for us...”

“If we act like them, we become them.” Max blurted out firmly, staring at both Rodger and Buzz as he spoke to let them know he was addressing them specifically. It was true, after all, that if Buzz and Rodger started acting like how they think Michelle and Oscura would act, then they would not be any better than they were. They would have stooped down to their level and would be just as bad as they were. And Max knew that Rodger and Buzz did not want to be like Oscura or Michelle.

Buzz and Rodger's eyes widened quickly when Max told them this. They started to fill up with both anger and shock. They weren't sure whether or not if they were angry at Max for saying that to them, or if they were angry at themselves for allowing themselves to start to stoop down to their enemies' levels. They wanted to show that they were better than they were. But if they acted like them, how could they possibly be any better? But at the same time, they both did mean well and they wondered if Max truly understood this, especially Buzz. The punk knew that Max hadn't suffered in the same way he had. Max hadn't been so viciously tricked on the same online game twice. He hadn't been duped by someone who looked like she could have made a good ally, only later to turn out to be their worst nightmare. And that trickery almost cost them a team member, a friend.

Rodger lowered his gaze, starting to feel a little ashamed at what he was saying. He felt terrible for accusing Max of possibly siding with Michelle. He knew Max would never do such a thing, not after what happened. And he knew Max was right. As much as he hated Michelle, he couldn't just go up and accuse her of something that she probably didn't do if he didn't have any kind of evidence to back himself up with. Michelle could turn out to be quite innocent in what is happening, but he had his doubts on that. Rodger had a hard time believing that Michelle would help them, even if she was forced to, without doing something in return, a retaliation of sorts. The only things she really did were piss them off and fought Buzz, although Rodger had to admit, it did seem like she was provoked and was just defending herself. Still, that didn't excuse her of her guilt in his mind. In his eyes, Michelle was still the enemy.

Fiona watched the scene unfold in front of her as she remained seated at Caruso's side. She quickly glanced over to see if he had woken up. She sighed softly when she saw that his eyes were still closed, and his head was still lopped to one side. It didn't seem like he had moved at all since he fell back asleep. She felt somewhat relieved. She didn't think that Irwin would want to hear them talking about one of the very people responsible for the terrible pain that he had been, and still was, in for the past couple weeks. She then glanced back at them. She couldn't help but feel sorry for Buzz and Rodger. They both started to look like they were feeling bad for what they said. On one hand, she knew Max was right in that they shouldn't jump to conclusions. But on the other hand, Michelle was still the enemy and it helps to be extra cautious, especially now when all this stuff was happening to them. She hoped that the situation calms down soon.

Moynihan also watched the scene play out in front of her, although she was feeling more nervous and apprehensive about it. But her mind was mostly on what Max was telling her a few minutes ago. She was feeling a little shocked and somewhat happy that Max was still willing to give her a chance, and she was even more surprised that he didn't at all blame her for what had happened. Part of her did want to hug him and thank him for not turning his back on her. But the other part was afraid to even touch him. She wanted to swat him away from her side and get away from the kids before she turned on them again. They weren't safe around her anymore. She could sense that. But she didn't know why Max wasn't picking up on this. She tried to kill him! How could he still trust her after that?

Wanting to break the uneasy silence that had fallen onto the room, Max took in a deep breath. He wanted to say something he felt a leader should say in this situation. After all, he was the leader of the Dino Squad. The only one who 'ranked' higher than he did was Moynihan. She was the one who usually trains hem. Though after this change of behavior, he wondered if training would be put off for a while. “Look, I know we are all upset about what has been happening lately. But we have to look on the brighter side, guys. We have to keep hoping that things will get better. Keep an optimistic look! Don't give up hope!” He looked at everyone in the room one at a time, including Caruso who was still unconscious. Everyone listened to him intently, their eyes glued on him. Max felt a sense of pride and a feeling of importance rise up inside of him and he spoke some more. “As long as we have hope, there's nothing Victor and his goons can take from us! As long as we have hope, we can make a stand, and make sure they pay for what they did to us! Standing as one, we can make sure Victor never dares shows his face around here again!”

* * *

On the outskirts of Kittery Point, Michelle was walking alone, at the side of the room, looking forward. She could see the lighthouse from where she was. It wasn't too far away, and she could easily reach it on foot. But she decided to stay by the trees and such, keeping her distance away. She didn't dare transform into a dinosaur, believing that the Dino Squad would be able to detect her. She was certain that they had some kind of equipment up now anyway. Even if they didn't, she couldn't take the chance. They wouldn't find her if she was in human form. So she remained where she was, staring out at the lighthouse, trying to think of what she should do.

Part of her wanted to get away from there as quickly as possible. She felt frightened and unsure about being so close to the lighthouse after being away from it for a couple weeks. And after how she had witnessed the Dino Squad's reaction to her, and after how she had upset them back at the warehouse, she didn't think they'd want her to be anywhere near the lighthouse. If they saw her now, they'd probably rush over and grab her or chase her away. She clenched her teeth tightly, feeling a little scared at the moment. The only sense of security she got was that, if they did spot her now, she could go dino and run away and she would have a head start on them. She could probably slip away before they even find her.

“Why do I have to do this?” Michelle asked herself, lowering her head. Victor wanted her, Oscura, or any member of the Raptor Dyne organization to kill Caruso on sight. As much as she didn't want to do it, if she didn't do it and Victor found out, he was going to get very angry at her, even more so than he had back at the warehouse. “I..I need to do something...anything...” She closed her eyes tightly and tried to think as hard as she could, trying to come up with a solution to save herself and the Dino Squad too.

But what could she possibly hope to do? The Dino Squad didn't trust her. There was no way that they would believe her if she tried to warn them against Victor's plot. And if she gets caught doing this, she herself would get into a lot of trouble. She growled in frustration, trying to think of something that she could do. She stared out at the lighthouse, taking a step forward. She considered going over there and begging for forgiveness and offering her services. She flinched. That didn't seem to be like a very good idea. It could backfire on her. Either she would only end up as a prisoner for the Dino Squad, who might use her for ransom or something, or Victor would find out what happened and would punish her, even kill her.

She would have to come up with a decision soon. Victor had only let her and Oscura leave the lighthouse for a few hours. If she stayed here for too long, Victor would become suspicious. And when she would come back, he might stop her and ask her to tell him where she was and he might be able to tell if she was lying or not. She also didn't know when the Dino Squad were going to leave the lighthouse. If she stayed there too long, the Dino Squad might emerge from the lighthouse to go somewhere, and they might spot her on the way back. And if they spot her, she would have to move as fast as she could so that they don't capture her.

Before she had time to make another move or think about any other problems that she might encounter, Michelle heard the sound of a car engine behind her. Quickly diving behind some of the trees, she looked out from behind the tree carefully, and saw a familiar large yellow vehicle. Her eyes widened when she realized who it was. “The Dino Squad!” She gasped in shock. They weren't at the lighthouse at all! They must have left sometime ago. She gulped and tried to calm her breathing. She realized that if she had gone to the lighthouse, she would have been trapped. The Dino Squad would have returned, found her, and made escape impossible. She would then be right where they wanted her, trapped and helpless.

Michelle tried to keep herself as hidden as possible as she watched the Dino SUV drive by, eyeing it cautiously as she prepared herself for a sudden attack. But as the vehicle drove by without slowing down, she suspected that they didn't see her at all. She sighed with relief and wiped her brow. She then moved past a few trees and looked out ahead to see the Dino SUV making its way towards the lighthouse. After a few minutes, the Dino SUV had pulled up into the driveway of the lighthouse. She narrowed her eyes and she could make out small figures walking out of the vehicle. She recognized them as the teenagers she came into contact with a few weeks ago.

She watched them as they walked up into the lighthouse, one by one, and vanished from sight. But one of them stayed behind. She couldn't recognize who it was at first, but whoever it was remained standing on the top of the staircase that lead to one of the entrances of the lighthouse. She squinted her eyes further, putting a flattened palm above her eyes to try to get a better look. When she got a glimpse of green hair, she gasped and took a step back. That was all she needed to recognize who it was: Neil Buzmati.

She wanted to turn and run away from there, but she remained frozen where she stood. Michelle looked up at him, eyes widened in fear and anxiety. Her legs tensed up, preparing to bolt away if she needed to. But Buzz didn't seem to move from where he stood, and eventually, he turned and walked through the door and disappeared into the lighthouse. Michelle sighed in relief, almost falling to the ground when she relaxed very quickly. But she couldn't stop worrying as one question popped into her mind. Did Buzz see her standing there among the foliage?

Michelle decided not to wait any longer to find out. Taking a few steps backwards, she quickly turned and ran away from the lighthouse, down the grove of the trees that lined the road. She looked back for a few seconds, worried that she would see the Dino Squad any second. But they did not come. She turned her head to face where she was going, but she did it a little too late. Her foot caught onto a raised bump in the ground. Yelping, she slammed into the ground. Hissing in pain, she put her hands beside herself and pushed herself up.

Climbing to her feet, Michelle brushed the dirt and grime that had clung to her shirt when she had fallen forward. She then started to make her way down along the road, this time walking at a much slower pace to avoid falling down again. That was a silly move, Michelle thought as she continued to walk along the side of the road, careful to stay hidden where possible. She then stopped in her tracks. She didn't get very far, maybe a few feet. She turned around and looked back at the spot where she was at. It looked a little familiar. When she took a closer look at it, she realized the place was a lot like the place where the Dino Squad had 'saved' her from Oscura. It wasn't the exact location, but it was pretty close.

Overwhelming feelings of guilt and anger towards herself rose up. She closed her eyes, trying to forget how she had so wrongly tricked the Dino Squad that day. Michelle quickly turned her head away and continued to make her way down the road. She didn't have much time left to back to Raptor Dyne. She would worry about warning the Dino Squad later, perhaps in a place where they could not go dino on her. And she knew just where to find them. “I'll pay them a little visit....”

* * *

In the lighthouse, the Dino Squad were sitting in the living room. With the cable repaired and working again, they could now get the television on. Maxwell had turned on the television set to see what was playing at the time. He tried his best to avoid anything that was too intense or scary. He didn't want to upset his friends further, so he tried to find something that was more humorous than scary. He wanted to help them get their mind off of things, especially Caruso, who was now fully awake from the procedure Moynihan performed on him at the Mothersaurus Submarine. When Max had suggested watching a little TV when they got back, Caruso had asked him not to put on anything that was too intense. And the others had agreed with him.

This task was going to prove difficult, however. As Max flipped through the channels that Moynihan had, the only things that seem to be showing up were news based programs either about recent events regarding dinosaur sightings or politics or other worldly problems, or they would be scary movies that either had monsters of an unimaginable nature or a cruel person going off killing people, which seemed to remind Caruso about Victor because when he saw the brief preview, he yelped and cringed back. Max continued to search through the stations, but the only thing that was coming on that seemed the least scary was a cartoon, probably one of Buzz's favorites. Sighing and seeing no other option, Max switched that station on. The show seemed to involve some cute anthro animals teaching kids about lessons like friendship, trust, sharing, and playing.

Upon seeing the show that Max had put on, Fiona wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Max, why did you have to put this show on? I hate this show!” Fiona sometimes has to put up with the show when she has to babysit her little sister, who seemed to love the show, although she hasn't watched it recently. Fiona had to see the show so many times that, as much as she hated to admit it, she knew the opening theme song by heart and it drove her insane. “Isn't there something else you can put on?” She groaned.

Max shook his head. “I'm sorry, Fi, but this is the only thing on right now that won't scare Caruso or upset any of us.”

“It's upsetting me with its annoying music and equally annoying characters!” Fiona retorted.

Rodger chuckled a little when he heard this. Fiona was not someone he'd expect to hate a show like this. This is the same person who thought Rump was cute even in dino mode. And she was the same person who suggested saving the dog in the first place. It didn't seem to make sense to him for Fiona to dislike a show about cute, talking animals. “But Fiona, I thought you would like a show like this. You gotta admit, the characters are kinda cute. I thought you liked cute characters.”

“I do!” Fiona snapped, glaring at Rodger. “What makes you think I don't?”

“Well, you don't like those characters.” Rodger pointed at the screen, which was now displaying a two-legged pink dog with blue spots talking with a bright orange cat with red under belly, also two-legged. “And anyway, what about Rump? You think he's kinda cute, don't you? Do you hate him too?” As he said this, Rump's ears twitched and he quickly looked up at Rodger. On the way back, the Dino Squad had picked up Rump from McFinn, who, surprisingly, stated that Rump wasn't any trouble at all.

“That's different!” Fiona snapped, pointing a finger at Rump, who put his ears back as if he did something wrong. “Rump doesn't spend half the day singing and dancing about morals and try to drill them into your head!”

Rodger chuckled again and then leaned back into the couch, folding his hands and arms behind his back. “Well that's just too bad. Cause it looks like this is what we are going to watch. Just try to relax, okay?”

Fiona grumbled something under her breath, but gave in. “Oh all right...” With that, she turned to the television set and reluctantly began watching the very show that Terri used to drive her insane with.

As she thought of Terri, she remembered how she had gotten a phone call earlier while still on the ship. Mrs. Corel had called Moynihan to be more specific, who had, in turn, given the phone to Fiona. Once Fiona was on the phone, Mrs. Corel had handed the phone to Terri so the two sisters could talk to each other about what was happening. Fiona was instantly worried when she heard Terri talking in a fast-paced tone of voice, telling her about how she saw two of Veloci's men running through the neighborhood. At first, Fiona was just as worried as she was, especially when she explained that the men could have gotten into their house. But they were both soon very relieved when they heard Mrs. Corel yelling in the background, stating that she just saw their parents walking out of the house, completely unharmed.

But even though the danger had passed, that did not dismiss the fact that Veloci's men were in the area. Fiona frowned, eyes narrowed. The last time Victor's goons were in the area, they unleashed a giant, mutant spider onto Mrs. Corel's house. She wondered what they were up to this time. She wasn't sure if they were going to unleash another mutantsaur, if they were simply patrolling, or if there was another reason that they were in her neighborhood. But no matter what it was, she knew one thing; they must have been up to no good.

Fiona nearly bolted out of her seat when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She quickly looked up to see who it was. “Oh Caruso..It's only you.” She said, sighing in relief, hand on her chest to calm her speeding heart. “You startled me.” While Caruso did not speak a word for fear of getting hurt, the expression on his face told Fiona that he felt bad for scaring her like that. She could also tell that he looked concerned. He must have seen her in distress as she was thinking about Veloci's men that had appeared near her house. “It's..it's nothing really...” Fiona said, giving Caruso a look that was as sincere as she could make it. “Nothing to be concerned about anyway.”

“Are you sure about that?” Max spoke up, looking over his shoulder. “You seemed a little stressed ever since you got that phone call.” The very mention of the phone call made Fiona visibly flinch, and Max knew right away that he was onto something. Turning over so he didn't have to crane his neck so heard, he looked at Fiona in the eyes and said, “What happened, Fiona? Did..did something happen to your family?” Again another flinch, but Fiona didn't say anything. “That's it isn't it... Something happened in the neighborhood, didn't it? Come on Fiona...you can tell us.”

Fiona looked towards the ground, and she felt Caruso's hand gently squeeze her shoulder as a way to reassure her that she could speak to them about this. She offered a weak smile to her friends, who were all, with the exception of Moynihan who was out of the room, were looking at her sympathetically. “I had gotten a phone call from Mrs. Corel and my little sister. They said they spotted Veloci's men in the neighborhood again, and they thought my parents were trouble.” There was a collection of gasps in the room and Fiona quickly added, “But my parents are fine. They didn't go after them.”

“I wonder why Veloci would send his men into the neighborhood...” Max pondered. “It's not like he knows where we live or anything. Maybe it was just a coincidence?”

Rodger shook his head. “Somehow, I doubt that, Maxwell. What are the odds of Victor randomly sending his men to our neighborhood?”

Oh yeah?” Buzz challenged Rodger. “What about the time that they mutated a spider in Mrs. Corel's yard? She is one of Fiona's neighbors, isn't she? And yet Veloci didn't know we were human at the time.” Buzz silently wished that this were still a fact, that Victor didn't know they were human. But after how he must have witnessed them, particularly Caruso, transform, that would leave no doubt in Victor's mind that his 'perfect dinosaurs' were indeed humans.

Rodger lifted a finger to protest, but nothing came out of his mouth. His finger slowly lowered when he realized Buzz was right. “I had forgotten about that... Sorry.”

Max frowned deeply. “Veloci must be up to something. Why else would he send his men out anywhere? Where ever his men are...”

“...trouble will follow soon.” Fiona finished his sentence for him, nodding her head. “That's exactly what I thought too.”

Upon seeing Caruso's face contort into fearfulness, Buzz cleared his throat loud enough for the others to hear him. When he got their attention, he said, “Guys..maybe we shouldn't be talking about...him.... right now.” With that, he made a few quick jerks of the head to Caruso, indicating that he was thinking about his welfare. The others caught on to what Buzz was saying and quickly shut their mouths, lowering their heads in shame, upset that they had forgotten Caruso was in the room with them.

Trying to think of something else to talk about, Fiona said, “So..what do you guys have planned for the weekend?” She wasn't sure if this was the place or the time to be asking such a question, but it was the only topic she could think of that she didn't think would upset Caruso or intimidate the others. She could have asked about Moynihan, but she quickly declined, remembering what had happened on the Mothersaurus Submarine.

Buzz turned his eyes upward, but his head remained where it was. He was thinking about his answer, scratching his chin thoughtfully. He then finally returned his gaze to Fiona. “Well....I was hoping to challenge Caruso to another online battle on that dinosaur game Rodger had created.” As he said this, he slowly turned his gaze to Irwin. “..that is..if that's all right with you, Caruso.” Without hesitation, Caruso managed to smile weakly and nodded his head, although it didn't have much enthusiasm to it. Nonetheless, Buzz was glad that Caruso had accepted his challenge. Maybe the game could help ease the boy's mind.

Fiona smiled, feeling happy that at least something was returning to normal. Buzz was probably one of the closest to Caruso in terms of friendship. So seeing Buzz challenge Caruso to another online battle, like he would have if this had never happened, if they were living their lives like they normally did since they got their powers, made Fiona feel a little better about what was going on. If it weren't for the still-visible scars on Caruso's face, she would have thought that all those horrible things had never happened in the first place, for a brief moment.

“I have a football game tomorrow.” Said Max, smiling as best as he could in spite of how he was really feeling. “We're to face off against..that other school... What was its name?” The name of the school was escaping his mind, and he growled lowly in frustration as he tried in vain to remember that one name.

Rodger, who wasn't big on sports, just simply shrugged his shoulders. “I wouldn't know the name of the school, Max. But may I ask one thing?”

“Sure.” Replied Max.

Rodger smiled slyly and leaned in a little towards Max with a look on his face that Max didn't like too much. “How can you have a game if it's on the weekend? Isn't the school closed on Saturdays?”

Realizing his mistake, Rolf slapped himself in the face. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about that. Rodger was right. There was no way a school game would be held on a weekend day. The weekend is when most students are relaxing from a long week of school work. Why would they give up their weekend for a game? Max frowned slightly at that. What kind of stupid question was that? There were plenty of people he can think of that would play a football game on the weekend. It was one of America's favorite past times, wasn't it?

“Sorry about that.” Max said quickly, realizing he had gone silent on the dark-skinned computer geek. Rubbing the back of his head in a nervous manner, he continued, “You are right. It couldn't be on the weekend. I guess I got it mixed up.”

Rodger chuckled and gently elbowed Max. “Hey, maybe you're getting too old to remember very well, eh?” He said in a joking manner, hoping to put everyone in good spirits.

Although still feeling a little stupid, Max managed to laugh and patting Rodger on the back. “Yeah, maybe you're right!” After calming himself down, Max asked, “So what about you, Rodg? What do you plan to do this weekend?”

Rodger thought about this for a moment before replying, “Hmm...I'm not sure. I could work on a prototype for a new weapon, well since that...” He was about to bring up Victor, but he quickly stopped himself, remembering Buzz's warning, and swiftly said, “..I think we might be needing it soon. Or I could start to upgrade the dinosaur motorcycles, maybe give them more features or something.”

Fiona frowned playfully. “Hey genius, if you're going to do that, make sure to tell me about it first so I can help you.”

Rodger tilted his head, pretending that he didn't know what the girl was talking about. “And why is that?”

“Well..I don't exactly trust you working on the cycles by yourself.” Fiona said with a slight smirk, indicating that she meant it as a joke. She wasn't being serious, and she knew that Rodger knew that as well.

Before anyone could get another word in, they were interrupted by Moynihan, who had quietly walked into the room and had listened to part of their conversation. “You kids enjoying yourselves?” Moynihan asked, nearly startling everyone in the room. A few of them, including Max, gave out a startled cry. Moynihan winced and took a step back. She hadn't meant to frighten them like that. When everyone regained their bearings, Moynihan lowered her head slightly. “I apologize, kids. I didn't might to startle you like that.”

“I-It's quite all right..” Max said, rubbing the side of his head as if he were feeling humiliated at being startled so easily like that. “I didn't mean to be so startled myself.”

Buzz smirked at him. “You scream like a girl.” He immediately regretted saying that when Max lifted his arm up to strike him. Buzz immediately shielded himself and shouted, “I'm sorry!” Max's hand froze in place and his expression softened, but the jock kept his arm raised, poised to strike at Buzz.

Caruso watched this scene, a new sense of horror rising up inside of him. His eyes widened as far as they could go, exposing the red veins near the best of the eyes. He wanted to stand up and run, but something, possibly fear, kept him frozen right where he was. The scene playing out before him was so familiar, way too familiar to him. It was very similar to what he had gone through when he was Victor's prisoner. Victor had subdued him in similar, though more vicious, manners. He had cowered the same way that Buzz currently was, although Caruso was probably much more desperate since Victor was a worse threat than his own friends. Even though Caruso knew that this wasn't that serious of a situation and that it wasn't even directed towards him, Caruso couldn't help but see himself and Victor in Buzz and Max's places. Memories, horrible memories, came flooding into his mind and he shut his eyes tightly, allowing a few tears of fear stream down his face.

He couldn't control the fear that was now enveloping him, taking control. He started to shake visibly as if he were freezing to death. As he gritted his teeth, they slowly changed into the Stegosaur teeth that he adorned while in dino mode. His skin had a very slight bluish purple tinge to it now, as if he was going to transform any second. Saliva dripped from his jaws as he continued to clench his teeth, and he growled softly, gripping his head tightly, his fingernails digging into his scalp. Caruso fought desperately for control, to make himself stop, but the fear was already taking a hold of him, already making him panic just like he had the day he was rescued and brought into the lighthouse. He reopened his eyes, which still retained their normal appearance, and looked around the room. All eyes were now on him.

Fiona reached out towards him, her eyes wide open in shock. “Caruso? Caruso! What's wrong?” But Caruso could only continue to growl and hiss. He wasn't looking at any one in particular, but he was staring to get that wild, unrecognizing look in his eyes like he had before. Fiona knew that this wasn't good news, and she wanted to snap him out of it quickly, before it was too late. “Caruso, please, don't let the fear take control of you! Remember where you are! Remember us! We're your friends!”

Caruso looked around the room, his eyes still widened with fear. His heart was starting to quicken, feeling like it was going to burst open inside of him. He immediately got up out of the seat he was currently in, and looked around the room again, his arms spread out like he was either going to attack or run away. The recognition that was once in his eyes had all but faded away, although they still remained normal-looking. He started to bare his sharp teeth at his friends, and they realized that they had failed to stop him from going into this state of mind. Their only chance now was to try to calm him down as quickly as possible before he hurt himself or someone else, like he had before.

Max took a brave step forward, getting as close as he could to Caruso without frightening him off or provoking him to attack. Instead of yelling at him, Max decided to speak calmly to Caruso, hoping it would help him relax easier. “Caruso, relax. It's me, Rolf Maxwell, remember? We're friends, you and I. We're all friends. Try to remember, Caruso..please. We aren't going to hurt you...” With that, he took another brave step forward, and reached out towards him. But he immediately snapped his hand back when Caruso snapped at it, attempting to tear up his hand with his teeth. Max looked at Caruso with a shocked look on his face, but he didn't give up. “Please..try to remember, Caruso. We're not your enemy.”

But Caruso didn't seem to be in a listening mood. He bent his body forward slightly, similar to a Velociraptor, and held his hands out in front of him, the fingers now arched forward as if he was going to slash. Even though Caruso didn't have the claws showing yet, Max predicted that, if provoked enough, Caruso would unsheathe the thick yet sharp Stegosaurus claws. And sure enough, when Max took a step forward, Caruso had done just that. Out of each fingertip jutted out a thick claw, each tipped with a sharp end. Caruso raised one hand high up, threatening to strike down Max if he got any closer.

“Caruso!” Fiona shouted, which got Caruso's attention. Following Max's example, she started to speak gently towards him. “It's me, Fiona. Don't you recognize me? Don't you recognize anyone in this room? Caruso, we're your friends. We've been friends for a couple years. You are no longer Victor's prisoner. You're home now, back with your friends and family. Please..try to relax yourself. Try to settle down. Please Caruso..I don't want you to get hurt...” She begged him, hoping some of her words would get through to Caruso.

But unfortunately, they didn't. Caruso only snorted in response and let out a loud hiss while his eyes changed, glowing intense yellow, all the while a low rumbling growl escaping his throat. The remaining Dino Squad, and Moynihan as well, took a step back. Rump growled softly, but when Caruso gave him a fierce, sharp-toothed growl, Rump ran away a couple feet, but he quickly turned around and barked at Caruso, but remained right where he was. All the while, his ears remained flat against this skull as if he felt threatened by Caruso's presence. It was like he sensed that something was about to happen.

And something did happen, so quickly, so suddenly, that none of the Dino Squad members had time to react to it.

Caruso's eyes glowed brightly, so illuminated they were that they could no longer see his pupils clearly, but they could make out that they were now slit-like. A gasp of fear escaped some of their throats. They had a feeling what was going to happen next. Taking heed to Caruso's warning growls and hisses, they moved away from him swiftly, giving him as much room as possible. Within a few seconds from what the eyes had started glowing, Caruso's skin rapidly turned a darker shade of purplish blue. His hair changed to red and it spiked down his back, rapidly forming his spinal plates. He dropped down onto all fours, a massive tail, armed with spikes, swishing forward, from side to side. Caruso's face, now elongated, let out a massive bellow, and he slapped his tail on the ground, causing the lighthouse to shake from the massive blow.

A few of the Dino Squad members struggled to keep their footing, but some weren't so lucky and they found themselves slamming against the hardwood floor beneath them, some of them getting bruises almost right away. They quickly regained their bearings, and looked in horror at the now fully transformed Caruso standing in the middle of the room, talking up more than half the space, forcing the other occupants to back up near the corners and walls of the room. And they couldn't leave the room so easily; the Stegosaurus form of Caruso blocked almost all exits and the ones that were visible would be difficult to reach with Caruso's sharp-toothed mouth and spiked tail posing a threat.

Caruso raised his head again, jaws wide open as he let out another loud bellow, and he swung his tail to one side, aimed directly at Moynihan. The old woman managed to dodge just in time, the tail sailing over her head just inches away. The tail continued to move in that direction, and it slammed against the wall, shaking the lighthouse again. When Caruso pulled the tail back, the Dino Squad flinched and covered their ears as they heard the spikes scraping along the wall, like someone scratching a chalkboard with their long fingernails.

Instinct told the Dino Squad to transform and defend themselves against this large and powerful threat, but their hearts told them to stay put. They couldn't attack their best friend, even if he was attacking them. They just could not. The team remained stationed where they were, watching as Caruso slammed his tail down again and again, stomping his foot onto the ground as if he was going to charge, letting out loud, threatening roars. And as he roared, his massive teeth were exposed, looking like imposing threats to the smaller, human target. The sight of them made Fiona flinch. They were the same teeth that had shredded her shoulder a few weeks again. She gingerly touched the area as she remembered that day. But despite her fear, like everyone else, she remained standing.

It seemed like Caruso was trying to scare them off. If he truly thought that they were Victor, or some kind of threat, like he had the last time, he would surely either attack them or try to scare them. Slamming his tail, stomping his feet, and roaring yet not attacking seemed to be a clear sign that he was trying to provoke them into running and getting away from him. If they got too close to him, those massive jaws would come down and bite into them or that muscular tail would strike them down, perhaps killing them on impact.

The team didn't want to leave Caruso. They didn't want to leave him alone in this state of mind. Even the old woman, Moynihan, was staying put, standing her ground even in the face of the imposing threat of a large, mad Stegosaurus in the confines of her own lighthouse. She seemed just as intent on staying put as the others were. Inspired by Moynihan's bravery, the team remained where they were, not moving forward or backward. Even if they wanted to leave, they couldn't. Caruso's massive bulk was preventing them from escaping. All they could do was stand their ground and hope that Caruso would come to his senses and stop attacking them.

Irwin bellowed again, looking irritated that the team wasn't trying to get away. Feeling as though he was being threatened, he took a step forward, his massive front foot just missing the furniture, and reached out with his neck towards Rodger, who, because of his larger size, looked like an easier target for him. Eyes glowing brighter than before, Caruso snapped his jaws down, the two mandibles coming into contact with one another just inches away from Rodger's face. The teen had managed to move back just far enough to be out of the Stegosaur's reach, but he was still terrified of having those teeth being that close to him.

“Rodger!” Buzz shouted without stopping himself. “Caruso! No!” He realized quickly how big of a mistake this was. Caruso turned his head over to the punk, glowing eyes now focused on him. Before Buzz could say anything, he found himself sprawling on the ground to avoid Caruso's jaws clamping down in his direction.

Fiona and Max tried to move in to help their friends, but Caruso's tail swung in their direction, causing them to fall onto the ground to avoid the tail as it smashed into the wall, leaving long, deep scratches in it. Before they could get up, the tail had quickly positioned itself above them. The only bright side of this was that the tail couldn't twist around so that the spikes were facing toward them. But the tail itself, solid with muscle, was just as dangerous as the spikes. If they didn't move out of the way quickly enough, they would be crushed under the weight of the tail.

As the tail came down towards them, Fiona and Max both felt someone grab them by the arm and roughly pulled them out of the way just in time as the tail crashed into the ground, shaking the floor underneath them. The two teens looked over to see who had rescued them. They were momentarily stunned, and then Max shouted, “Moynihan!” His voice was full of shock. Moynihan had made it over to them just in time, despite being a good few feet away from them, and had mustered enough strength to pull them out of the way, saving them from Caruso's tail.

“Don't thank me yet!” Moynihan shouted. The old woman had gritted her teeth in fear and anticipation. “We are not out of the woods yet!” As she said this, the tail had been raised again, this time in her direction. Moving quickly, she managed to dodge the tail yet again, but it was a close one.

“How are we going to stop him?!” Buzz shouted, although softer than he had before, remembering what happened the last time he had shouted. “We can't go dino in here now! There's not a lot of room!”

“And we can't get out of here either.” Fiona noted. “Caruso's blocking our path.”

Rodger narrowed his eyes. “There has to be a way out of this, guys. There has to be a way to get through to Caruso.”

“You've got to calm him down.” Came Moynihan's voice. The woman managed to make it over to the kids, now supporting her weight on her cane. “That's the only way to get him to stop.”

“But..how can we calm him down if he keeps attacking us?” Max asked, nervous eyes shifting towards the massive Stegosaurus, roaring in a mixture of fear and anger. “I don't think any of us can get close enough to him without him biting at his or hitting us with that tail of his.”

Before anyone had any time to get another word in, Caruso bellowed again and turned his massive body around until he could strike at the teens with his long, thick tail. He slammed his tail as close as he could to the teens, who had, once again, quickly dodged out of the way before the tail could make contact with them. Snorting in frustration, Caruso tried to strike at them again, but he only missed again. The teenagers were too small of a target, and were too quick for him to strike at, which was unusual considering the small space of the room compared to having him inside of it. Nonetheless, he didn't back down so easily. Turning around to face them, he started to walk quickly forward, hoping to corner one of them so he could attack since he obviously couldn't drive them away.

Moving and turning as quickly as he could, Caruso managed to corner Rodger against the wall, blocking any chance of escape by being so close to that Rodger wouldn't be able to dodge out of the way without being struck by Caruso's clawed feet. Rodger backed up as far as he could go, only to trip on something and fall down onto his back. Looking up, he saw the humongous Stegosaurus staring down at him, mouth open with saliva dripping at both sides. Eyes widening, all Rodger could do was look away and wait for the impact.

“Rodger!” Buzz cried out in horror. Without thinking, he ran towards his fallen friend just as Caruso was lunging forward with his jaws. Despite his puny size compared to Rodger, he managed to pull Rodger up and out of the way. But Buzz couldn't react in time before Caruso's jaws came down upon him, snatching him by the right arm and then lifting him up into the air. “AAAAAAAAHHHHH!” Buzz screamed, blood oozing from the wound.

“Buzz!” Rodger cried, shocked by what was happening. He started feeling guilty about putting Buzz in danger like that simply by being trapped. He wanted to try to help Buzz, but thought better of just rushing in head on without a plan. He might make the situation worse for Buzz, and that's the last thing Buzz needed, especially with such powerful jaws on his arm. Caruso wasn't biting hard enough to crack the bone, but he was still doing some damage.

“What can we do?” Fiona asked, watching the scene helplessly. Buzz was struggling in Caruso's grasp. He was pushing against the large snout with his free hand, but he couldn't seem to get the Stegosaurus to let go of him. Instead, Caruso's bite seemed to increase a little more, causing more blood to spill over across his arm and dripped onto the floor.

“We have to do something. Fast!” Max said, taking a step forward, but he was stopped when Moynihan put her arm out in front of him, causing him to halt where he was standing. “Ms. Moynihan?”

“Not so fast, Max.” Moynihan said sternly. “You cannot just rush in there without thinking.”

“Moynihan, I...” Max started.

“What if you get hurt? What if Buzz gets hurt even more than he already is?” Moynihan asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. “What will you do then?”

“But if we don't do something, Buzz is going to...” Max stopped himself, not wanting to continue his sentence. He looked nervously over at Buzz, who was still struggling in Caruso's massive jaws.

“Our best chance is to let himself wear out on his own.” Moynihan explained, giving a sideways glance to where Buzz was still being held up by Caruso. “Once Caruso calms down, he'll revert back to his human form.”

Rodger narrowed his eyes angrily at the old woman. She was acting as if Buzz was not in any danger at all! How can she talk like this, so calmly, when another of their friends is going to be badly injured, and by one of their own?! Rodger was tempted to grasp the woman by her shirt and shake her like how Max had back at the warehouse. But he let his better judgment take over him and he stopped himself, knowing he was only going to make the problem worse than it already was.

“How can you say that?” Rodger managed to say, his voice low and darkened. “How can you just sit back there and watch this go on?! What about Buzz? If we don't do something soon he's going to....be in a very bad situation.” Rodger was doing his best to control his anger, but he couldn't stop himself from shaking visibly in anger. “I thought you didn't want Buzz to be injured further than he already is! If we don't do something, wouldn't that go against what you want, Moynihan?! Don't you want to save Buzz?!”

But Moynihan didn't listen to him. Instead, she just walked out in front of the other teenagers, getting a little close to the large, insane Stegosaurus. Despite the blood that was flowing from Buzz's arm, and despite the screams of pain coming from his mouth, Moynihan remained perfectly still and calm, staring at the scene as if it didn't really matter to her. While Caruso was focusing his attention on Buzz, Moynihan kept edging a little closer, careful not to get Caruso's attention on her. Within a few minutes, she was close enough to him that she could reach out and touch his skin from where she was currently standing. She didn't have much time, so she quickly did what she wanted to do.

Moynihan reached out towards the Stegosaurus and gently placed one hand on his board neck. Caruso's eyes widened slightly at the touch, but his attention was still on Buzz, who was looking at him fearfully, not noticing that Moynihan was right there. Moynihan gently stroked the neck, trying to induce a calming effect on the crazed dinosaur. As she kept stroking it, she did start noticing a change in behavior in Caruso. His eyes started to droop a little, even though he wasn't really tired. He kept his eyes open, but he couldn't keep them open all the way. His weight started to shift a little, and his body slowly swayed from side to side as if he were fighting to stay standing up. His head lowered a little, and, slowly, released the pressure from his jaws, and Buzz was able to wrench his arm free.

Caruso's eyes now focused on Moynihan. He slowly bared his teeth, growling and hissing at her, but Moynihan remained standing where she was, feet firmly planted on the ground. Caruso lowered himself on the ground. He had been rearing up for the past few moments, which was how he was able to hold Buzz up in the air like he had. He moved a little closer to her, mouth opening up although he was acting less aggressive than he had been a few minutes ago. When he got close enough, Moynihan slowly moved her hand up to Caruso's scaly cheek and started to gently stroke that spot now. Caruso's eyes widened again and, like before, seemed to relax a little, but he was still advancing on her. He slowly opened up his jaws, intent on biting her, but Moynihan didn't move from the spot.

“Moynihan!” Max shouted. “He's going to bite you! Get out of the way!”

“Max...!” Moynihan glared at him before quickly looking back at Caruso. The shout from Max had startled Caruso and he was swaying his head from side to side, trying to avoid Moynihan's touch as if it was hurting him. Moynihan moved a little closer and managed to place her hand on the top of his head, away from the wound she had previously treated on the ship. She gently rubbed her thumb just below his left eye. This was one of the most sensitive spots on a Stegosaurus and a gentle rub like this would feel good and induce a calming effect. “Shhhh....” She whispered softly, trying to make herself sound as less threatening as possible.

To everyone's amazement, Caruso started to relax even more. His head lowered a little and he stopped baring his teeth. His tail was lowering to the ground as well. But his eyes still remained glowing, and Moynihan and the others feared this was only a temporary effect and that he would go back to his crazed state any second. Moynihan looked over her shoulder, staring at the kids behind her who were watching the scene with expressions of shock and worry. “Speak to him.” Joanne said in a voice loud enough for them to hear but soft enough as to not startle Irwin. “Talk to him softly. Try to calm him.”

Fiona was the first one to try talking to Caruso. “Caruso...” She made sure her voice was as quiet as it could be without the words becoming too inaudible for anyone to understand what she was saying. “..Caruso it's me..Fiona. Please..relax. Don't act this way, please. You're...you're hurting us...”

“Yeah...” Max joined in. “Don't be like this, Caruso. This isn't some prison.. This is a safe place. No one can hurt you here... You have to believe me... No one's going to hurt you again. Please, calm down.”

Not sure of what to say, Buzz said the first thing that came into his mind. “Breathe deep. Think calming thoughts. Think about the gentle wind. Think about calming colors swirling in your mind. Think about a...”

Rodger cut him off, giving him a weird look. “Where did you come up with that?”

Buzz grinned nervously. “I..I don't know.” He shrugged his shoulders.

Rodger just shook his head, looking at Buzz as though he were crazy. Then he turned his attention on Caruso. “Just try to relax, Caruso. Don't let your fears get to you. Don't allow them to make you afraid. Let go of your fears.”

Hearing the soft voices of his friends and feeling Moynihan's gentle touch on his head, Caruso calmed down even further. He slowly lay down on his haunches, tail flat on the ground. His head was still raised up, but he wasn't looking at anyone in particular. His eyes were still glowing, but the intensity was gradually decreasing as time passed. As his friends continued to talk in a soft tone toward him, he felt his heart slow down back to its normal speed. He blinked a few times as he felt Moynihan continue to stroke that area. When he reopened them another time, the glow had rapidly disappeared. Letting out a long sigh, Caruso allowed a blue glow overtake him. Moynihan took a few steps back as the form shrunk down to human size and shape. After it disappeared, Caruso seemed to regain his senses, and he looked around, eyes not focusing and dazed.

“Wh-what happened?” Caruso asked, rubbing his head as if he had been struck there. Even though he wasn't supposed to talk, he managed to do so without much pain, probably due to being too confused to notice the pain. “I felt like I had eaten a bowl of jalapeños for breakfast...”

“Well...” Max started to say, but stopped himself when he saw Caruso's eyes go wide with fear. Max braced himself, prepared to defend himself if Caruso were to go nuts yet again.

“Wha...” Caruso felt around his mouth. It tasted very strange. It had a salty and metallic taste to it. That didn't seem right. He sensed that there was some kind of fluid in his mouth. Whatever it was, it seemed to have stained his teeth as he could taste the strange flavor on his incisors as well. He salivated a little and then spit on his hand. He looked horrified to see traces of blood in his mouth. Since Moynihan had just sewn up the cuts, he knew that it couldn't be the wounds inside of his own mouth. The only other way to get blood in his mouth was if he... “Is everyone all right?!” He quickly said, and then winced, feeling a sharp pain on his tongue. The feeling had come back.

“We're fine, Caruso.” Fiona assured him, reaching one hand out to try to comfort the boy. But Caruso swat it away, although not very roughly. Nonetheless, Fiona still gave him a hurt look.

“How can you..say that?” Caruso said carefully, slowly. “What...what happened...? Who..did..I bite?” No one answered him. Feeling a little frustrated, Caruso quickly scanned the room, darting them all around until he could find the source of the blood. He didn't have many places to look. His eyes finally came to rest upon Buzz. It didn't take him long to realize that the boy's arm was shredded, blood still gushing from the deep lacerations. Caruso quickly put his hand to his mouth. “Oh no..Buzz!”

Buzz chuckled half-heartedly, glancing down at his arm. “I-It's no big deal really.. It can be washed, cleaned, and bandaged. It'll heal. Not a big deal. Don't worry about it.” He was doing his best to try and prevent Caruso from beating himself up over this. As upset as Buzz was at what Caruso had done to him, he couldn't really blame the guy. He wasn't under his complete control. He didn't know what he was doing. “Don't beat yourself up over it, Irwin.” He added playfully, trying to see if calling him by his first name would awaken some part of the Caruso that he knew.

But it didn't seem to work. Caruso was still shuddering at the thought of hurting yet another of his best friends. He had already shredded Fiona's shoulder. Now he had ripped up Buzz's arm. Who was next? Was he going to wake up and find that he had killed his own parents? Was he going to come to and realized he had murdered Moynihan? He shook his head, gripping it tightly, wanting to convince himself that this was all just a dream. But he quickly realized it wasn't. This was reality. “What's..what's wrong with me...?” He said softly. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up.

Moynihan stared back down at him, her face softened with a look of sympathy. “Caruso...this isn't your fault. Don't be so hard on yourself.” She placed her other hand on Caruso's other shoulder. “No one here hates you for what you've done. You couldn't control yourself. But I promise you, things will get better. You will see.” Caruso just stared back at the old woman, unsure of what to say. He felt touched by Moynihan's words and was happy that she and the others didn't seem to harbor any ill will towards him. But he still couldn't help but feel guilty about what he did, and he was still very afraid, not just for his friends' safety, but his own. He still felt that fear of Victor coming after him rise up inside, and it was making him even more terrified than before.

Shaking uncontrollably, Caruso latched onto Moynihan, wrapping his arms around her and holding her as tight as he could without suffocating her. “I'm sorry!” He shouted as he felt his tears stream down his face.

Moynihan was momentarily stunned by the sudden hug, but put her arms around the shaking boy and held him gently. “There, there...” She whispered calmly to him as he continued to cry into her shoulder. “Let it all out...”

* * *

“And just where have you been?” Victor asked, his head lowered as he stared down at Michelle standing before him. He had his arms folded up tightly and he was tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for the girl to answer him. She had arrived back at Raptor Dyne a few minutes ago, and thus she was late by about an hour. He didn't know why it would take her so long to get back here. Victor had told Michelle that she'd better have a good excuse for being late. If she didn't, she would sufferer the consequences.

Michelle had her head bowed. She didn't think she could look Victor straight in the eyes now, especially with the way he was scowling at her. She also didn't know what to say to him. She couldn't tell him that she was at the lighthouse. If she revealed that, he would have asked her why she was there in the first place, and why she hadn't tried to kill Caruso. She could say that he wasn't there when she arrived, but she knew Victor's next question would have been why she hadn't stayed there, laying in wait, and attacked when he did come to the lighthouse. So there was no way out of it if she told him the truth.

Victor wasn't alone. Standing next to him was Oscura. Michelle needn't look up to know that she was smirking at her. She could picture Oscura with a big, evil grin on her face, smiling at her with satisfaction. This was a moment that she was waiting for, when Michelle would get into trouble with Victor yet again. Michelle heard a faint sound, and know that Oscura was chuckling lightly, rubbing her hands together as she eagerly waited to see how the scene would play out. The only thing that made Michelle comfortable about the scene was that Victor would not allow Oscura to attack her. So she could be confident that Oscura wasn't going to take another step towards her.

Circling the ground with a single foot in an apprehensive manner, Michelle finally looked up at her boss, not wanting to make him anymore impatient and angry than he already probably was. She bit her lip nervously and swallowed hard. She opened up her mouth and finally began to speak. “W-Well sir... I-I-I was.. I was just... um...” She looked left and right, trying to come up with an answer. She looked back up at Victor, who's eyes had narrowed dangerously thin and she could see the faint hint of a glow, a warning sign that he was growing impatient. “I was just taking a stroll around town.” Michelle finally said, making Victor's eyes cock a little in curiosity. “Y-Yeah..I was just walking around town, trying to find the Dino Squad.”

“Why?” Victor asked, the glare returning to his face. “I thought I told you that you weren't supposed to go after them unless I....”

Forgetting her manners, Michelle quickly interrupted him. “But you wanted Caruso dead, did you not? I thought you told us that we were supposed to kill him on sight.”

Victor pulled his head back and nodded once, feeling somewhat impressed that Michelle had remembered that order. Smiling, he said, “Yes, that's right, Michelle. I did say that. I'm surprised that you would remember that, especially since I only...” He stopped himself, and took a deep sigh. He decided to just drop it. No point in dwelling on it now. He cleared his throat and then said, “Anyway, you're dismissed.” He turned his back, and Oscura looked at him like he was crazy.

“But...” Oscura said, gesturing towards Michelle. The brunette stared back at her, smiling softly. “Shouldn't she get punished?” She hissed. “She disobeyed you! She was late in coming back to Raptor Dyne!”

Victor looked at Oscura. “She said she was looking to kill Caruso, which is exactly what I had ordered everyone in Raptor Dyne to do. She was just doing her job.”

Oscura growled softly. “But she was still late. She should be punished for it!” She turned to look up at Victor, the harsh glare softening so that she wouldn't provoke him.”Shouldn't she...?” Oscura finally said after several seconds of silence. Her voice was soft and somewhat puzzled.

Victor shook his head. “No. Technically, she didn't do anything wrong.”

Oscura, finally giving up, lowered her head in a pouting manner. “Oh...” She sounded very disappointed, and then she turned and walked away, leaving Michelle and Victor alone in the room. The pair watched her leave, opening and closing the door.

As soon as the door shut behind her, Victor turned back to Michelle. The girl saw the way he was looking her, all serious and stern. She quickly straightened her back, stiffening up in fear. The way he was looking at her suggested that he was still upset with her about something. Victor slowly shook his head again, never taking his eye off the girl. “Sometimes, I wonder why you and Oscura can't just learn to work together. I thought all you filthy monkeys knew how to work together.”

Michelle winced at this statement. “I'm..I'm sorry, sir. I-I don't know why either. We just..hate each other.”

“I've seen humans who hate each other even more get along much better than you and Oscura are.” Victor said, eyes narrowing slightly. “So how is it that you two can't do the same thing? And don't tell me that you don't know.”

Michelle Brown gulped. “I-I really don't know why..I guess we just..get on each other's nerves too much.” Michelle scratched the back of her head. It was like she didn't know herself why she and Oscura Witter hardly ever got along. It was like this since day one, although it wasn't as severe back then because they didn't know each other too well. “I try to tolerate her, Dr. Veloci. I really do..and I'm sure she tries to tolerate me. But she and I...we just don't mix well together.” She looked down. “I'm sorry.”

Victor nodded his head, trying his best to understand the situation. He wanted to make sure that the two have less conflicts with one another. He thought, at first, that he could find someway to make them get along better. But now he sees that this was no longer an option. He thought of another solution that would work, and hopefully reduce the chances of the two running into one another. The last thing that he wanted or needed was two of his own workers constantly going head-to-head with one another. That would only complicate things.

“Well,” Victor said, relaxing his arms by his side, “..I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll assign Oscura to someone else and she'll become their partner instead.” He lowered his head a little to look Michelle straight in the eyes. “Would that be all right with you?” Victor tried to sound as sympathetic as he could, but this was something he wasn't used to. In the raptor world, there was hardly such a thing as sympathy. He often wondered how humans could stand being this nice to each other. It was nothing but weakness in his eyes.

Michelle tried to smile, but she couldn't help but still feel concerned about what will happen in the future. Even if Oscura was separated from her, there was no way that would keep them apart for long. She knew Oscura was smart. She would find a way. “In all honesty, sir, I'm not sure if...”

Just then, the door swung open again. Michelle and Victor, quickly stopping their chatter, and turned over to see who it was. Victor wasn't expecting anyone and neither was Michelle. So they wondered who could be coming up there at this time. As the door opened up, stepping inside was a tall, somewhat slender yet still muscular man. It wasn't Peter; he was still in the hospital. And it wasn't Zoom; this man had dark brown hair, short but not too short. He were a light orange shirt, a business suit somewhat similar to Victor's. His pants, so long they hung slightly over his feet, were a light beige color, almost the same shade as the orange. He sported a small, light brown beard on his chin, but no mustache. He stood roughly Victor's height, but was just slightly shorter. His eyes were a deep brown, matching the color of his hair.

“Ah!” Victor said, smiling slightly as the man walked into the room. Judging from his tone of voice, Michelle suspected that Victor was indeed expecting this man to come see him. But for what? She kept quiet, and watched the two as they stood about five feet apart, staring at one another. “Drew Buzmati! I've been expecting you!”

Drew nodded his head and spoke in a deep voice. “Yes..I'm sure you have been.”

Michelle's eyes widened as she heard the name. She wondered if this could be Buzz's father. She stared at the man, grateful that he wasn't looking in her direction. The man did bear a slight resemblance to Buzz, but she couldn't get over the fact that she just found out that Buzz's father probably works for Victor. She bit her lip. This could be bad news for the Dino Squad. She took a step back, but she couldn't tear her gaze from the man. She was curious, and wanted to know what this man was going to do. Why did Victor want him? Did he know his son was a transformer just like she and Victor both were?

“So what did you want me for?” Drew asked, leaning slightly in one direction, balancing himself with his leg and arm, which was planted firmly at his side. “Wait don't tell me! You want me to unleash more ooze, isn't that right?” Drew smirked, chuckling lightly. “You should know that, after years of working with you, that I could read you like a book. Whenever you call me in here, it's usually because you want me to dispatch some more ooze.”

Victor nodded his head. The man was absolutely correct. Drew was one of the humans he had entrusted in dumping his ooze when he gave the order. Some of his workers had asked him why he would just waste all that ooze and why he would just dump it carelessly out into nature. Victor had said that any changes the ooze could have done could be reversed with his perfected ooze when he is able to duplicate it properly and effortlessly. Plus, he didn't really care what kind of mutations the ooze caused, especially since a perfected ooze could change all that. Although not everyone agreed with him, the issue was never brought up again and most of his workers kept quiet about it, even among each other.

“Yes..” Victor said. “That is usually what I call you in here for, but..not today.” He shook his head. “Not this time.”

Drew cocked an eyebrow curiously. If that isn't want Victor wanted, what was? “Oh really? And do you mind telling me just what you do want?”

Victor smirked. “Are you familiar with the Dino Squad, Mr. Buzmati?”

“The Dino Squad?” Drew inquired. “What do you mean? You mean those dinosaurs that people have kept seeing and reporting over the years?” Victor nodded his head. “Well yes, I know of them. I had a close encounter once myself, a few months ago. Nuisances they are.” When he saw Victor narrow his eyes at him, Drew realized that he had offended Victor. He started to feel stupid. Victor was a dinosaur after all, so of course he would be upset. “I-I mean just for now..because most of the world is still different.” He stammered nervously. “I'm sure they won't be once things have changed back to the-the way you want it, sir.”

Victor's frown vanished and was replaced with an evil smile. He was slightly impressed with how the man had saved himself from facing a very angry Velociraptor. Humans often didn't like to upset someone that they knew could kill them very easily. This was another sign of weakness. Humans sometimes act all tough. But deep down, they were nothing but spineless cowards. Victor had considered just killing them off, thinking humans weren't worthy of transformation. But he felt reluctant to do this, mainly because of how long it would take. Transforming them would be faster. He didn't need to test ooze on humans; he already knew that it worked. And judging from how the football players reacted when they were oozed, they wouldn't even remember they were humans. They would act like dinosaurs.

“That is correct.” Victor said finally. “They are out of place here, the dinosaurs. But once the pathetic human monkeys are...taken care of...” He hesitated as he said that. “...I can bring back the rightful owners of this planet: the dinosaurs!”

Drew just rolled his eyes a little, completely unaffected by what Victor had just said. He had heard this speech before, countless times. So have the other members of Raptor Dyne. It was driving some of them insane. But no one would dare speak out against him. They were too afraid of what Victor would do to them if they said anything about his habit of talking about his desire to bring back the dinosaurs. Drew would say something himself, usually being one of the braver humans that worked with Victor, but he decided it would be in his better judgment to keep quiet about it. So all he did was nodded at Victor's statement, as if to confirm it.

The man then sensed that someone was staring at him, and it wasn't Victor. Curious, Drew turned his head to one side. There was nobody there. He then looked to the other side. This was the first time he had seen Michelle, and the sight of her confused him. Why hadn't he noticed her before? Surely he would have noticed a teenager working for Victor. Yet another thought bothered him. Why was there a teenager at Raptor Dyne? That didn't make much sense. Drew had assumed that Victor mostly wanted youthful humans to work for him, since they would live longer than the older humans would, and they were often presenting new ideas, some of which would suit Victor's needs. It made some sense to hire a teenager as they would live even longer, but they were no experts. Surely Victor wouldn't be stupid enough to go to one of them for advise.

“Victor...” Drew finally said. “..why is there a teenager here?” He pointed at Michelle to indicate her.

“Oh?” Victor looked down at Michelle. “You mean Michelle?” He looked back up at Drew. “She's been here for a couple years now, I believe. You haven't noticed her until today?”

Drew shook his head, starting to feel like an idiot. “No, sir. I haven't.”

“And I suppose you don't know of Oscura either, eh?” Victor added.

Drew was incredulous. “There's another?!”

Victor nodded his head. “Yes. I have two teenagers working for me. Why does that shock you, Drew?”

Drew scratched the top of his head, looking confused and frustrated. He couldn't think of any reason for Victor to hire not one, but two teenagers. It was like the guy had lost his mind! This kind of job was not suited for teenagers. Jobs like this required the help of mature adults, not some annoying teenaged punks and their whiny little attitudes! “W-Well it's just that...” He glanced from Michelle back over to Veloci. “She's just a teenager. What good would she and this...this Oscura do for Raptor Dyne? They don't have any experience. They probably didn't even graduate from high school yet, let alone gone to college...!”

Victor chuckled lightly, finding this situation a little humorous. The laugh frightened Michelle, who backed away from him, but it only confused Drew. “You have a lot to learn, Drew. Oh a lot you must learn...” Victor moved his hand to indicate Michelle's current position. “She and Oscura both have a specific..quality...that I an impressed with and that's why they've been hired.”

Frowning, Drew folded up his arms. “And what trait might that be?” He wanted to see proof of this 'incredible trait' before he becomes convinced that hiring these two teenagers was a good idea.

Victor turned to Michelle and nodded once at her. “Show him.” Was all that he had said to her before turning back to Drew, wanting to see his reaction to what the girl could do.


	21. Unlikely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Michelle wasn't in the mood to turn into a dinosaur at this point, but she knew she shouldn't keep Victor or Drew waiting. She closed her eyes slowly, but then snapped them open abruptly, her eyes now glowing brightly like miniature stars in her eyes. This startled Drew enough to make him stumble backwards, causing Victor to smirk. He hadn't even see the full transformation yet. Michelle wasn't finished. Her snout quickly elongated, her human teeth mutating quickly into sharp, serrated teeth. Her skin turned to a pitch black, the underside of her turning a bright red. Claws extended from her toes and fingertips as her arms and legs mutated and changed, becoming more muscular. Tail swishing from side to side, she now stood about six feet tall, and could now easily stood eye-level with Drew.

Michelle was not as big as Victor when he was in dino mode, but she was still of an impressive size. The sight of her caused Drew to stumble backwards even further. He had seen Victor transform and that was it. He thought that Victor was the only one who had dino-morphing powers. He never would have dreamed that two teenagers could do the same thing. Drew stared at Michelle for a few seconds before looking back at Victor. “It's..it's incredible.. How did she...?” But he couldn't bring himself to finish. He was still in awe and shock at what he had just witnessed.

“Ah, but she and Oscura aren't the only ones.” Victor said, making Drew look at him, even more shocked. “Another worker of mine..no, two of them, they can also transform. So can an old...friend of mine.” Victor growled softly, faintly, at the memory of Joanne Moynihan. “And a team of five teenagers can also transform into dinosaurs, as I only recently discovered.”

Drew rubbed his head as his mind was spinning from this information. According to Victor, there was a total of ten people who could turn into dinosaurs other than Victor himself, and he had not known about it all these years. Drew wondered how he could have missed so much, how he could have been so oblivious to this fact. He closed his eyes, allowing this new information to digest inside of him, still trying to make sense of it all. He reopened his eyes and looked at Victor, trying to see if there were any signs that the man was joking, although Victor wasn't the type to kid about something like this. Victor retained his smile, but there were no signs of laughing or chuckling. And when he had spoken, he did sound very serious. There was no way this was a joke.

“Man...I wonder how I could have missed all of this...” Drew muttered, still rubbing his head, getting a small headache. “I've worked here for years, and I've never heard of anyone, other than you, sir, who could transform into a dinosaur.”

“You don't know of Peter?” Victor inquired, though not sounding very surprised at all.

Drew nodded his head. “Yes, I know of him. Passed by him a few times over the years. But I didn't know he could turn into a dinosaur.”

“I had forbidden it at first because I didn't know what would happen if he transformed.” Victor explained. “I wasn't sure if it was a stable transformation. But after his encounter with the Dino Squad, I've been able to confirm that it was, indeed, stable, so he can use that form in future missions.” He paused for a second before adding, “Well, after he returns from the hospital that is.”

Drew smirked slightly. Somehow, it didn't surprise him that Peter would end up in the hospital. He never was the brightest member at Raptor Dyne, or so from he can recall. Then something in that statement caught his attention. “The..Dino Squad, sir..?” He hadn't heard of that term before. He wondered if they could possibly be those five teenagers that Victor had just mentioned earlier.

“The five teenagers of course!” Victor said, confirming Drew's suspicion. “They are what had thought to be 'perfect dinosaurs', and I had tried to capture them over the years, but they always manage to elude me. They can disappear and appear out of nowhere and are almost always invisible to my scans. I couldn't think of why at first, but recently I discovered their secret: they are humans who can change back and forth at will, just like I can change from my human form and raptor form any time I want to.”

Drew scratched the back of his head as he looked over at Michelle. “And was she ever a part of this...this... Dino Squad?”

Michelle tilted her head and snorted. 'Are you kidding me?' She spoke, startling Drew who took a few steps away from her. 'What?'

“You..you can talk?” Drew asked, sounding stunned. He knew Victor could talk in dinosaur form, but he thought that was a trait that only he alone had. He didn't know that the other dinosaur morphers could do the same thing.

Michelle opened her long, black snout to hiss in amusement. 'Why of course! And so can the Dino Squad. How else would they be able to make strategies?'

“..what?” Asked Drew, sounding very confused. He hadn't even asked anything about strategies. He didn't know why she had brought that up. Although it was still interesting, yet shocking, information for him. He never would have thought that anyone would have been brave enough to take on Victor and his entire corporation, least of all a group of teenagers who were too young to be smart enough to outwit Victor. And yet they seemed to have done so for so many years. He wondered if they would still be able to avoid him now that he knows that they are human.

Michelle hissed again, but this time she was feeling less amused. Drew was annoying her a little bit. For one thing, he didn't know about the Dino Squad. How could he not know? They've been around for a few years ago! Surely, he would have heard the news or something! Or maybe he had, but decided to ignore it all this time. The other thing that bothered her was his complete ignorance to the fact that there were two teenagers working for Victor: her and Oscura. Again, how could he have missed? Well, Raptor Dyne was a big place. It was possible that they had simply avoided each other all this time.

But that still didn't make much sense. Even if he didn't see her, wouldn't he have heard things about her and Oscura among other members of Raptor Dyne? There were certainly some people who questioned Victor's judgment in hiring the two teenagers. And while most members have gotten used to their presence, there were still others who would cast a strange look at them, as if they just could not accept them as serious members of Raptor Dyne. The only thing that made her and Oscura worthy members was the fact that they could transform into dinosaurs, although this fact was not known to everyone in Raptor Dyne. Victor had made sure that only certain members of Raptor Dyne were aware of his true goals.

Before she could say anything more, Victor took a step forward, making sure to pound his feet to the floor loud enough to get their attention. Both heads turned over to the raptor-in-disguise, arms folded up in an impatient manner. He didn't come here to watch the two chit-chat with one another. The two adorned an apologetic look, bowing her heads and stepping away from one another. Michelle remained in her dinosaur form for the time being, seeing now reason to change back unless Victor told her to. Besides, to a degree, she felt safer in this form than in human form. It was probably had to do with her claws and teeth, much more formidable weapons than fists and kicks.

Victor took another step forward, and he opened his mouth, about to speak. But then he froze in his tracks, his eyes widening slightly. He thought he could scent something, quite unusual and yet familiar. He couldn't make out what it was in human form. They had such pitiful senses of smell. Without giving any warning, Victor swiftly lifted up his head as it glowed and increase in size, revealing a head of a Velociraptor. Drew took a step back, a little startled by this. He thought Victor's head was going to fall over because of how massive it was compared to his relatively small human form.

“..sir?” Drew asked, sounding a little fearful.

But Veloci ignored him. He didn't transform completely because he didn't need his raptor body to follow the scent that he had detected. Turning his head left to right, he took in deep breaths through his nose, trying to locate whatever smell he had detected, and at the same time try to figure out just what kind of scent he was detecting. It seemed so familiar to him, and yet at the same time, it was completely different. How could that be? How could a smell seem so different and yet so similar? He didn't know, but he was going to find out within about a minute or so. It didn't take his raptor brain long to decipher smells and figure out just what they are.

Victor took a few steps towards Drew, realizing the smell was coming from him. After a few more whiffs with the snout, Victor eventually realized that the scent he had detected was very similar to that of one of the Dino Squad members. More specifically, Drew smelled a lot like the boy who could turn into the Pteranodon. His eyes widened slightly at this revelation. How could Drew possibly smell like the Pteranodon? He moved in closer to Drew, who took a few steps back, feeling uneasy about having the raptor's head being so close to him. 'Relax.' Victor said, his thought voice very deep, almost scary. 'I am not going to hurt you.'

“What are you doing?” Drew asked, still sounding very afraid.

Victor ignored him again. He pressed his long, red-skinned muzzle against the upper chest of the man and took a few sniffs, and then he moved his muzzle upward, sniffing the top of the man's head, trying to figure out if there was any logical explaination for the similarity in smells. Finally, after a few tense moments, he pulled his head back, his glowing eyes staring straight in Drew's eyes. '...do you have a son?' He finally asked. 'Or a daughter?'

“..why yes..I do..a son..” Drew said, fumbling with his fingers nervously. “W-Why do you ask?”

Victor's eyes narrowed slightly. 'Just as I thought.' He snorted. 'It makes sense now...'

Drew tilted his head, confused. “What are you talking about? What do you mean?”

Victor grinned at Drew. In his raptor form, his smile looked threatening, and made Drew take a step back. 'Why...I think I found a way to get another one of the Dino Squad members.'

“How?” Drew inquired, sounding very confused. “How do you expect to...”

'You.' Victor said, interrupting the man, an evil grin across his dinosaurian mouth.

Drew was confused. What did Victor mean by this? How could he possibly help in capturing one of these students? He didn't even know any of them! There was no way he could help. And another thought confused him. How could Victor have known he had a son? And what did scent have to do with anything? It didn't make much sense to Drew, and he could only shake his head. “I don't understand how I could be have any help, sir. I don't know any of these kids. How could I help?”

Victor snorted, his hot breath hitting Drew in the face even at the distance he was at away from the dinosaur. 'Oh but you do know one of them. Oh yes you do...' He lowered his head as he said that, staring at Drew as if he were his prey, his eyes never moving away from the man.

“I..I do..?” Drew asked, looking left to right. “..Who?”

Victor grinned, exposing his sharp teeth and spoke the two words that would stick to Drew's mind for the rest of the day, and for weeks and months to come. 'Your son....'

Eyes snapping open, Drew took a few steps back, and stared at Victor, horrified. Did he just hear right? Did Victor just say his own son was a transformer? Drew shook his head in denial. No, that couldn't be possible. If anyone should know what his son is, he himself should know. He was the father! What kind of father would he be if he, for years, was oblivious to his son being able to transform? No, Victor had to be mistake. He just had to be!

“N-No...” Drew finally said, his voice shaky. “That's..that's not possible! I know my own son! He's not..he's not one of them!”

Victor tilted his head. 'Oh no?' He chuckled lightly. 'Did your son ever..disappear? Did he ever go on any trips? Did he ever give you any reason to be suspicious..?'

Drew shook his head swiftly. “No, of course not!”

'Did he ever go to the tide pools?' Victor asked after a few moments of silence.

Drew was confused. “E-Excuse me? What does that have anything to do with...”

'Just answer me!' Victor hissed.

Drew cringed back. “W-Well, yes..a few years ago, he said he went to the tide pools with this classmates on a field trip..it was around...”

'Around the same time as the dinosaurs started appearing.' Victor finished for him, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Drew lifted up a finger and opened his jaws to protest, but no words came out of his mouth. He felt his finger droop slowly until his entire hand relaxed, and lowered back to his sides. He couldn't bring himself to try and disagree with his boss. He felt himself becoming dizzy with this new, startling information he had just heard. If Victor was correct, and his son truly was one of the dinosaurs, then there was one question that Drew himself would have to answer, and he had a feeling Victor would know of this conflict and find someway to encourage him to pick one particular answer. Drew must now choose between turning in his son, if this turns out to be true, or risk suffering the consequences of defying his boss.

He gritted his teeth slightly. He was now not only feeling stupid for not having any idea about this for years, but he was also feeling angry that his son had never told him any of this before. He couldn't think of any reason why he would keep it a secret. He wondered if the boy thought he would do something horrible to him if he found out, maybe send him off somewhere to be part of some freak experiment or something. But that was preposterous! There wasn't any way he would do that to his own son! Drew couldn't help but feel a little hurt that his own son didn't trust him enough to tell him that he was a dinosaur. He slowly shook his head, too subtle for Victor to take much notice to. He knew what was going to happen next. He stared at Victor, waiting for him to say something.

Victor nodded his head once, chuckling lightly. 'I see you understand where I'm coming from, human.' Drew winced a bit. He didn't like being called by the name of his species, but he couldn't argue with a Velociraptor. 'I have a strong suspicion that your son is one of the 'perfect dinosaurs'. But the only way I can be certain is if you bring me a blood sample.'

Drew gasped. “A-A blood sample?”

'What are you? My echo? Yes!' Victor hissed, showing more of his teeth, a sign that he is getting angry.

“But..how?” Drew asked, holding out his hands in a gesture that said that he didn't know what he was supposed to do. How could he take blood from his own son? Even though he was his son and that he probably trusted him, Drew didn't think he could take blood from him without arousing suspicion. He didn't even know if the boy knew he worked for Victor.

Victor's head changed back into its human form. He took another step closer to the man. His hand glowing, he placed it on Drew's shoulder, gripping it slightly. His hand still retained the five fingers, but was now colored red, was scaly, and claws stuck out from each digit. He leaned in closely, his eyes black with a glowing yellow iris and his teeth sharpened like a lion's teeth would be. “You'll think of something... And if you don't do as I ask..” His hand tightened, making the claw tips stick to the skin but not hard enough to pierce the skin. “...you'll face a tougher challenge next. And trust me...you won't be able to get out of this one...You understand me, Drew?”

Drew's eyes went wide with fear. He starting shaking a little, but he did finally manage to make a reply. “Y-Yes, sir...”

Victor released his grip on the man. “Good..very good. You have a week to get me the blood sample. Do not fail me, Drew.” He turned around and lifted up a hand, still raptor-like in appearance. “You're dismissed!” Without saying another word, Drew fled the room, a little shaken up by the turn of events. Victor turned his head, watching the man run away. As soon as he was gone, Victor slowly shook his head. “Mammals... Always scurrying away at the first sign of trouble...” He would never understand mammals, especially the humans.

* * *

On Monday morning, Kista Bakar walked into the school building for the first time, her fake job here now finally beginning. She had decided to wear her usual outfit, seeing no harm in it. The principal, from what she remembers, did not tell her to wear any specific clothing other than to be sure it was clean and school-appropriate. Kista wasn't sure what the school considered to be 'school-appropriate' but she figured this outfit couldn't hurt. It was her favorite, after all. The only difference in her appearance was that she was now wearing an ID on her shirt, which she had made herself. Crude, simple, but it would at least save her some money. She just hoped she wouldn't get caught using a fake ID. But then again, she could always have them get informed by the principal, confirming that she was a legit worker, so she didn't have to worry about it.

She paused after taking a couple of steps, looking around the school, and snorted quietly. She wasn't too impressed with the structure of the building, but she didn't come here to judge the people on how they build their stuff. She came here to disguise herself among these students and faculty long enough to get close enough to Caruso to dispose of him. Killing him won't be too much of a problem. Kista knew that she could do that within a few seconds. That would be no problem. Her main concern was how she would be able to get the boy alone without arousing any suspicion. Surely the students wouldn't trust a librarian so quickly, at least not enough to want to be alone with her. But she would find a way, she was sure. She just needed patiences.

Kista finally started walking down the hallway. She needed to find her way to the library. She looked up at one of the hallway school clocks and knew that her shift was going to start very soon. There wouldn't be any students at the library yet. The doors were still locked. The library was never open if there were no teachers in there to supervise the students. Kista didn't see why they would bother. She didn't know many kids who would try to steal anything from a library. Then again, she could be wrong. People have done stupid things in the past. It shouldn't surprise her if some idiotic student did try to steal from the library.

She quickened her pace a little, knowing that if she was late, and showed a bad first impression on the first day of her job, she risked losing the position and she'd lose her chance to get at Caruso. This caused her to rethink about how she was going to get at Caruso. She would also have to be careful about that. She must think of a place that no one could hear the boy scream and she would be able to find him alone, regardless if he trusted her or not. Kista couldn't think of such a place at the moment, but it would come to her very soon. She was pretty good at thinking of strategies like this. She'd had good practice for a very long time. And she was glad to get some practice at it once more after so many countless years.

When Kista finally reached the library after a few minutes of walking, she pulled out the key that she was given by the principal during the interview. The interview itself went fine. The principal didn't seem too concerned about hiring her, even though she didn't have any experience as a librarian as she confessed. Kista specifically chose either this or a substitute teacher because they were the two best options for her in getting close to the Dino Squad without them suspecting that she meant them any ill will. She would try to get the others, but her orders were clear: she was only to kill Caruso. The others could live. Victor still wanted blood samples from them. He already got Caruso's.

She now stood in front of the doors that led into the library. She lifted up the key and put it in the hole and twisted it a little until she heard a faint clanking sound inside. With the library now unlocked, she pushed the doors wide open and stepped inside. She looked around, a little surprised the library was this big. She thought it would be smaller than this. She shrugged her shoulders. There was no need to complain about that. She looked at all the book shelves that were around the room, and noted the nice wooden tables upon which students would sit at and read or do their homework. There was a lot of large windows around the room as well, giving her a clear view of the sky outside. A few of them, however, had a large, beige curtain covering them, making them look more like a wall than a window.

After looking around some more, she managed to find what she was looking for, which was the librarian desk. It was set in a more open area of the library, which made sense. It would allow her to get a better view of the room and also helped her keep an eye on the students a little better. She wasn't too close to the door, but that didn't really matter. Even if a student was able to get out of the library with whatever it is that they wanted, they could still be discovered by their classmates or teachers. But the chances of them getting out of the library seemed unlikely with this position. She had a clear view of the door from here, and she could easily and quickly scan the library with her eyes and find anything suspicious. There were only a few places that they could hide and that was between the rows of bookshelves, but even that wouldn't save them.

Kista pulled out the chair, colored black and was on wheels, and sat down at it. Like some of the other desks in this room, there was a computer, turned on and displaying a log-in screen. She smirked at it, reminded of the computers that Victor had at his hideout. It did sometimes amaze her how someone who hated humans had to rely on them in order to bring the dinosaurs back in the first place. Even if he didn't use humans' help, he still needed their machines. Without humans and their technology, Victor would be forced to spend the rest of his life living in a world where reptiles were now the underdog and mammals rule. She chuckled at how the raptor would have felt about that.

The bell suddenly rang, nearly startling Kista into falling out of her seat. She recomposed herself and looked up at the clock. It was time for the students to come in to school. The school day had officially started. She wasn't sure exactly when any students would enter the library. It wasn't a part of any particular class it seems. Students would come in here in their free time, when there were no classes for them at the time. Kista leaned back on her chair and waited, contemplating how she was going to not only pull off this mission, but also succeed in fetching Victor's precious weapons. It was not going to be easy, she admitted. But that's exactly what she liked about it, the challenge. She would almost miss the Dino Squad once they've been neutralized. They've been the first real challenge she's had since before she could remember.

The doors to the library were suddenly pushed open, making Kista turn her head swiftly towards the moving doors. Two figures walked into the large library and began combing through the bookshelves, apparently in search for some kind of book. Kista lifted her gaze up to see what area they were looking at. She saw the word 'Biology' written at the top. She narrowed her eyes slightly. The kids were probably looking for something to do with viruses, anatomy, or something else like that. She shrugged. She'd find out when they would come to her desk to check out.

As she leaned back further into her chair to try to relax, she could overhear the kids' conversation. While she didn't mean to eavesdrop, she just had to listen to this conversation. It might be something worth her while. After all, she was assigned here as a spy as well, to keep an eye on things and to report anything strange to Victor as soon as possible. Perhaps these students would say something of interest, something that was worthwhile to report to Victor. As Kista leaned in, she could start to see the forms of the teenagers. They were now close enough for her to tell what they were wearing. One of them was large and dark-skinned and wear an almost all white sleeveless shirt while the second was a little taller, much thinner, and wear a white shirt with a green jacket.

“I'm not sure about this Rodger...” Max said as he walked alongside his friend, looking upward at the many rows of books that lay before them. “I don't think we should be here now...”

Kista looked over at the large student that she had seen first. “Rodger...” She whispered under her breath.

Rodger smiled at his jock friend. “Don't worry about it, Max! I asked permission first, so we'll be all right here.” He then looked up at the books. “Besides, there should be a teacher in here, so we can check out some books.”

Kista lowered her head slightly. “Max...” She whispered, her voice low again.

Rodger ran his fingertip along the volumes of books, trying to find what he was looking for. He wasn't sure if he was going to find it, and even if he did, he wasn't sure if it was going to help any. But he didn't know what else to do. Still, he continued his search, his eyes scanning the volumes in row after row. While he was searching, Max folded his arms up and leaned back against one of the other book shelves, careful not to lean on it too hard or it would easily topple over. Finally, after a couple minutes, Rodger seemed to find what he was looking for. He quickly grabbed the book and pulled it out quickly. “I've got it!”

Max came over and looked at what book Rodger had pulled out. It appeared to be some kind of book that talked about both the human anatomy and the many diseases, including tons of rare ones, that can affect humans. Max looked up at Rodger. “So how is this book going to help us?”

Curious about this conversation even more, Kista leaned across her desk, trying to get as close as she can to the conversation without getting up. She wondered what these students could be talking about. Perhaps they would be of great interest to Veloci.

“Well, we need to find some way to help Caruso, not to mention Moynihan.” Rodger said as he combed through some of the pages in a rapid manner. “I'm not sure if this book would have any answers for the way they've been acting...although I have heard that some diseases might cause a change in behavior.” He then closed the book and looked at Max straight in the eyes. “But if nothing else, we could at least find a way to make sure that Caruso completely heals from his wounds.”

Upon hearing the name 'Caruso', Kista's eyes went wide with shock. She immediately leaned back in her chair, watching as the students were now walking her way. These must be two other members of the Dino Squad! What luck! She now knew the names and appearances of two more members! Victor had provided her with a brief recording of Caruso, so she knew what he looked like. Now she could inform him of the identity of two other Dino Squad members. She tried her best to hide her sneering smile. She didn't want to arouse suspicion for the two boys. After all, if she was correct, then if she were to do something that would make them suspicious or distrustful of her, they would do whatever they could to keep Caruso and their other friends away from her. She couldn't let that happen.

When the two teens approached the desk, Rodger holding the book that they were going to check out, Kista again leaned across the table, but not to the same degree as before and she made sure she didn't look threatening when she did so. “Hello, boys. What can I do for you today?” She said in a polite manner.

The boys paused, looking slightly confused at what Kista said. At first, the woman thought she had aroused some kind of suspicion, and she opened her mouth again, prepared to say something to settle them down. But then Rodger spoke up. “Yes.” He placed the large book onto the desk and pushed it towards Kista. “We would like to check out this book please.”

Kista nodded her head and grabbed the book. She opened up the back cover, revealing a small, beige pouch with a card inside it. She quickly pulled it out, and then looked on the computer to find the date upon which the book needed to be returned. Once she found it, she wrote in today's date and then the date the book needed to be returned, which was a week from now. She slipped the card back inside the book, and then pushed it towards the students. Kista then turned to try to work at the computer. She sensed that the boys were still staring at her. She looked over her shoulder, cocking an eyebrow. The boys were looking at her as thought they were confused. Kista knew that she must have done something wrong.

“What is it?” Kista asked, trying to make her voice sound calm. She was, in truth, a little irritated at being stared at. “Did I do something wrong?”

Max and Rodger looked at each other, apparently thinking of how they should respond. They didn't want to insult a teacher, especially one that seemed to be new at the job. They couldn't judge her for her mistake. This was not how the school checked out books, and they guessed that this new teacher didn't know about this.

Finally Max looked over at the teacher. “Sorry ma'am.” He said in a polite tone. “It's just that..when we check out books here, we don't write it on the card.”

Kista narrowed her eyes. “Oh?” She remembered the beige pouch in the book. She wondered why it was there if they don't write anything on it. Then again, it would explain why it was clean when she had opened it up, no signs of writing anywhere. “Then why have those cards?”

“Oh we used to do it that way.” Max said. “But the school issued in a new way that helped them better keep track of what books were out and what weren't.” He jerked his head towards the computer. “They use that now. That's why it's there.”

Rodger leaned forward, pointing a large finger towards the computer screen. “You just simply put in the name of the book, the time it was checked out, and the time that it needs to return.” He waited for Kista to complete this task, the silence broken only by the clicking of the keys as the woman typed in the name of the book. Recalling what dates she had written down, she typed those in their appropriate areas on the screen before her. After she was done, she looked at Rodger for further instructions. “Then you simply print a copy of that out and hand it to one of us so we know when to return the book.” Kista did so promptly, handing the piece of paper to the dark-skinned teenager. He immediately grabbed it and pushed it into one of his pockets.

“I have never heard of this kind of system before.” Kista noted, not afraid to hide back her feelings of distrust for this kind of system. “I don't see how it could be of any help.”

“We're confused by it too, somewhat.” Rodger said, shrugging his shoulders. “You get used to it.”

“Any other places around here use this system?” Kista asked. There was an edge of sarcasm in her tone when she said the word 'system'.

“Meh, no.” Max responded. “Not as far as we can tell.”

“Tch. Not surprised!” Kista said, her eyes narrowing. “Things were probably better the old-fashioned way. I'll never understand some of these new..advancements as you call it... I don't see why some of the old methods cannot still be used.”

Rodger looked at her, somewhat confused. Tilting his head, he said, “Well you don't seem to be that old! Surely, you wouldn't be...”

Kista lowered her head, eyes narrowed even further, surprising Rodger and he snapped his head back in surprise. Satisfied that the boys were now silent, she said, “Never mind that, okay?” She tilted her head upwards, and then turned to the computer, which was still displaying the information she had just put into it, and looked at the time. She turned back to the boys. “Look, isn't it time for you two to be heading off to your class? Or do you have permission to be here longer?”

Without thinking, Rodger reached into his pocket to fetch something. He pulled out his hand and produced a slip of paper in front of Kista. She took it from his hand, and looked at the writing on it. The paper was small and light blue in color. On it, she saw the handwriting of one of the teachers. It was giving these two students permission to stay here one full period. The signature was signed by Joanne Moynihan. Kista's eyes widened slightly. She recognized that name. Again, she was told of her by Victor. She was the traitorous raptor! Kista had forgotten that she must be working at this school. She became slightly concerned. This might cause some problems. What if Moynihan recognized her somehow...?

Absentmindedly, Kista handed the paper back. “Okay then. You two enjoy the library.” She hoped that didn't sound too strange to them. She was trying to sound as polite as she could. But to her surprise and, almost, delight, the two nodded to her, waved politely, and then hurried to one of the tables. As they sat down and began looking through the books, Kista narrowed her eyes at her, baring her teeth in a wicked smile. She continued to speak, but in a tone that was too low for them to hear. “Yes..that's right..continue reading your precious book... That isn't going to save you from Victor...or me...”

* * *

“Are you...are you sure about this?” Zoom asked, sounding a little frightened.

“Hey, you're the one who wanted to do this.” O'Ryan responded passively.

The two were sitting at the same stand that was supposedly visited by a mutant dog years ago. The owner had taken a brief leave and left up a sign that read 'Out to Lunch'. There were some chairs that the owner had lent them. He said he was keeping them in his stand for one of his family members, but had said that they could use it. The chairs were positioned a few feet away from the stand and were off the sidewalk so that the two wouldn't obscure the walkway for other people. They leaned back in the chairs, looking up at the sky as the clouds rolled by and birds flew by, chirping away. A few other people passed by, a few glancing over at the two men before walking away.

A few days ago, O'Ryan had discussed with Zoom just what he had in mind. He had also permitted Zoom to tell him of his idea. It was much like what O'Ryan had in mind, so there was not much need for debate. They had both wished to expose the Dino Squad to the public. However, there was one thing about Zoom's version of the plan that he did disagree with. He didn't want to use a bomb. In fact, he had outwardly rejected it, stating that it would probably cause more harm than good for them. O'Ryan believed that just showing that there were living dinosaurs would be good enough to cause a panic. Zoom wasn't so sure, but he knew that he wasn't in charge of this mission anymore. O'Ryan was.

But despite this, Zoom wasn't sure if he could totally agree with O'Ryan's plan. He knew the guy was crazy, like he was. He had heard stories of O'Ryan. He heard what the man was like when he became angry. But he didn't think the man would be this crazy. O'Ryan was suggesting that they wait until the Dino Squad show up. They would wait until they see them, plainly in sight, and then move in, cameras ready, and get footage of them, perhaps pictures too. O'Ryan didn't suggest anything about trying to hide from them. He wanted to go out into the open, in front of the dinosaurs, and get footage of them. He had also suggested trying to get a skin or blood sample of the dinosaurs too. He believed sending this evidence to scientists would at least prove that these creatures aren't modern.

But Zoom couldn't agree with this. He thought it was just plain insane. He had hoped in trying to get the footage in secrecy. He believed that if he were to hide out somewhere and wait until the Dino Squad came close enough, he could take pictures or record them without them knowing that he was there. If he were to go out into the open and do it, where the kids could plainly see him, they would probably recognize him immediately and try to stop him. He didn't want to risk that happening. He had tried to explain this to O'Ryan sometime ago, but O'Ryan refused to listen. He had assured Zoom that the dinosaurs wouldn't try to hurt him because they knew that if they hurt them, they would be branded a nuisance and people would probably be out looking for them. Despite this reassurance, however, Zoom remained unconvinced.

“This just sounds so..crazy!” Zoom said, his voice raising slightly higher than it was before. He looked around, hoping no one was listening in on them. When he was sure that they weren't, he looked over at O'Ryan. “People have told me I was crazy, but I was never this crazy!”

O'Ryan rolled his eyes. Where was this guy coming off calling him insane? If anyone was insane, Zoom was! “Hey, you're the one who wanted to use the bomb! You don't call that being crazy?” He said in a slightly bitter tone.

Zoom narrowed his eyes and he thought about a rebuke, but thought better of it. Taking in a deep breath to calm him down, he responded, “Well I understand the consequences of a bomb.. But at least we wouldn't be at the front line! We could detonate it from miles away! No one would know!” Again he looked around. He thought someone had heard him talk, but luckily no one was currently nearby, so he was safe.

“Still, it's too risky.” O'Ryan remarked, scratching his chin in a somewhat thoughtful manner. “You see, if we use the bomb, there would probably be more panic focused towards the bomb itself rather than the dinosaurs. In fact, the dinosaurs might come and save the people. They would be heroes!” O'Ryan growled softly before he continued to speak. “Now we don't want that, now do we?”

Zoom shook his head. “Well no...But we could make it look like the dinosaurs set off the bomb, couldn't we? I mean, it could be possible that...that we could convince the public that the dinosaurs are somehow involved...”

O'Ryan laughed and shook his head. “You're one silly man, you know that?”

“What do you mean?” Zoom asked, slightly offended.

“I mean, do you really think people are going to believe a bunch of stupid dinosaurs set off that bomb?” O'Ryan shook his head. “If you think that, you're crazier than I had thought!”

“Does it really matter?” Zoom growled. “If the public were shown that the dinosaurs were, in fact, humans, wouldn't that mean that they could be tricked into believing that they set off the bomb?” Zoom waited for a response, but when none came, he continued, “I mean, think about it! Human intelligence could easily set off a bomb. Doesn't matter if it's in a human body, or a dinosaur body. It could still be set off!”

O'Ryan finally spoke. “And just how will you convince the public that the dinosaurs had also planted the bomb there? How will you explain that, photographer?”

“What do you mean?” Zoom asked, confused.

“I mean, think about it.” O'Ryan responded. “If you can convince them that dinosaurs set off the bomb, then in order to make sure the dinosaurs are the only one to blame, you must also convince them that the dinosaurs put that bomb there in the first place.”

“If they knew the dinosaurs were human...” Zoom tried to explain.

“It doesn't matter if the public thinks they were human or not!” O'Ryan barked, slightly louder than he had intended to. “You'd still have to connect them to the crime!”

“Surely the footage would help. We could just do a few editing of the shots we take and prove that it was them to set it off.” Zoom said, trying in vain to get O'Ryan to see his idea as something other than ridiculous or too risky. He knew that O'Ryan was probably a little smarter than he was, but he didn't have to rub it in his face. “Look, my ideas...”

O'Ryan rudely cut him off with a short burst of laughter. “Your ideas will get us caught, you fool! Do you really think anyone would be stupid enough to believe mere children could have set up the bomb?!” He turned over so he was now laying on his side. He rested his head on one of his arms and then he raised and pointed an accusing finger at Zoom. “If we followed your plan, we would be figured out very quickly. We would be arrested and sent to prison, perhaps for life!” He waved the finger back and forth. “No, no, we don't want that! No, we should just get footage. At least then, they can't arrest us.”

Zoom said, “But...” He wanted to argue his point. But when O'Ryan narrowed his eyes at him, Zoom grumbled and closed his mouth. What was the point in arguing anyway? No matter what he would say, O'Ryan would just shoot him down, determined to do things his way. He grumbled to himself again, muttering a few choice words here or there before looking away from O'Ryan. “Whatever...” He believed O'Ryan didn't hear any of the choice words he had spoken under his breath.

But O'Ryan HAD indeed heard what he said, and he wasn't too happy. His eyes narrowed dangerously, and he immediately got up from his seat. He took care to look around to make sure no one was looking in this direction before he stalked over to Zoom, who was only a couple feet away from his chair. Zoom sensed that O'Ryan was coming towards him. But he barely had enough time to look over before a rough, strong hand gripped him by the neck and squeezed tightly. O'Ryan didn't squeeze hard enough to cut off Zoom's air completely, but he did squeeze hard enough to frighten Zoom and to show him who was boss.

As Zoom struggled to push O'Ryan's hand off of his neck, even trying to kick at him, O'Ryan lowered his head a little, his eyes feeling like they were going to bore into Zoom's. “What did you say?!” O'Ryan snapped, his eyes starting to widen in anger.

Despite being half-choked, Zoom managed to speak, although it took a bit more strength than usual to manage to say anything. “I...said..nothing...!” He grunted in pain when O'Ryan tightened his grip slightly. He looked up at the angered man, and tried to gasp in fear when he saw the red veins in the man's eyes, but he couldn't because O'Ryan was squeezing his throat too tightly.

“Don't try to fool me!” O'Ryan barked at him. “I heard what you said!”

Zoom coughed. “Then..why..do..you..need..me..to...clarify...it...?”

O'Ryan responded by shaking Zoom violently, banging him against the seat that he was in. “Just answer me, you worthless piece of trash!” He quickly realized that he was now squeezing Zoom so tightly that the man couldn't breath. His face was turning to a weird color and he was gasping for air desperately. O'Ryan quickly realized his mistake, and released his grip on Zoom. As the photographer fought to catch his breath, O'Ryan asked him the question again, this time in a calmer voice. “What did you say?”

Zoom rubbed his throat gently. He couldn't see it, but there was a deep red mark where O'Ryan had grabbed him. The area was slightly sore. He glared up at O'Ryan, half-tempted to tell him off, and repeat what he had really said earlier. But then his expression softened suddenly. He felt that he shouldn't anger O'Ryan more than he already had. He had gotten a taste of how strong he actually was. The last thing he needed was for the guy to break his neck, even if it was accidental. “I was just...calling myself an idiot. There I said it. Happy now?” He realized that he sounded a little harsher than he had intended, but he shrugged it off.

O'Ryan narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he didn't believe Zoom at first. But then he softened his expression up and stepped away from Zoom. “My apologies then. I thought you had said something disrespectful about me. But I see that I was mistaken. Sorry.”

Zoom narrowed his eyes slightly. From the tone of the man's voice, he wasn't really serious. He was just saying that to try and keep on Zoom's good side, just as Zoom was doing his best to keep O'Ryan from getting angry with him. Realizing just how bad O'Ryan was, Zoom started to wonder if it was a bad idea to join up with him. But then again, what other choice did he have? There was no one else that he knew that had a nasty run-in with the dinosaurs. “Let's just forget this ever happened.”

“I couldn't agree more.” O'Ryan said, a scary smile on his face. “Just forget this entire argument. It never happened.”

Zoom leaned back in his chair, his head facing upwards to the sky. During that brief struggle, he knew that they were both lucky that no one had noticed it happening. During that time, there was no one walking anywhere near where they were currently at, and thus wouldn't have been able to see it happening. But not too long after O'Ryan had let go, someone did happen to walk by. They didn't glance at them, but it did make Zoom realize just how fortunate that they were that they stopped when they did. If O'Ryan had hung on any longer, that person would have seen them and likely would have run over to try and stop them. And more people probably would have realized what was happening if the guy were screaming about it.

“So...” Zoom said absentmindedly as he continued to look up at the sky, waiting the wind as it blew clouds quickly overhead. “No bomb, huh?” Although he couldn't see it, he guessed O'Ryan was shaking his head. O'Ryan's statement likely confirmed this.

“Nope. No bomb.” O'Ryan said in a calm tone. He was now sitting back on his chair. The owner of the concession stand was still not back. He thought that was a little strange, but he thought nothing of it. “Now..any ideas on how to get close enough to them without getting spotted?”

Zoom was shocked at this question. He had thought that O'Ryan didn't want to hide from the dinosaurs. He looked at him, eyes slightly widened. “But..O'Ryan..I thought that you didn't want to hide from the dinosaurs...”

“I didn't...” O'Ryan said in a thoughtful tone. “But after thinking about it..maybe you are right.” He turned his head to look at the man. “Maybe it is a crazy idea to go out in front of them where they would plainly see me. Any of them, even the heaviest one, could easily catch up with me and stop me before I could get away.”

“That's exactly why I objected to your idea.” Zoom explained. “I knew that we would have a problem trying to get away from them. Even if they didn't pursue us, they know our faces, and would probably be able to intercept us at any given time.”

O'Ryan nodded his head. He was familiar with how clever the kids could be in general. He had seen how clever the blue-haired kid was. He had tricked him into letting him hold his precious camera, and then the kid had broken it by throwing it into a ditch. He was surprised the kid could have outsmarted him like that. If he wasn't so angry with the boy, he would be quite impressed. Still, he had made up his mind. He would find away to make the kid feel sorry for what he had done. He would make the boy beg for his mercy. O'Ryan closed a tight fist and stared at it. He started to think of all the things he could do to the kid if he ever got him in a small room, too small for him to transform, and attacked him. Taking out his rage on the boy would feel so good.

But that wouldn't be a satisfying revenge for him. No, he wanted to do something far worse. He wanted to hurt him emotionally, not physically. He wanted to do something that would effect him for the rest of his life, something that he would never be able to recover from. And that something was exposing his secret, the one that he shared with his friends, to the city, or even the world. O'Ryan smirked as he thought of how the boy might be hunted down, captured, maybe even tortured because of this unique ability. He and his friends would be labeled as menaces, and might even attract the attention of the military. That would be a satisfactory revenge indeed!

Zoom was thinking about what he would get revenge on the punk teenager for stealing his photograph. He admitted that it seemed to be a silly thing to get upset over. It wouldn't have bothered him if Victor hadn't offered him a huge sum of money for it. Meeting up with Victor again a few weeks ago was uneasy for him. He wasn't sure if Victor would turn him down or not. Victor did hire him, and Zoom did work for him now, but he had chosen a shift that would allow him some freedom to do what he actually wanted: actively seek revenge on the Dino Squad and expose them to the public. Victor would forbid him from doing this, but Zoom didn't care. What could Victor do to him anyway? If he hurt or killed him, Zoom could just sue him.

But would that be a wise choice? Victor was a powerful billionaire, a very influential being who had many allies, including ones who know nothing of his true goals. If he were to take him to court by suing him, he would lose. Zoom didn't have enough money to hire any real good lawyer. Victor, on the other hand, had all the money that he needed to hire whom he knew would do a great job in defending him. And if Zoom were to lose the case, he would be the one who had to pay a certain fee to Victor. It would probably drain his entire bank account, and he couldn't afford to allow that to happen. Zoom closed his eyes, still deep in thought. He would have to make sure Victor never finds out what he's actually doing. It would probably be the end of him if Victor found out.

Then a thought got into Zoom's mind. Lifting up his head and looking over at O'Ryan, he called out, “Hey..O'Ryan?”

O'Ryan looked over at him. “What is it, Zoom?”

“Have you...heard of Kista?” Zoom said, swallowing a little after he had asked the question.

“I think you mentioned her to me, yes.” O'Ryan responded. After a few seconds, the scary smile returned to his face. “I wonder..is she your girlfriend?” He asked in a teasing tone of voice.

“..what?” Zoom glared at O'Ryan. “No! She's not my girlfriend!”

O'Ryan chuckled, trying to sound innocent. “Oh I was just kidding you! Come on, lighten up!”

Zoom narrowed his eyes further. It seemed that he himself wasn't the only one who needed to lighten up. O'Ryan needed to do something about his temper that he had displayed not too long ago. But he decided to let it go. “Anyway, no she's not my girlfriend. She's the person who introduced me to Zoom. Well..she kind of...captured me...”

O'Ryan chortled. “What?!”

“You heard me.” Zoom said, lowering his gaze. “She knocked me out and took me to Raptor Dyne.”

“A woman overpowered a man?” O'Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “That seems very unlikely! Not that I have anything against women... But the idea...”

Zoom interrupted him. “Yes, I know. But she..Kista... she's not like any woman I've ever seen...”

“Oh really? And what makes her so special?” O'Ryan asked.

Zoom gulped, not feeling comfortable with remembering what he had seen a few weeks ago. But he had already brought it up with O'Ryan and he knew that he wasn't going to get out of it now. “Well...she...”

Before Zoom could finish, he heard his cell phone ringing. He groaned in frustration and reached down and pulled it out. He looked at the number flashing on the screen. It took him a few seconds to realize who it was. His eye widened slightly and then narrowed. He looked over at O'Ryan and slowly shook his head.

“Let me guess. It's Kista, isn't it?” O'Ryan asked.

“Yes...” Zoom grumbled. He waited a little while longer before finally answering the phone, getting sick of the constant rings it was giving out. The phone to his ear now, he uttered a greeting that sounded anything but enthusiastic. “Hello, Kista...” He leaned back in his chair, placing his free arm around so that the back of his head was now resting on it. But then he quickly shot up, startling O'Ryan. “What?! Are you sure?” The voice on the other end offered no reason for him to disbelieve her. Zoom looked as if he didn't know what to make of this news. “Well that's just..impossible...no!” But before he could get another word in, there was a loud click and then the dial tone. Sighing, he closed his phone and put it away.

Confused as to what happened, O'Ryan asked, “So...what was that all about? And why do you have that look on your face? Did something happen?”

Zoom looked up towards the sky and let out a long sigh. He wasn't expecting that kind of phone call. He thought at first that it wasn't a joke. But Kista had assured him that it wasn't. And it didn't have anything to do with him. He was shocked about something else. He leaned his head forward, gently rubbing his temples with one hand. He was staring to get a headache from this information. It just didn't add up! Finally, he decided to answer O'Ryan's question. “Oh nothing serious..just..shocking.” He looked over at him. “Kista managed to make it into Kittery High as a librarian and discovered the identities, well possible identities that is, of two other members of the Dino Squad.”

O'Ryan's eyes titled upward in surprise. This was interesting news indeed. He clasped his hands together thoughtfully, closing his eyes for a second and then reopening them. “Oh really? And just who were these two kids? What dinosaurs did they turn into?”

“She didn't say what dinosaurs..” Zoom said. “But she did give me enough detail to tell me one was an african-american wearing a white sleeveless shirt, and the other was some jock wearing a white shirt and green jacket.”

The description of the jock caught O'Ryan's attention. “Did she say that he had dark brown hair?”

“I don't think so, but I assume that he does. Why?” Zoom asked.

O'Ryan's eyes narrowed deeply. This was the moment that he has been waiting for. This was the kid that he witnessed transform all those years ago. “Because I think I just found the Tyrannosaurus Rex...”

* * *

Rodger looked up towards the clock and narrowed his eyes. They only had a short time, perhaps ten minutes tops, before they had to get up and go to their next class. They didn't have permission to stay in the library after this period was over, and if they stayed here too long, they would get into trouble. He looked back at the book that he and Max were looking at. Despite the length of them that they were in here, they only managed to look at a small portion of the book. They looked up all kinds of diseases, but none of them fit what they looked for. They tried psychological diseases, but again nothing that would fit the description that they were looking for.

It seemed like the search was in vain. They shouldn't be surprised. This book was slightly out-of-date anyway and wouldn't have some of the more recent diseases that they were looking for. They knew they wouldn't be able to look through the book within the amount of time they wanted to spend in the library. This is why they checked the book out. Since Rodger had the right mind to understand most of this stuff, Max had agreed to let Rodger take the book home with him. He hoped that Rodger would be able to find something that would help make sense of what was going on. They did both agree it has to be something psychological as it didn't seem to make sense that a disease could be causing this. But it has happened in the past, so it was plausible.

As Rodger continued to thumb through the pages, Max looked back over at Kista. The woman had turned away to look towards the computer. She looked like she was typing something, but from this distance, Max couldn't be sure. He narrowed his eyes a little. There as something off about that woman. Something just didn't seem right about her. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he just couldn't bring himself to completely trust the woman. He decided that he would have to keep an eye on her. He could turn out to be completely wrong and that she isn't a threat. Or he could turn out to be right about her. He recalled how they all first encountered Michelle and thought she wasn't a threat. And yet Caruso had managed to see through her ruse but no one listened to him. Then Moynihan was attacked and they lost the shield. Max was determined not to make the same mistake again.

“Yo, why are you staring at the teacher?” Rodger asked, his head now turned to face the jock. Max had seemingly zoned out as he stared at the new teacher sitting at the library desk. “Do you have a crush on her or something?” He teased.

“What? No!” Max shook his head, breaking his gaze from the woman to glare at Rodger. “Why would I have a crush on someone I had just met?!”

Rodger grinned, but held out a hand to signal that he didn't mean any harm. “I'm sorry! I take it back!” After calming himself down, he adopting a more serious look and posture. “So..why are you staring at her?”

Max narrowed his eyes and looked back at her. “There's just something..odd about her. Something that is keeping me from trusting her completely.”

“You mean like how Caruso sensed that Michelle couldn't be trusted and we found out he was right?” Rodger asked.

“Exactly!” Max said.

Rodger narrowed his eyes slightly and looked over at the teacher. Now that Max brought it up, there did seem to be something odd about her. For one thing, why didn't she know the school's system of lending out books? He did pardon her for that simply because he knew she was a new teacher. But now that he thought more of it, perhaps he was mistaken to do that. One of the teachers, perhaps the other librarian, or even the principal, should have told Kista how to do it. So she should have known. And that name tag. It didn't look authentic for some reason. It was like she had made it herself.

Rodger and Max both would have guessed that she was an impostor teacher, coming into the school acting like she was a teacher when she actually wasn't. The only thing keeping this theory was down was the fact that they were informed by the principal himself that there was a new teacher in the library. Surely he wouldn't have said that if Kista was indeed an impostor, would he? But still, the two didn't feel like they should trust her completely. So they would keep their guards up just in case, but they won't show any signs to the woman that they were on to her. They would wait and see if she made any moves that would give them reason to distrust her.

“Well...we should probably keep an eye out for her then.” Rodger said in a low voice. “We don't want to make the same mistake as we did with Michelle.”

Filling with anger at the memory of what Michelle had done to them, Max answered angrily, “Yes..I know...”

Rodger was surprised at Max's tone of voice and at first he thought that the jock was upset with him. “Are you mad at me?” He asked gently, just in case he would accidentally provoke his friend further.

Max shook his head. “No..it's not you I'm mad at.”

“Then...who?” Rodger asked.

“Michelle..Oscura...Victor...and...myself.” Max said, a pause in between each name that he had spoken. His head turned away and his eyes closed. He was upset with each of these people for different reasons. He didn't know who he was angry at the most. “Michelle for destroying the lighthouse shield and hurting Moynihan. Oscura for her mocking us. Victor for kidnapping and nearly killing Caruso. And myself for losing my temper with Caruso and not seeing the trap that Michelle had set up for us.” Oh how could he have been so stupid? Why couldn't he have seen the warning signs? How could he have been so gullible?

Rodger narrowed his eyes slightly, a concerned expression on his face. He didn't like seeing his friend like this, beating himself up over something like this. He shared the same dislike for Michelle, and he had to admit to himself, he himself was more extreme about it than Max. The jock didn't want to seek vengeance on Michelle, thinking it would only create more problems. But Rodger felt the only way that they could be safe was if they did something to Michelle and Oscura that would make them leave them alone. He also wished he could do something to Victor, but then again, what could teens do to Victor? Moynihan would not allow them to transform and go after Victor. It was too risky.

Rodger didn't know why Max was still beating himself up for what he said to Caruso. He had already apologized to him. Caruso had already forgiven him for it. So why still dwell on it? Rodger used to hold some anger towards Max over what he had said. Max had gone too far in what he had said to Caruso, after all, practically insulting him. But Rodger had let go of this anger after he realized just how sorry Max truly was. And Caruso seemed to be able to forgive Max. So why couldn't Max forgive himself for what he did?

“..don't be so hard on yourself.” Rodger finally said, placing a comforting hand on Max's shoulder. “Caruso had already forgiven yourself for what you did. So why can't you forgive yourself?”

Max looked up at Rodger. “It's..it's not so easy to forgive oneself for...for what I did...”

Rodger gently squeezed Max's shoulder to try and comfort him. “I know it is...” He said. He then leaned in a little closer. “But Max, if you don't forgive yourself, this will just continue to haunt you for the rest of your life. Do you really want that to happen?” Max wanted to speak, but no words came out. Instead, he just simply shook his head. “I didn't think so. So please...if not for yourself, then at least for us, your friends and especially Caruso, please..forgive yourself and let this go.” He hoped that he would get through to his friend. He didn't think Max deserved to beat himself up over this. “Promise me that you'll at least try.”

Max gritted his teeth nervously and looked in another direction, trying to avert Rodger's gaze. “I..I don't know, Rodg. I just don't know...”

“Come on...at least try.” Rodger begged him. “If you continue to do this, you'll just hurt yourself even more.”

Max looked up at Rodger once again. He could tell just how worried Rodger was simply by the tone of his voice and the look on his face. He didn't want to worry Rodger, or any of his friends. He wanted to try and feel better. He wanted to forget what he had said and just move on. He had tried to do so in the past few weeks. But something always reminded him of what he had done. Sometimes a comment from one of the teammates brought back memories, or he would be reminded through dreams or unwanted flashbacks. But what gets him the most is the sight of Caruso's cut up face. It had healed for the most part, but there were still cuts visible on the boy's head, on his jaws. Just looking at that brought back unwanted feelings of anger and guilt. He couldn't help but think about what he had said to Caruso that fateful day. Those words echoed in the back of his mind and stung painfully in his heart. How could he just forget about that?

“I did try Rodger...I really did.” Max put his face in his hand. “But I keep getting reminded of what I said to Caruso.”

Rodger frowned. He gently patted Max on the back and said, “Well just keep trying. I know you'll succeed.”

“Thanks, man.” Max said, offering Rodger a small smile of gratitude. “I appreciate your help.”

Rodger smiled back. Then he turned back to the book that they were looking at. He flipped through a few more of the pages. “Come on, we only have a few minutes left before the bell rings. Let's look through a few more of these pages. Maybe something will come up.”

Max nodded weakly. “Yeah...maybe.”

* * *

“So..did you guys find out anything?” Buzz asked hopefully, leaning in towards Max. He and the other Dino Squad members were now in their second period classes. Currently, the only person that Buzz shared second period with was Max. The jock sat next to him during this class, which was History class. The teacher hadn't walked into the room yet, so they had some time to make some quick chit chat before the teacher would expect them to be quiet and listen to some lecture about whatever topic that they were currently on.

Max regretfully shook his head. “No, Buzz...we didn't find anything. At least, not yet anyway.” He looked up towards the ceiling, watching the fan spin around in rapid circles. “We looked through that book for about an hour, and we still couldn't find anything that could help us. It just seems so..hopeless.” He glanced back at Buzz. “I mean, how are we going to know that some book is going to hold the answers we are looking for? How is a book going to show us how to deal with something that has only started to happen recently? How...” He was quickly cut off by Buzz.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Slow down, Max!” Buzz said, his voice loud enough for Max to hear, but quiet enough as to not distract the other students, who were patiently waiting for the teacher to come back inside. “This doesn't sound like you at all! You never came across as the kind of person who would just give up like this! Where's your words of encouragement? Where's your leadership?”

Max started to feel bad. He knew Buzz was right. He was the leader of the group, and he is usually the one who spoke words of encouragement, the one who felt they could still get the job done despite whatever odds lay before them. But this time...this time it was different, felt different. He wasn't sure how they were going to get through this one this time. For the first time, Max couldn't offer any encouragement. “I'm...I'm sorry Buzz..I just don't have anything to say...”

“Come on, Max..” Buzz said, trying to encourage his friend. Then looking into the jock's eyes, he recalled something that happened a few days ago. Eyes narrowing slightly, he leaned in a little closer and said, “..are you still upset about what happened two weeks ago...?”

Max closed his eyes. “I can't help it...but..but it's not just that...”

“Then what?” Buzz inquired. “What else is on your mind?”

After waiting a couple seconds before he felt comfortable enough to answer, Max said, “Well..did you know that we have a new librarian?” Buzz looked confused and shook his head. Max wasn't surprised. He didn't think that the principal had told all the students yet. The only reason he told Rodger and him about the new librarian was because he knew that they were going to be in the library this day and he didn't want them to be confused that the usual librarian wasn't there. “Well, there's a new one there. Pretty young looking I think. Didn't seem to know how we check out books, but overall not a bad librarian.”

“So what's wrong with that?” Buzz asked, gesturing with his hand. “How is that a problem? I don't see how that would get you upset.”

“Buzz..she was staring at us for a while.” Max said, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Buzz leaned back. “She..what?”

“She was staring at us for a while, ever since Rodger and I came into the library.” Max explained, recalling how he had been able to catch the woman staring at them. “She would stare at us, I don't know for how long. I look over and she'd immediately look away, as if she was afraid to let us catch her staring at us.”

Buzz wasn't sure what to make of this. This did seem to be unusual behavior for a librarian. He would say that she was probably making sure they would be quiet, but that didn't make much sense. She would only need to go over if she heard something that she felt was too loud and say something, but not stare at them for what might have been at least an hour. And to look away right away, Buzz could attribute this to her feeling a little embarrassed, but to repeat the same action over and over? Buzz was sure that it was not an accident, but a deliberate act.

“That is strange... She was staring at you? I wonder why.” Buzz wondered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “And she was doing it since you two walked in?”

Max nodded his head once. “That is correct Buzz.”

“Did Rodger notice?” Buzz asked.

Max shook his head. “I don't think so, no. At least... I'm not sure. I didn't see him look over to see the woman staring and I don't think he mentioned it.”

“Any ideas on why she was staring?” Buzz asked.

Max shook his head. He had thought about it, but he couldn't think of any good reason for why the woman would be staring at them. Oh ideas did come to him, some that might make some sense. But then he'd think of something else that would completely debunk the original idea that he had thought of. He hoped that talking to Moynihan later on would help him out. Maybe she could figure out why the librarian was acting the way that she was. “But one thing is for sure..we better keep an eye on her.”

“Yeah..no kidding.” Buzz said a little sternly. He then looked over towards the door and saw a shadow moving behind it. He guessed it was the teacher. He immediately leaned back into his seat and spoke to Max in a soft voice. “Looks like class is about to start. We can continue this discussion later.”

“Yeah, gotcha.” Max said and did likewise, leaning back into his seat to face towards the teacher's desk.

A few seconds later, the door knob turned, and the teacher walked in, confirming what Max had suspected. The teacher walked towards his desk and sat down in the chair. He looked out at his class to make sure everyone was here. After he was sure that there were no missing faces, he got out a pile of paper, all of which seemed to have a pale yellow coloring to them. This was quite unusual as most of the paper the teacher brings out are the standard white paper. For a brief moment, the students wondered if the teacher was handing them out fliers or permission slips.

After the teacher flipped through the paper, counting the numbers to make sure he had enough for one for each student, and still had one copy for himself, he got up from his seat again and walked towards the students. Walking through each row of desks, he placed one paper on each desk with a student sitting in it. Each student grabbed the paper to look at it, and each of them had a look of disappointment on their faces. This wasn't a field trip paper, and it certainly wasn't some kind of flier advertising for something. The students realized it was a test of some kind. But how could that be? They weren't scheduled for a test today. The teacher made no mention of it, anyway.

After he was finished handing out the paper, the teacher immediately returned to his desk. He knew that his students were going to be confused by the sudden appearance of this test. He hadn't anticipated it himself either, but he found that he simply couldn't afford to delay this test any longer. He had to get it out right now, and he also thought that testing them during at time that they weren't expecting it would help him better test them, to see how they would cope at being unprepared. He figured this would be a very important life lesson for them, and it would stick to their minds for, hopefully, the rest of their life. Life was unpredictable, but at least in school, they could try again. Not so in real life.

“I'm sure some of you are wondering about this test.” The teacher said, leaning forward on his desk. His fingers were interlocked and his chin was resting on his hands to keep his head elevated off the desk. He looked around the classroom. Almost all the students were looking at him, and he could tell by the looks on their faces that they were curious as to what this test was about and why they were taking it in the first place. “This was a last minute decision that even I did not foresee.” He said, lying through his teeth, although he knew the students would believe him. “Anyway, get out your pencils and erasers and begin the test.” He glanced up at the clock. “You have thirty minutes to complete it. When you are done, bring it to my desk.”

Buzz leaned in over towards Max. “This is not going to be fun.” He whispered in a soft tone of voice.

Max nodded. “Tell me about it.” He whispered back.

Then the teacher spoke aloud, startling both Max and Buzz. “Rolf! Neil! Please be quiet and start on your test!”

Feeling embarrassed by the other students staring at them, some even smirking in satisfaction of them getting into trouble, Max and Buzz nodded their heads. “Yes, teacher.” They said in unison, and turned to work on their test.

After thirty long, almost painful minutes had passed, most of the students were now done with the test, quietly talking to each other so that they didn't disturb the remaining students working on the test. The teacher glanced up at the clock. He was going to allow one more minute for the last few people to bring up their tests. If they didn't come up in time, he would call them up and grade whatever it is they had gotten completed. Then, after a few more seconds of patiently waiting, the last students, Buzz and another student, were finished and they walked up to the desk and gave the teacher their test and then returned to their seats.

Satisfied that everyone had completed their test, the teacher flipped the lights back on. He had them turned off like he usually does for a test. He then returned to his seat and scanned the room. Some eyes were on him, waiting for him to continue the class. They still had some time left. The remaining students were talking to each other in very low voices, thinking that there were still people taking the test regardless of the fact that the lights were now on. The teacher frowned slightly, and cleared his throat loudly to get the remaining students' attentions. Immediately, the students swerved over to look at him, their mouths immediately shutting to allow the teacher to speak.

“I'll grade your tests tonight and tomorrow you will get your grade.” The teacher said. He then turned around and pulled down a large, white screen. The students groaned a little. They knew what this was going to mean. The teacher was about to lecture them on some boring topic in History. He almost never talks about battles or significant facts on the screen, only random, seemingly unimportant things.

“I hate it when he brings out the screen...” One student hissed under his breath. “It's always something about..well..nothing to do with anything we usually learn...”

“Yeah... I wonder why he never talks about anything cool on here..” Another student replied, her voice as low as she could make it go.

“Maybe we'll get lucky and the teacher will have lost the slides.” Another student said, sounding very hopeful.

“In your dreams..” The female student that had spoken earlier said, rolling her eyes.

The teacher brought out the slides, making some students groan in disappointment. The teacher knew that the students were probably tired of seeing the old slides he would show. So he thought that these slides would be more interesting, albeit they really had nothing to do with actual History. This would deal with more recent events. It was something new, and he figured he had to make it up to the students for giving them such a difficult test on such short notice. They worked hard enough on the test, so perhaps he could stimulate them more using something other than History. He was sure that this particular topic would catch many of their attentions.

“Instead of showing you the usual slides,” The teacher said, moving towards the machine that he had wheeled up in the middle row of space between the students' desks. “..I'm instead going to show you pictures taken by people who had spotted what they claimed to be an Apatosaurus walking through the streets, causing a lot of damage, and then mysteriously disappearing into nowhere.”

“What?” One student cried, trying hard not to laugh. “That's impossible! Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years!”

“What kind of drugs were they on? They must have been hallucinating!” Another female student yelled, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Maybe.” The teacher said. “But don't forget, the damage was very much real. No hallucination could have done that.”

“That's true...” The same female student replied, feeling a little silly now. “But still..how could this be?”

“That's why I brought this up.” The teacher said, smiling slightly. “I'd like for us to spend the rest of the class discussing about this dinosaur, if it really is a dinosaur, and how it got here. Any theories, class?”

As the class started suggesting their ideas, Max and Buzz couldn't keep their eyes off the first picture. While it was very blurry and hard to tell what it is, they could recognize who it was right away. It was Peter in dino mode! The Dino Squad had completely forgotten about him, and how he most likely caught the attention of many people in town and how it was headed towards the lighthouse's direction. Max and Buzz were unsure if they should offer any kind of theories. They had none. They both only knew the truth, but to expose the truth, they'd have to expose their secret identities.

“I don't like this...” Buzz whispered under his breath.

“Neither do I, Buzz..” Max responded.

“What if they ask us a question? What if we can't come up with an elaborate lie?” Buzz asked him.

Max shook his head. “I don't know Buzz..We'll just have to wing it.” Seeing Buzz's expression, Max grinned and quickly added, “No pun intended!”

“Maybe we should capture that creature!” Another student suggested, before going into a coughing fit. After he was finished, he said, “I mean, what if the beast comes back and hurts more people?”

Another teen elbowed him and shook his head. “What, are you crazy? We won't be able to capture it because it doesn't exist!”

The other kid responded, “Oh yeah? Then how do you explain the damage?”

“Easy.” The other responded. “Earthquakes.”

“EARTHQUAKES?!” Some of the students shouted in unison. They thought the kid was out of his mind. There hasn't been any major earthquakes in Maine for a long time and most of them don't' even recall any major earthquakes occurring. How could an earthquake be responsible for the damage that they had seen in the city, especially when vibrations were only reported close to that area.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?” The teen leaned back in his chair, looking disgusted that anyone, let alone much of the class, would doubt him.

“Earthquakes of that magnitude don't occur in this state.” One student answered.

Another chimed in. “Exactly, and the vibrations were centered only where the dinosaur was spotted. How could an earthquake effect just a small portion of land?”

“Easy! A mini-earthquake!” The kid responded.

“WHAT?!” A girl responded, trying hard not to laugh. “Are you serious?!”

“Hey, it makes perfect sense!” The kid tried to defend himself.

“Yeah..maybe to someone who has a very low IQ..” The girl muttered, snickering to herself.

As the discussion got slightly more intense and interesting because of the person who thought a mini-earthquake would be able to explain the damage seen in the city, Buzz and Max took this opportunity of distraction to talk to each other about what they should do. They knew they'd probably be safe talking here because most of the other students had their eyes on this one kid and almost everyone was talking. The volume and cluster of sounds would make it difficult to hear anything else, especially if they spoke in a low voice so that anyone too far away would hear nothing because the voices would mix in with the crowd's voice.

“So what do you think they'll conclude?” Buzz whispered, eyeing the group warily. If they knew about the Apatosaurus, he wondered if they would also know of the other dinosaurs in the area, namely the Dino Squad themselves.

“It's..it's hard to say...” Max said, looking at the group as well, for a few seconds, before looking back at Buzz. “It's possible that they could just conclude it was just an illusion. As much as I would like for that to be, I also would like them to know of the dinosaur threat.”

“Same here.” Buzz nodded. “It's hard keeping all this a secret. I'm sometimes itch to tell my dad about it, but then I just...choke up you know? It's hard to tell them anything nowadays.”

“They're your parents, Buzz. I'm sure they would understand.” Max said.

“But you don't know my parents, especially my mom.” Buzz sighed softly, closing his eyes. “She is getting frustrated with me. My obsession with video games, obsession with insects, all that stuff...” He looked at Max in the eyes. “You have any idea how she'd react to me being a dinosaur?”

“Good point.” Max whispered. He looked over at the class and at the teacher to make sure no one was listening in on them. He then turned back to Buzz and continued to talk in a low voice. “Then..what about your father? Wouldn't he understand?”

“I..I don't see him that much actually..” Buzz admitted, lowering his gaze. “He works a lot, doesn't come home that much. I don't get to talk to him a whole lot.”

“Ouch...” Max said, giving Buzz a sympathetic look. He didn't know about this before and he wondered why Buzz never said anything beforehand about this. To barely see one's parents, especially when they were still married, must be hard. Max knew he would be upset if he barely saw his mom or dad if they worked so many hours a day, so many days a week. “I'm sorry to hear that... Where does he work?”

“I don't know...” Buzz said sadly. “He doesn't tell me..or even mom. It's a complete mystery.”

“That's bad..a father that won't tell his family where he works...” Max narrowed his eyes. What kind of father could this person be? How could he just disappear all day long and not even tell his own son where he's been working all this time? “Maybe..maybe you should talk to him the next time that you are able to see him.”

“I'll try... But I'm not sure if I'll be able to talk to him about this.” Buzz said, craning his head up towards the ceiling so he didn't have to look at Max in the eyes. “I'm not sure if he's even willing to tell us where he worked. Kind of strange isn't it? He is probably terrified to tell us.” His eyes widened in horror. “Maybe he works for a slaughter house! Or is part of a mob!”

Max tried not to chuckle. He knew Buzz could sometimes be a little scared, but this was just ridiculous! “Buzz..come on..how much sense does that make?” He put his hand on the green-haired teen's shoulder. “Look..I don't think your dad works for any of those people. I'm sure he has a good reason for not telling you where he works.” But what reason that could be, Max couldn't be sure.

“How can you be so sure?” Buzz asked, looking back at Max. His eyes were narrowed slightly. What did Max know of his father? He never even met him! “For all we know, he could be...”

“I just don't want you to get all worked up over this.” Max said carefully. “I don't want you to..make the same mistake I did...” He lowered his gaze. Buzz nodded, understanding what Max was telling him. They then turned their attention back onto the kids who were discussing what they think about this Apatosaurus and how they should deal with it, provided if it was real or not. And for the rest of the period, Max and Buzz didn't say a word to each other.

* * *

Later that afternoon, after school was dismissed and the students were going home, except for the Dino Squad who were probably going up to the lighthouse, Michelle wandered around the outskirts of the town again, like she had before. She hadn't seen Oscura in a while. Victor had told her that Oscura has been made Kista's partner now in order to separate the two teenagers. Oscura was probably with Kista somewhere, although not in the school because the Dino Squad would recognize her. Michelle decided to use the extra free time that she had to walk around this particular spot. She liked it here despite the fact that it brought her dangerously close to the lighthouse. Yet despite the danger, it felt so tranquil and peaceful here. It was hard to believe that a battle took place here only two weeks ago.

The memories were still fresh on her mind. She remembered how she had planted the tracker on Caruso in the first place, which helped to locate him here at this lighthouse. She remembered that the night before, she had destroyed the equipment so that they could not track them. She remembered how Oscura had poisoned a few members of the time with that infectious bite of hers, and the way that Victor had launched himself on top of Rodger and defeated him fairly easily. And she could not forget how she had used her small size and superior agility to make the 'perfect dinosaurs' ram into one another. She chuckled lightly. It was such a terrific battle.

And yet...it didn't feel right. She frowned a little, stopping next to a tree to lean against it. She looked at the dirt on the floor. For a split second, she thought it had taken on a red hue, the color of blood. But when she shook her head, the color had vanished, replaced with the usual dark brown color of the rich soil beneath her feet. She couldn't help but feel guilty about what she had done, especially to Buzz, whom she thought had really grown to like her and trust her, only to have her back stab him in the end. Michelle bit her lip. She wished she could take it back, and to find some way to make up for what she had done. But what could she do?

Michelle looked up and stared out at the horizon. She could see the lighthouse, yet again, from where she was standing, but she knew that they couldn't see her. She was hidden among the trees, obscuring any way to see her. And she wasn't in dino mode, so they couldn't track her using those scans of theirs. Part of her wanted to go over there to try to warn them, or to try the following day at the school. But fear gripped her every time she tried to urge herself to agree with talking to them. She knew that she would not be a very welcome sight for the Dino Squad. They would rather chase her off or try to capture her than to let her help them, even if she were trying to be sincere about it. She had caused them too much harm.

And yet, she knew that if she didn't at least try to warn them, their friend Caruso could wind up dead. He doesn't know that Victor had assigned all of his men to kill him on sight. If Caruso were to wander out of sight for very long, and he caught the attention of a worker from Raptor Dyne, he'd be shot on sight. She grimaced at the thought. She didn't want that to happen, especially to Caruso, who had already suffered enough pain from that horrible human bridle that he had to wear. She gently rubbed her mouth, imagining the pain that the kid must have been through when it was in his mouth, scraping against his tongue and gums.

And she knew that if she didn't say something earlier, many more terrible things would happen following Caruso's death. Victor was going to capture them all and get their DNA, and possibly try to experiment on them as well. Victor was interested in how they could control their forms. Although he was the one who helped them control their dinosaur forms, he hadn't yet conducted any experiments to completely understand it, and since he had other plans with Michelle and Oscura, he decided not to experiment on them. He was saving it for the Dino Squad. And experimentations are the least of the Dino Squad's worries. Michelle knew that once Victor was done experimenting with them and taking blood samples from them, he would kill them.

And if the Dino Squad are killed, then it would be game over for the planet. Victor could speed up his plot, producing many perfected dinosaurs and unleash them into the cities and anywhere else that he wanted. She wouldn't be surprised if Victor revealed his true intentions to the public, and no longer hide his secret identity as a Velociraptor. His men, kept under reservation because they had to keep their true intentions a secret, might no longer hold back and start killing any human in sight. While Michelle had no way to prove this, she wouldn't be surprised if Victor does do this. He hated humans and might rather kill them than transform them.

Then again, it might be easier to transform humans as well. Instead of killing them off, perhaps Victor could just spread the perfect DNA around the world, transforming all plants and animals into prehistoric forms. It would be faster and he wouldn't have to engage in any worthless fighting. He would barely have to lift a finger; he'd just have to let the ooze take its course, allow it to flow through the grass and the dirt and the water, and allow it to transform all the lifeforms that it comes in contact with. But even if Victor were to choose this way instead, it would still mean the end of mankind.

Michelle looked out towards the lighthouse again. She did notice that none of the bikes were there, although she could see the big yellow SUV parked there. She wondered if the Dino Squad were even at the lighthouse. She shook her head. No, they couldn't be there. If they were, then where were their motorcycles? The Dino Squad must still be in school. She narrowed her eyes slightly. That could work in her favor. If they were out somewhere public, they couldn't try to capture her without bringing attention to themselves. She could use this opportunity to tell them. Yes, that's what she should do. It was the right thing to do.

Michelle finally reached a decision. Her eyes narrowing in determination, she knew what she must do. She would have to get into contact with the Dino Squad and tell them what is going on. Even if they didn't want her help, she knew she would have to at least try. What other choice did she possibly have? If she didn't try, she would risk allowing someone to get killed. Caruso didn't deserve it, even if he was such a pain when he was their prisoner. She looked down the road to make sure it was clear. It would be a long walk back to the school if she didn't transform. Turning into a dinosaur would risk allowing Victor to see where she was, and yet if she didn't transform, by the time she'd get to the school, she would be too late.

Finally, she ultimately decided to transform. If Victor saw her, she could say that she was just on patrol and tried looking for Caruso, but never found him. He might not be able to detect him with his radar, as it would only send out alerts of dinosaur and mutant signatures. Humans were of little interest to the machine. After an instant glow of blue energy, she grew in size until she was in her Guanlong Wucaii form. She looked out towards the city, eyes narrowing. She lifted up her nose, and sniffed. The school wasn't far away, and it wouldn't take long to get there on foot. Rearing her head back, she bolted off, sticking to the trees and the cover of foliage to keep anyone from seeing her.

'I hope you allow me to help you, Dino Squad... It's the only chance you got.' Michelle thought as she continued to run down the road, making her way swiftly towards the school.

* * *

The Dino Squad were sitting outside the school, more specifically, at the football field that was close to the school itself. Since it was the daytime, all the lamp posts and lights were turned off. Other than the Dino Squad, the football was completely empty. The group was completely silent. The only sound was the breeze that played through the land, rustling the grass on the field and swaying their hair slightly in the wind. The gang was sitting in the bleachers, looking out the field as they remembered the things that happened on this very field, including when they were all tricked by holographic mutantsaurs and when Victor turned some of their fellow students into mutant Velociraptors.

But they didn't come out here to dwell on the past. They came out here so they would have a private place to talk for a short time before they headed out to the lighthouse. They wanted to be somewhere safe, somewhere where they could discuss what they want to do without drawing much attention. A football field was massive. Even if they spoke out loud, it might be hard to hear unless they were screaming. They also wanted to talk a while before they went over to the lighthouse because they didn't want to see Moynihan just yet. They were still concerned about her sudden aggressive behavior, and they were certain that she was worried about that too.

Getting tired of the silence, Fiona decided to say something to try to induce a worthwhile conversation, even if it was somber and serious in tone. “So..what did the class ultimately say about Peter..the Apatosaurus?”

Buzz shook his head. “I don't know. I sort of...zoned out after ten minutes of listening to it.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It just got old, just the same old, same old stuff. Some said he should be hunted down, others say he was a hallucination. Things like that.”

Max nodded his head. “I thought they would figure it out; that he was a real dinosaur that caused real destruction.” It confused him as to how anyone could think the Apatosaurus was an illusion. “I mean, the destruction he had apparently left behind could not have been created by an illusion, yet even that was dismissed.”

Fiona looked confused. “How could they dismiss that?”

Max tried his best not to laugh. “Some kid in the class said it was a mini-earthquake.”

Fiona said, “What?”

“You heard him. A mini-earthquake.” Buzz said, a similar smile on his face. The fact that someone would suggest such a thing amused him too.

Rodger rubbed his head and shook it. He was shaking visibly, taking in and holding sharp breaths, trying his best not to burst out laughing at what Max had said. Rodger had read all kinds of things about seismic activity, but he had never read anything that would fit a mini-earthquake scenario. He knew that the damage that Peter had caused was within a short distance and he also knew that the chances of an earthquake taking place in one relatively tiny area was very slim. “Something is very wrong with that kid. I'm sorry...but it's impossible for such an earthquake to take place.” Then something else came to his mind. “And since when did earthquakes produce FOOTPRINTS?!”

“Although this is an interesting topic,” Buzz said with a less-than-amused tone in his voice, “..but don't we have something more important to discuss?” He turned his gaze to Caruso, who was sitting next to Fiona. He had remained quiet since they were out here, probably to reduce the chances of him hurting himself even more. Caruso had his head turned away from the others, but he knew that they were still listening in on their conversation. “...like what's been going on with Moynihan..or what Victor might be up to..?”

“Yes..we know Buzz.” Rodger said, closing his eyes solemnly. “It is a very serious manner to discuss...”

“And yet if we don't,” Fiona chimed in, “...who knows what would happen next? I mean, we don't even know when Victor will strike again! We don't know what he's up to!” She gritted her teeth and dug her fingernails into her head, scratching at it mercilessly. When she realized what she was doing, she quickly pulled her hands away and lowered her head. “I'm..I'm sorry..It's just that..this whole thing frustrates me.. It's so frustrating not knowing what your worst enemy is up to. He could attack at any time...”

“And when he does attack, we don't know if we will be prepared or not.” Rodger said, slowly shaking his head. He could feel Fiona's fear, and understand why she was so distraught. She wasn't the only one. Even Moynihan was concerned from the lack of activity from Victor. This was not the first time Victor had gone silent. He went silent for a period of time before, and that time it turned out he was trying to transform Hawaii into a dinosaur breeding ground. They were lucky to get there when they did to stop his evil plan. But this time, they may not know what he is going to do until it was too late. Still, he knew that they shouldn't give up hope. Something would turn up soon, and he was sure that they could prepare for anything. “But I don't think we should just give up hope.”

“I wasn't about to give up hope, Rodger.” Said Fiona. “I know that none of us should give ourselves over to despair, especially after we...” She stopped herself short and looked over at Caruso, biting her lip. She was about to tell them about how they had found Caruso and thought he was dead and had accepted it as fact, giving themselves over to the despair of losing a friend. If Max had suggested Moynihan to sniff Caruso again, they probably would have abandoned him, and Caruso would have woken up, badly hurt and alone. “...you know..” She managed to say before going quiet.

“Yeah...we know..” Rodger said sympathetically. “We know..” He and the others knew what Fiona was talking about. They, too, felt horrible about almost leaving Caruso behind. They didn't discuss this very much with Caruso because they knew it would only make him feel bad and hurt him more emotionally. The thought of his friends leaving him behind wasn't something he wanted to listen to very much. But then again, who would?

Then a silence fell onto the group. No one spoke a word for the next few minutes, almost ten minutes. The wind continued to blow, which helped to cool anyone who was hot down. But it did little to comfort them, did nothing to calm them down. Their hearts were wrenched in pain and in worry about what might happen, and what has already happened. Victor had already done a lot to them to hurt them emotionally, and in Caruso's case, physically. They had seen, first hand, just what he was capable of. He went from a villain that they didn't have to come in direct conflict with very much to someone who knew that they were human and would likely confront them a lot more often now, face-to-face. And he had managed to take one of them away on the first try.

Remembering the battle at the lighthouse was very painful for them. The failure that they had endured there stung them deeply. They had failed to save Caruso, even when they were all in dino mode and still outnumbered Victor and his two other fighters. He might have had a good number of humans in the truck, but they weren't used for combat; just to drive the truck and to help capture Caruso in that hideous, giant metal claw. And even though both Michelle and Oscura were much smaller than they were in dino mode, the two still managed to get the best of them in the fight. Some of them still felt silly about allowing Michelle to cause them to crash into one another, and for letting Oscura bite them with her bacteria-filled mouth.

The idea that something like that could happen again was on everyone's mind, especially Caruso, who had been seemingly permanently scarred, both physically and mentally, by the incident. The attack had occurred suddenly, without much warning. They didn't have a scanner at the time, though, so if Victor were to try to strike again, they would know about it ahead of time. And yet, they weren't sure if Victor would be stupid enough to try to attack the lighthouse again. He could try attacking them somewhere else now, and since he knew that they could track him, he could easily find some way to block their signal, making him and his men appear 'invisible', allowing them to keep the element of surprise.

Knowing that Victor was more capable than they had originally thought and that he could find easily find a way to attack again without giving them much warning frightened the team. They weren't sure what he would do next and if he would have any tricks up his sleeves like he had the last time. That tracker he had Michelle put on Irwin's foot had electrocuted him, allowing Victor's team to easily nab him and pick him up into the air. And once they had Caruso, the team had tried, in vain, to rescue him, but failed miserably in the end, much to their guilt.

Now they knew they had to figure out what to do now. All they had done so far was keep their guard up and be very cautious when they were anywhere outside the school and the lighthouse. There was not much else they could do until they could figure out what Victor was up to. But they knew that, even if they didn't know, they had to do something. They couldn't just sit here, doing nothing until Victor struck again. For all they know, he could take someone else, and then they would have to relive the nightmare of when they lost Caruso to him. And that was something that none of them wanted to endure again.

And what has been happening to Moynihan was also of grave concern. At first, they all thought it was just stress. They all thought that she would get over it by now. But they were wrong. She had not gotten better; she had gotten worse. She had gotten more and more aggressive. It was frightening them all, including Moynihan herself. The incident on the Mothersaurus Submarine was probably the scariest they had to endure yet. She had acted so..animalistic. She was sharpening her claws on the wall. Her eyes were glowing intensely. She had tried to hurt Max. She was acting a lot like a...Velociraptor....

Max shivered at the memory of being pinned on the ground, Moynihan looming over him, staring at him like some crazed predator. It was almost like she was reverting back to her primal instincts, but he couldn't think of why she would be doing this. It couldn't be stress...it just couldn't. “Anyone have any theories on Moynihan's strange behavior?” He finally asked.

Buzz gritted his teeth angrily. “I'm sure Michelle has something to do with it...”

“But without evidence...” Fiona said, lifting a finger. “..there's no way we can pin this whole thing on her.”

“Fiona's right, you guys.” Max said, narrowing his eyes a little. He knew Moynihan would not approve of them jumping to conclusions like this. Regardless of what Michelle had done, she was innocent until proven guilty, and they don't have any evidence to even go on right now. “We can't just jump to conclusions like this.”

Buzz shot a glare at Max. “What are you saying?!” He cried. “Have you forgotten what happened the last time we sat around and did nothing?!”

Max shook his head. “No. I don't think any one of us could forget what happened, Buzz.”


	22. Warn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“Then how could you say that we shouldn't jump to conclusions about Michelle?!” Buzz snapped, baring his teeth angrily. “We already know what she's capable of! We already know what she has done to us! We know she works for Victor!” He wanted to grab Max and start shaking him, but he was able to refrain from doing so. “Isn't that enough evidence to prove that she has something to do with what happened?!”

“Well...I suppose...” Max started to say.

“Then shouldn't we just go after her?!” Buzz yelled at a louder tone of voice, causing Max and the others to cringe back a little from the boy's apparent anger. “Whose side are you on?” He hissed in a low voice, his eyes narrowed so much that it was difficult to see his pupils and irises. After he said that, he started to breathe in and out quickly, trying to calm himself down. He could feel his blood coming to a boil and he was starting to ache. When he realized what he had just done, his expression softened up.

“Calm down, Buzz...” Rodger said carefully. “Don't blow a gasket on us!”

“I...” Buzz started to say, then looked around at his friends. Max was giving him a somewhat hurt look, and had moved a bit away from him to give him some room. Buzz then looked at Fiona. Her eyes were narrowed at him and her arms were folded up. She didn't look to happy at the way he was acting now. Biting his lip, Buzz then moved his gaze to Rodger, who had the calmest expression of the group, and probably the most sympathetic. Reluctantly, Buzz then looked down at Caruso. Not surprisingly, Caruso was looking at him, horrified, eyes wide with fear. Feeling guilt rise up inside of him, Buzz let out a soft sigh, his gaze lowering to the ground. “I'm so sorry, you guys...and I'm so sorry, Max..I-I..I didn't mean to snap at you like that.”

Max gulped, and hesitated in answering Buzz. He knew Buzz didn't really mean to yell at him like that. It hurt yes, but he knew that Buzz didn't mean what he had said to him, and to the others. He was just upset, and he could understand that. Max, although he didn't want to admit it, did suspect that Michelle might have something to do with what was going on with Moynihan. It did make a lot of sense. But what he was concerned about was that, if they jump to conclusions, they'd end up finding out that Michelle was innocent, and whoever was really responsible could strike again, taking another one of them with it.

And Buzz's snapping reminded him of when he snapped at Caruso a few weeks ago. He recalled how Buzz had said he was being harsh back then. Max's eyes narrowed slightly. He wondered why Buzz would go against his own advice, and starting acting this way. Buzz seemed to have a great deal of hatred and contempt for Michelle. They all did. But Buzz seemed to be taking it one step too far, and he noticed Rodger seemed to be almost the same way, although not to the same extent as Buzz. Max didn't understand why they could be acting this way. After all, what good was holding a grudge going to do them? All it would do was make them hurt even more inside. They need to learn to calm down.

“Buzz...” Max said, doing his best not to sound too harsh or too angry. “I understand how you feel. I understand that you are so angry with Michelle that you just want to believe that she did this.” He groaned in frustration, which let Buzz know that Max was not in a good mood. Tensing up his fingers as if they were claws and rapidly moving them downward, fingers pointed upwards, something only done when one was very angry or frustrated, Max continued on, “But really Buzz! How would you like it if someone decided to accuse you of keeping a poisonous snake that got loose simply based on the fact that you own a snake?”

Buzz lowered his head, now feeling even worse than he did before. Max made a very valid point. He wouldn't like it if someone did that to him. He knew that him owning snakes does not mean he would be the kind of person to have a poisonous snake and then let it loose onto the city. That wouldn't really be fair if someone accused him simply based on that one thing. Now he understood, and knew why Max was upset with him and Rodger for accusing Michelle about doing something to Moynihan. He realized that he was jumping to conclusions based on one thing: his hatred for Michelle. He wanted so much for her to be guilty that he wasn't even considering acting fair.

Feeling horrible, Buzz put his face in one hand and shook his head. “Max..I'm so sorry..I didn't know what I was thinking, I...” He opened up his eyes and peered out onto the field. His expression instantly went into that of shock. His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. Then quickly, they narrowed into slits and he bared his teeth, grinding them so hard that he thought they would pop out of his skull. He uttered one word, barely audible to the team. “Michelle...”

Upon hearing the name, the team instantly looked out onto the football field. At first, they couldn't see what Buzz was talking about, and thought that he was simply talking to himself or remembering something terrible regarding Michelle. But after a few more seconds, they saw movement just outside of the field. Upon seeing this, the team immediately go up to their feet, except for Caruso, who was looking out toward the field in fear, shaking visibly. The team immediately moved in front of him, hoping to block anyway someone below from seeing him. Then, another movement caught their eyes. They turned their heads over towards the entrance. It was hard to tell, but they could see a black shadow moving along swiftly and quietly.

Prepared for a confrontation or possible battle, the team immediately moved off of the bleachers and made their way down the flight of steps, and onto the field. Caruso remained in the bleachers for a few seconds. Looking around nervously, he became even more afraid because he was now alone. Despite his fear, he got up and followed the team, albeit more slowly than they had come down the steps. He quickly reached his friends, who were now standing in the middle of the school football field. Their eyes were locked towards where they last saw the figure moving. They knew it was Michelle, but they have yet to see her. Caruso positioned himself so that he was partially hidden behind his friends, but moved his head over so he could see Michelle coming.

Then the team saw movement again, a flash of black, and it was very close to them. They moved in different positions, trying to make sure that Michelle couldn't surprise them, no matter where she came in from. Then a shadow fell upon them, quickly, briefly, but it was there. They heard a thud right behind them, where the bleachers were. They swiftly turned around, backing away a little. Caruso's eyes were widened in fear while his friends' eyes were narrowed in either anger or determination. They weren't going to let Michelle or anyone from Raptor Dyne take Caruso away from them this time. They'd never hurt him or them ever again.

Michelle was in dino mode. She stood just behind the railing. She raised up her head and pointed her muzzle towards the sky. She took in a few sniffs, and opened up her jaws to let out a soft, non-threatening growl. Her glowing yellow eyes slowly moved behind until she could see the Dino Squad right behind her. Once she saw them, she immediately turned around, and leaped over the fence, landing a few feet away from the Dino Squad. Shaking herself off, she turned to face them, and moved a few steps back to make sure she wasn't aggravating them too much. She knew that if she made a mistake here, it could be the last mistake she would ever make.

Although in dino mode, she stood taller than any of the five students she was now facing alone, Michelle knew that their dino modes were all much bigger than she was, and without a partner to aide her, there was no way she'd be able to take them all on. Hoping that they would settle down a little, Michelle took another step back, giving the team more distance from her. She had a feeling that if she remained too close to them, she would make them angrier by the second, and Caruso was probably frightened to see her. She'd have to be careful not to upset the boy, or his friends would swiftly come to defend him. Even if she didn't mean it, she suspected that they would still react.

For a few minutes, the Dino Squad and Michelle stood on the field in complete silence. No word was spoken, no growl or roar sounded out. The only sounds came from the trees that were all around them, and the grass on their feet as it crumpled with each step, no matter how small. The breeze continued to blow, making a small whistle sound as it blew by. Michelle closed her eyes briefly as the wind struck her in the face. Growing weary of the silence, Michelle parted her jaws slightly, and let out a soft growl, again non-threatening. She was about to say something in thought-speak, but she figured that she would be less imposing and less threatening if she returned to her human form. She lifted her muzzle again, and concentrated. Glowing briefly, she quickly reverted back to her human state and remained standing where she was, not making a move towards the team.

Michelle finally spoke, speaking in a soft voice she was certain wouldn't upset or frighten Caruso. “Dino Squad..I..I know you aren't happy to see me right now..” She looked at each of their faces. Max, Buzz, Rodger, and Fiona were all glaring at her, poised to fight. But only Buzz and Rodger were glaring with anger and hate towards her .Max and Fiona just looked determined to protect their friends, especially Caruso. Although he was mostly hidden behind his friends, Michelle could see the look of fear on his face. “But this is an emergency! I...”

Buzz cut her off, taking a step forward, pointing an accusing finger at her. “I know what you are going to say! You're going to say that you have come to recapture Caruso! Or take another one of us!” He took another step forward, ignoring the look of confusion and shock on Michelle's face. “Don't lie to us! I know you have some of Victor's minions hiding around here, waiting to ambush us when you give the signal!”

“But..I... I am alone...” Michelle said, holding out her hands to show that she had no tracker or other device with her. “There's no one with me...”

“Liar!” Buzz snapped, baring his teeth. Michelle cringed back, trying to make herself appear as non-threatening as possible. But Buzz didn't seem to fall for it. “Don't give me that look! You're not going to fool me anymore!”

“Why don't you just save yourself the trouble and GET OUT OF HERE!” Rodger yelled, stepping up beside Buzz to join him. He hoped that he and Buzz could frighten Michelle away so that they could avoid an actual fight. This wasn't the place for a battle, and Moynihan expected them back at the lighthouse soon.

But despite being frightened, and it showed physically by her shaking and look of fear on her face, Michelle remained standing where she was. She looked determined to do what she came here for. Her eyes narrowed in determination, her hands tightened and clenched into fists. She took a confident step forward, showing the group of teenagers that she was not going to back down that easily. She tried to make sure that she didn't appear threatening, though, because if she did, that would be the worst mistake she possibly could make with this group. But she could not just run away now, as much as she wanted to. She had something important to tell them, and she knew that she would regret it later on if she refused to tell the Dino Squad.

“Look, I am NOT leaving!” Michelle said, standing her ground. She straightened up her back to try and make herself appear as confident as possible; she was not going to get chased away. “I have an important message to deliver to you!”

Rodger rolled his eyes and sneered, “Yeah..what message could you possibly have for us? Maybe you're just going to tell us how long we have until your buddies come out to try and catch us!”

Fiona joined in. “Or maybe you're going to tell us what diabolical plan you have come up with the next time that we meet and you're just giving us a warning! And then when that day comes, you'll change your plan at the last minute and catch us off guard!” Her voice sounded more accusatory than actual anger, as present in Rodger's voice. But it was still enough to make Michelle take a step back.

“I....” Michelle tried to say, but words failed her.

“See!” Buzz said in an accusing tone of voice, mixed in with a sense of confidence. “You cannot even deny it yourself! You aren't trying to defend yourself, therefore we must be right about you! You must be plotting something!” As he said this, he starting taking some more steps forward, closing the gap between him and Michelle. Fiona stayed behind, sticking to Caruso's side. Max remained behind as well, not wanting to make any decisions he knew that Moynihan would disapprove of. Rodger whoever quickly joined in Caruso, and the two started to gang up on Michelle.

“You no good spy!” Rodger hissed through his teeth.

“You lying creep!” Buzz said, even more anger in his voice now.

Michelle continued to back away as the two boys were advancing on her. She gulped in fear. She knew that this was going to turn out badly. She told herself that she might get into a situation like this. Oh how right she was. She was staring to wish that she had never come here in the first place. They weren't going to believe her, so why bother even trying? She should have just gone straight back to Raptor Dyne. She should have just forgotten about this stupid mission. She could never convince the Dino Squad of the truth. She should have just let them figure it out on their own. But then again, by the time they could figure out what was going on, it would probably be too late already...

Suddenly Michelle found herself backed up against the fence that wrapped around the football field. Buzz and Rodger seized this opportunity and rapidly closed in the gap between them and Michelle, making it almost impossible for her to escape unless she went dino. Michelle tried desperately to seek a way to escape, but she could not find any. She pressed her back against the fence as far as she could go, bending the wires backward as she did so. But she wasn't able to get too far away from the two boys, who were glaring at her harshly as they stood close enough to make sure she couldn't get away.

Smiling darkly, Buzz said, “Got nowhere to go huh?” He pointed a finger at her, a claw tip visible from the end of the fingertip. “You should have stayed home...You should not have come here..!”

Rodger nodded his head. He also pointed a finger at Michelle, but unlike Buzz, there were to claws on his hand, just the normal fingernails. “You've caused us so much grief and agony with your participation in that invasion of the lighthouse! You dare show your face here and try to pose as an ally?!”

“P-P-Please..I...!” Michelle begged, holding up her hands to defend herself. “I just wanted to help you...!”

Gritting his teeth and allowing his anger to get the better of him, Buzz reached out and seized Michelle by the arm and pulled her forward very roughly. Michelle yelped in pain and in surprise and stammered on her feet, trying desperately to keep her footing. She was quickly able to regain it, but she didn't get very far when Buzz pulled her roughly again, this time towards him. She turned her head away for a few seconds, not wanting to look into his eyes. But she eventually forced herself to look at Buzz, her eyes wide with fear, and trembled like a scared little child. To see him this close up with that look on his face was just frightening for her.

Looking satisfied at the look of fear on her face, Buzz smiled darkly and said, “You're nothing but a worthless, traitorous liar, you know that..?” After a few seconds of silence, Buzz narrowed his eyes. He pulled on her roughly again, causing her to cry out in pain, and asked again, this time through clenched teeth. “You know that?!”

Michelle closed her eyes and turned her head away. Through her trembling whimpers, she managed to choke out, “P-Please..you've got to trust me on this.... Trust me...please..”

Buzz's eyes widened in both shock and anger that Michelle had even dared ask him to trust her. He gritted his teeth and growled softly, which quickly turned into a louder snarl, one that shocked even his friends. Rodger had a similar look on his face, although instead of growling, he was pounding his fist in one hand, a clear sign that he wasn't happy with what Michelle had just asked of them. Michelle realized what she had just done and tried to wriggle her way free of Buzz's grasp, but he only gripped her tighter, his Pteranodon claws digging into her skin. He then thrust her back against the fence with considerable force, causing her to cry out in pain.

“After all you put us through...” Buzz hissed through his teeth. “...after all that you have done..” Buzz pushed her against the fence with enough pressure to make it a little hard for her to breathe. “..you have the nerve to ask us to trust you?!”

“Why should we trust you?” Rodger said, moving in closer to the pinned Michelle. “We did trust you, one time. And remember what happened then?!” Unable to stop himself, Rodger lifted up his massive arm and prepared to punch Michelle. But then a hand grabbed a hold and gently pulled it back down. Rodger turned around to see who it was. “Max?” Rodger and Buzz turned around. Buzz continued to grip Michelle, who had finally stopped struggling in his grasp. She also looked at Max, a look of fear on her face. She wondered what the jock was going to do to her.

Max glared at both Buzz and Rodger. He had expected better behavior from these two. He was disappointed that they had allowed their anger to make them act this way. He was disappointed that they didn't bring themselves to act more maturely. They didn't need to do this to Michelle. She was clearly outnumbered and she didn't look like she truly wanted to fight. In fact, more than anything, she looked absolutely frightened, and he couldn't really blame her. She was almost immediately ganged up on by two of the Dino Squad teammates before she did any real harm to anyone here. The good guys were not supposed to be like this.

Max pointed at Buzz. “Release her, Buzz. Now!”

Buzz and Rodger looked at each other, confused. They looked back at Max and wondered if they had heard his statement right. Rodger spoke up. “What..?”

“Buzz heard me.” Max said, his voice almost cold. “I said release her!”

Buzz looked at Michelle then back at Max. He shook his head. “No..you can't be serious, Max..I...”

“Release her!” Max repeated, more force in his voice now.

“But Max, she's a threat! We cannot release her!” Buzz said, trying to justify his actions.

But Max wouldn't have it. He took a step forward, bringing himself uncomfortablely close to Buzz. He moved his face so that it was only about an inch in front of Buzz's. With his eyes narrowed, Max repeated his command, this time sounding more like a threat than a command. “Buzz, you will release her now! Let her go! And step away from her!” He looked over at Rodger. “The same goes for you, Rodger!”

Rodger and Buzz were both confused as to why Max was acting like this. They couldn't understand why he would command them to let go and step away from Michelle, someone who was a real threat to the team, someone that they shouldn't take their eyes off of. Max himself had admitted, at least once, that he hated Michelle. So what would possess him to actually defend her? Why would he want them to let go of someone who was capable of bringing more harm than good? For a few moments, they wondered if Max was actually betraying them, but that thought was quickly shook out of their minds. No, Max would never betray them. He must have a good reason for forcing them to let her go. He must!

Maybe Max wanted to interrogate her themselves. Maybe he wanted them to step away from her so that he could talk to her himself. He would probably have an easier time persuading her to talk to them. He was, in fact, the leader, and the most persuasive member of the team. But even so, there was still no telling what kind of lies Michelle would speak to him about. They knew that they would still have to be on their guard, ready to attack when they least expect it. Buzz and Rodger hoped that Max knew what he was doing and the risk he was taking in forcing them to let go of this girl. They hoped that he could keep her cornered himself, to ensure that she wouldn't run off.

Finally, Buzz and Rodger lowered their heads slightly. Neil released his grip on Michelle and started to move away from her. But he still glared at her, and she flinched at the sight of him. Rodger also backed away, but his eyes were locked on Max, looking shocked that he had asked them to move away from Michelle, as if it were a mistake. When Buzz and Rodger backed up, Michelle let out a sigh of relief and she started to relax. She would have started to move away from the fence, but with Max standing there, she thought it would be better to stay where she was.

Rodger moved in a little closer and whispered something to Max while glaring at Michelle. “I hope you know what you are doing... She's too dangerous to...”

Max whispered harshly back. “I know that, Rodger! Just trust me! I can handle her.”

“If you say so.” Rodger and Buzz took a few steps back. They noticed that Fiona and Caruso had also moved up a little, getting a little closer so they could make out what was going on. Fiona looked shocked as well that Max had told them to let Michelle go, but was slightly relieved that he now stood her, keeping her up against the fence. This was typical Max, always wanting to be the one with the responsibility on his shoulders. He was the kind of person who felt that he should be in charge of everything and while he isn't nearly as bad as he was before, now and again, his leadership attitude would take a hold, just like now.

Caruso still looked frightened. He wasn't completely worried about Michelle. He knew that they outnumbered her, although the fear of her taking him away was fresh on his mind. Michelle worked for Victor Veloci, and where she was, Veloci might be nearby, or at least tracking her in someway. He wondered if Victor was looking at them right now, with one of his scans. He shuddered at the thought. But what was scaring him more was Max. He was worried that he might get hurt, facing Michelle all by himself. He might be a T-Rex, but Michelle might be able to transform too quickly for him, and attack without giving him a chance to transform as well.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Max adopted a more dominant posture, showing Michelle that she was now dealing with the leader of this team. He took a step forward, feet firmly planted on the ground, and his hands were now fists, although not very tightly clenched. “What is it that you want to tell us, Michelle?” Despite the dominant gesture, Max's voice sounded relatively, and surprisingly, calm. He slowly relaxed his fists, his fingers now hanging limply at his sides.

Michelle gulped, still frightened at how she was treated just a few minutes ago, and said, “W-Well..I just wanted to deliver a warning...” She straighted up her back to try and make herself appear more confident. “I..I wanted to tell you what Victor was up to.”

Buzz stepped forward and was about to say something, but was immediately silenced when Max lifted up a hand and gave him a quick glare. Buzz immediately backed down, but glared at Michelle. Max then turned back to Michelle, his expression quickly changing to that of curiosity. “Oh really? That's what you came here to tell us?”

Michelle nodded her head. “Yes. You probably noticed he has been quiet for a few weeks...”

“Yes, we noticed that.” Max said, nodding his head. “Ms. Moynihan already has her suspicions, and so do we...”

Michelle nodded her head. “Yes, I'm quite sure of that.” She did sound a little pleased that they were suspicious of the silence. That meant that they might have stood a chance when Victor would strike, no matter if they weren't expecting it or not. They didn't let their guard down that much, so that was good. But she still needed to tell them what is going on. “And I am sure you are interested in what Victor is planning to do now..”

Max narrowed his eyes. “Well of course. And just what is he planning?”

Michelle sighed deeply and closed her eyes. She lowered her head so that it was facing towards the hard floor at her feet. She didn't really want to tell them this because she didn't know how they would react. They might think that she was threatening them personally instead of trying to help them. But if she didn't say something now, she might never get another chance like this. “It's...it's about..Caruso...” She lifted up her head, her eyes locking onto Caruso's. Unconsciously, she took a step forward. Caruso whimpered in fear and took a step backwards.

Instinctively, Buzz lunged forward, his claws out. He struck out towards Michelle, barely missing her. The brunette cried out in fear and stumbled backwards, nearly falling onto her back. Buzz raised his hand again and shouted, “Leave him alone!”

“Buzz..stop it.” Fiona said, placing her hand on Buzz's shoulder.

“But..but she threatened him!” Buzz growled angrily. “We can't just...!”

Fiona shook her head. “No, she did not threaten him. She just looked at him, but she didn't make a threatening move towards him!” She glanced over at Caruso and shook her head. “But Caruso's still frightened about what happened. I cannot blame him for being frightened. No shame in that.”

Trying his best to ignore what had just happened, Max moved in a little closer to Michelle, trying his best not to make himself appear threatening. What Michelle had to say had suddenly interested him, and worried him at the same time. She had just mentioned that what she was about to say dealt with Caruso. Even if it were a lie, he wanted to take the risk and listen to her anyway. This could be very important. “What about Caruso?”

Trying to regain her bearings, Michelle stammered, “W-Well...he...” But then she went silent, trying to think of how she should continue. She wanted to give them this warning calmly, to say it in a way that it would only let them know of the danger ahead and not frighten them too much. But there was no way to sugarcoat this warning. It was just far too dire of a message to even think about lightening up a little. Michelle glanced back at Caruso again, but this time made no movement towards him. Of all the people in this group, he was the one who was going to react the most to what she was about to say.

Taking in a deep breath, Michelle said, “Victor is after Caruso again.” There was a collection of gasps in the group, the reaction that she was expecting. “But this time he wants to kill him!” A look of horror came onto all the teen's faces, including Rodger and Buzz. “But that's not the worst of it!” Michelle's speaking was becoming more rapid and desperate, and her breathing was getting faster too. Whatever she was going to say, it must be urgent. “He has ordered every member of Raptor Dyne, including those who do not know of his true scheme to bring back the dinosaurs, to kill Caruso on sight!” She glanced at Caruso once more. “And I have heard he sent an assassin after you. Watch your back, kid! Watch your back!”

Caruso cried out in fear and moved further back behind his friends, as if he thought that Michelle was going to do something to him right that second to prove her point. His shivering became more visible, and he lost some color in his face as he stared at Michelle in horror of her warning. Old fears were rising up inside of him again, and he looked around quickly, expecting some of Veloci's men to come out at any second now. He suddenly realized just how unsafe he was out here in the public. How long ago had Victor issued this warning? How long has it been since his men were out looking for him? He was grateful that his parents weren't here to hear this. He couldn't begin to imagine their reaction, the look of fear they would have on their faces, especially his mother.

Fiona noticed Caruso's distress and put an arm around him to try and comfort him. Michelle's warning, if it were true, would confirm some of their suspicions. Victor was indeed after Caruso once again, and this time he wants to kill him. That was worse than what most of them had thought. She wasn't sure if Michelle was speaking the truth or not, but even if it was a lie, this wasn't the kind of lie that would cause much harm if it were true. It wasn't like Michelle was saying that they were safe or anything. She was giving them a specific warning that she guessed was supposed to make them more alert to danger, and how was that a bad thing? But then something else crossed Fiona's mind. She recalled how Terri and Mrs. Corel had seen Victor's men in the neighborhood. Were they looking for Caruso?

Max was just as horrified as the others were at this terrifying news, but he did his best to remain calm about it. They were already aware that something was wrong with the absence of Victor and they had suspected he would be after Caruso. But they did not suspect that he would definitely kill Caruso. That was both shocking and horrifying, difficult for them to digest. Many thoughts ran through the boy's mind. How were they going to protect Caruso? How would they know when Victor would strike again? And one of the most prominent questions now bugging him: how would they recognize Victor's men? They don't always wear those distinctive costumes. Caruso and Fiona were unable to recognize Victor's men when they had their costumes off. They could be anywhere at anytime. How would they be able to prepare?

But Rodger and Buzz were not completely convinced of Michelle's warning. Sure, it seemed convincing enough. If they didn't follow it, it would not really matter too much because they were already being cautious and had their guard up. But they weren't sure that Michelle was being completely sincere. She might be telling them this to deliberately throw them off, to make them too worried or scared to react and then she could use that opportunity to attack or make some kind of signal. And she was probably not even warning about Victor himself. They thought that she was going to do this and decided to tell them, but say Victor was going to so that they wouldn't think she was after Caruso. Well they weren't going to fall for it!

“You can't fool us!” Rodger said, being the first one to talk after the team had recovered from the initial shock of the news. “When will you learn it'll take more than that to make us believe you?”

Michelle moved her head back sharply, her eyes narrowed with slight anger. “What are you talking about?”

“You're lying!” Now it was Buzz's turn to say what he thought. “Victor isn't the one who wants to kill Caruso! It's you!”

Michelle's eyes narrowed further and she bared her teeth. She was looking visibly frustrated and angry at how these boys were treating her when all she was trying to do was help, despite the fact that she already suspected that they wouldn't really believe her. Still, it was frustrating that they weren't at least trying to listen to her. “I am not threatening Caruso! I'm trying to help him!”

“Like how you helped him back at the lighthouse?” Fiona spoke up harshly. She didn't mean to sound like this, but feeling Caruso shaking in fear in her arms made her feel more protective of him and she felt herself become even angrier with Michelle. “You helped Victor capture him!”

Michelle tried to speak. “I...” But she shut her mouth. There was nothing she could say to defend herself against that accusation. She knew it was true. She did help capture Caruso and to deny it would be outright lying. She chuckled bitterly to herself in a very soft tone. Like she hadn't done that before!

“Why do you continue to lie?” Buzz said, an almost arrogant smirk on his face. He was looking very confidence in himself, as if he believed that he had won whatever battle took place here. “You know it never works! Why don't you try speaking the truth?”

Michelle bared her teeth. “I am speaking the truth and you still continue to think I was lying!”

Now it was Buzz's turn to flash his teeth. “That is because you are lying!”

“How do you know?” Michelle demanded, taking a step forward. “How can you possibly know when I am lying or not? You have some magical radar inside that narrow head of yours?!”

Buzz snarled. “How dare you!” He started to move towards Michelle, but immediately Max moved quickly and grabbed his arm. “Max! Let me go!” He demanded.

Max shook his head. “No, Buzz. Just stop it!” Max wasn't liking where this was going. They hadn't been talking that long with Michelle and already tensions were very high and Buzz had tried to attack Michelle again. After this was over, he'd have to speak with him alone. He wanted to understand more about why he was acting this way. Even Moynihan didn't act this aggressive towards Michelle, and she was tossed down the stairs by that girl!

“But Max..I was just going to...” Buzz tried to say, but Max held up his free hand, showing his palm to the boy which clearly meant 'stop'.

“I think you've done enough, Buzz.” Max said as he gazed over at Michelle. Even though she was looking angry, he could tell that she was also still very much afraid. He knew that if he allowed Buzz, or Rodger, continue on the way that they were, they could accidentally invoke a battle, and that was not something they needed, especially now. “Why does Victor want to kill Caruso?” He asked, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Michelle's expression softened up when she realized it was Max who was talking to her now. He seemed a lot calmer than the other students here, and she felt more comfortable talking to him, even though she and him still had tension between them. She was intent on making sure she didn't make him suspicious of her as well. The others were already accusing her of outright threatening Caruso right in front of them. She cleared her throat and said, “Well..I'm not entirely sure myself, although according to...what I've heard, Caruso apparently knows the 'cure' to something, and he wants to make sure he doesn't tell anyone about it.”

Caruso's look of fear was replaced with that of confusion and curiosity. He couldn't figure out what Michelle was talking about. He didn't know anything that he shouldn't know, or did he? What could he possibly know that Victor would want to silence him for it? Then Caruso realized something. He didn't remember everything that had happened during his stay with Victor. He did recall the moments with the bridle. Those would stick to his mind forever, the pain that he went through as it cut into his mouth. But some of the stay was now a blur and he wondered if something had happened in this blackout sequence, that he gained knowledge of something and that is why Victor was after him. But he couldn't figure out for the life of him what it could be.

“The...cure?” Max asked, tilting his head. “The cure for what?”

Michelle shrugged her shoulders. “I think he once said it had something to do with..what was her name... Moynihan? Is that her name?”

Upon the mention of Moynihan's name, Rodger quickly reacted. Shoving Max out of the way, he moved in a little close to Michelle and jabbed his finger in her direction. “What have you done with Ms. Moynihan?!”

Michelle took several steps backwards, her eyes widened in shock at Rodger's sudden movements upon the mention of their teacher's name. She shook her head slowly. “Me? I..I didn't do anything to her! It was Victor who did something to her!”

Rodger's eyes narrowed dangerously. “And I'm supposed to believe that? You were the last member of Raptor Dyne to come into contact with her, are you not?!”

“Well..I....” Michelle started to say, trying to defend herself. But Rodger wasn't finished yet. He took another step forward, and Michelle shut her mouth.

“Moynihan was fine until you showed up!” Rodger shouted at her in an accusatory tone of voice. “You must have done something to...!” He couldn't finish his sentence. He was feeling so angry that he couldn't think straight. He stopped himself, and tried to calm down. His blood was feeling so hot now that it was starting to hurt.

“What about Victor?!” Michelle blurted out without thinking. “He was right on your tail in his helicopter! He was the last one to be in close contact with your precious teacher! Not me!”

Ignoring the sarcastic 'precious' remark, Max moved in front of Rodger and asked in a someone suspicious tone of voice, “How did you know that Victor had followed us in his helicopter?”

Michelle's eyes widened and she realized the mistake that she had just made. Why did she just say that? She felt so stupid now. She shouldn't have told them that. Now all she was going to do was make them even more suspicious of her, as if she didn't already do enough of that lately. She took a step back and gulped sharply. “Well..I... I saw it on the scanners at Raptor Dyne...” She admitted, overing a nervous smile.

Buzz almost immediately jumped to a conclusion on what Michelle was doing. Hearing her say that she was watching the scanners made him think that he was correct, that she was truly up to no good and that they should not trust anything she tells them. In his mind, there was only one reason for Michelle to be watching them with the radar, and that was to spy on them. And if she was spying on them, then she must be looking for a weakness or an opening, an opportunity to take them down. Why else would she be wanting to use the radar?

But before Buzz could say anything, Rodger, who apparently had come up with the same conclusion as he did, immediately spoke up as soon as Buzz took a step towards Michelle Brown. “Aha! So you admit it!” He then pointed a finger at Michelle and shouted, “Don't you?!”

Michelle looked startled, although there was a hint of fear still in her eyes. She wanted to run away, but she was forcing herself to remain where she was standing. She didn't want to run away, not now. She was confident enough to believe that at least Rolf Maxwell could keep his team mates at bay. Thinking of Max, she started to silently wish that she were more like him, so confident in himself and not afraid to take charge. Michelle felt envious of him for being able to control a group of people, even if it was just four members, excluding himself. If she were more like him, perhaps coming here would not have been as difficult as it was for her.

But Michelle was quickly snapped out of her thoughts when Buzz had moved in close, moving in front of Rodger and Max, and was now very close to her. He didn't attack her, but he did let out a yell at her that nearly gave her a heart attack because she was not expecting it. “ANSWER THE QUESTION!” Michelle yelped in surprise and moved even further away from the team.

Shaking his head in disapproval, Max went over to Buzz and gripped him tightly by the shoulder. “Buzz, stop it!” He hissed to the punk kid, glaring at him straight in the eyes. “You're only going to make things worse.”

“I'm just trying to keep her from hurting any of us!” Buzz growled, glaring back at his leader.

Max nodded his head. “Yes, and you are also causing some unnecessary tension.” He loosened his grip on Buzz slightly. “So far, Michelle hasn't done anything, so we won't do anything.” He eyed both Rodger and Buzz as he spoke his next command. “I want you to to refrain from threatening or trying to attack Michelle unless she attacks first. You understand me?” Although visibly frustrated by being restrained by Max, both of the boys seemed to comply with his command. Before turning his attention on Michelle, Max leaned in close to Buzz and whispered a message to him that only he could hear. “After this is over, meet with me alone, if you can. I want to talk to you about something.”

Seeing the leader approach her now, looking a little angry himself, Michelle started to worry even more. Cautious of this boy's presence, she did her best to stay where she was, but she still found herself moving backwards a little, trying to keep some distance between them. Michelle wasn't sure if she should start walking away now or not. Judging from the leader boy's expression, she couldn't be sure if he was going to hurt her or not. She started feeling angry with herself. Perhaps it was her own fault for placing too much trust in this boy. She should have known that he would have ended up like the other students, hating her too much to even give her a chance.

Once Max felt he was a good distance from her, he took a deep breath before he said anything. He wasn't very happy when he heard that Michelle was watching them through the radar, and he even began to suspect himself that something was very fishy about that. But he still wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and decided to let her explain herself, to tell them why she did that. In a voice as calm as he could make it, Max asked, “Why were you watching us through the radar?”

Michelle took a step backwards. Despite Max's calm tone of voice, she would still sense a high level of tension in him and she didn't feel very comfortable being too close to him. “I was told to wait in Victor's large room where he has those big monitors..and I just happened to notice you guys, and Victor as well, both represented by signals. That's how I figured out that he was chasing you.” She slowly shook her head, biting her lip nervously as she remembered the scary images she got from looking at that monitor. “It looked like he rammed you guys pretty good a few times..”

“Why would you care?” Buzz asked harshly, but he spoke it low enough so that only he and Rodger, who was standing next to him, the same scowl on his face, could hear what he had said.

Michelle shot him a glare, but decided not to say anything. She thought it would be best of she didn't offer a retort to his cold statement. She did her best to now keep her gaze on Max. She nodded her head once, her way of saying she was now acknowledging. “I admit, I was...” She paused for a few seconds, wondering if she should continue. She bit her lip. She was a little afraid that if she were to continue on with her sentence, Buzz or another member of the Dino Squad would be right on her tail.

Max took a step forward, softening up his expression so that Michelle would feel more comfortable talking with him. “You admit to what? What were you going to say? Continue.” He said politely, doing his best to hide his anger that he was feeling towards her, remembering all the pain that she had put them through all this time.

Michelle took a step backwards, not wanting to be too close to the jock. She gulped and said, “Well, I admit that when I saw that he was after you and your friends...I was worried. I thought that he would catch you.” She rubbed her hands together nervously. She remembered the feelings of fear she felt when she saw the large scanner, indicating just how close Victor was to them. “I was glad when I realized that you managed to get away from him.” She looked at each member of the group, doing her best to ignore their glares or suspicious looks on their faces. “And it seems that you managed to escape in one piece. That is good.”

Buzz grinded his teeth angrily and Rodger's fists clenched so tightly he could feel his own fingernails digging into his palms. If it weren't for Max blocking them, they would be at Michelle right now, grabbing a hold of her and shoving her either into the ground or against the fence, or just simply chasing her away. The very idea of her stating that she was actually worried about them made their blood boil. They knew that she was just lying. That is what they believed, and it is what they thought was true. They believed Michelle was deliberately lying to them about being worried, and being glad that they were all right. Why would someone as cold and as mean as Michelle care about anyone anyway? She tossed Moynihan down the steps! She put a tracker on Caruso! She helped Victor with the attack on the lighthouse! She led him there in the first place! Why would she start caring about them now? After all that she had done already?

Max didn't show much of a physical response other than a look of mild surprise. He was, of course, masking his full response so that he wouldn't scare Michelle away. He wanted her to tell him everything that she knew, and he wasn't going to be able to succeed in that if he allowed himself to get so angry with her that he just snaps at her. He was suspicious himself that she was actually genuinely worried about any of them. They were nothing but enemies to one another, so it didn't make much sense to him that she would actually be worried about them. He would consider the possibility that she was going against Victor, but he quickly smashed that theory when he reminded himself that she still works for Victor. If she were truly on their side, she would have left him by now and try to join them. But then again, what if she was so afraid of him that she could not bring herself to betray Victor?

Max wanted to know why Michelle was worried about them. He wanted to hear her explanation for that, and hoped that she would be able to explain without having Rodger or Buzz rudely interrupt her. He quickly positioned himself in front of Buzz and Rodger again to try and make sure that they couldn't get a good look at her, and she couldn't see them that well. Max believed that this position would help Michelle concentrate on him and not be so intimidated by Buzz or Rodger. “I do not understand, Michelle.” He held up his arms in confusion. “Why would you be worried about us when we aren't even friends? We're...we're enemies!”

Michelle flinched and took a step back. She looked down towards the ground, staring at her feet. She started to wonder if she had said something wrong. But she quickly shook that thought out of her mind. She didn't say anything wrong, nothing really bad, or so she thought. While she knew she would make some of them suspicious, stating that she was worried about them couldn't have been a bad thing, even if she were lying about it. She looked back up at Max, who was waiting patiently for her to respond to his question. “Well..I didn't want you or your friends to continue to suffer under Victor's doing.” She closed her eyes again, lightly. “I especially didn't want to see your friend..Caruso...continue to suffer what he was back there. I didn't want to see him, or you or..anyone, continue to go through all that pain... physically and mentally.”

“LIAR!” Buzz and Rodger snapped in unison. They both tried to move forward, but Max made sure that they couldn't get past him. They both became frustrated and angry with Max for not allowing them to pass, but they ultimately succumbed to his authority and backed down.

“You two aren't making things any better.” Max said, eyes narrowed. He now had his back towards Michelle, his hands on his hips. His foot tapped his foot in an annoyed manner. “I don't get it, you too. You two usually don't act this way. But as soon as Michelle shows up...” He pointed at Michelle. “..you two just lose it. You let your anger get the better of you. You don't try to keep a cool head and think things through. You just automatically accuse her of all this stuff without any proof. Seriously you guys, cut it out! This isn't like you!”

Rodger took a step back, a little surprised at Max's statement. He wasn't really hurt by it, just really surprised. He looked over at Buzz. Buzz looked more angry than surprised. Rodger suspected that Buzz felt offended by what Max had said. Rodger understood that, but he also understood why Max said what he did. He realized how unfairly he was acting, and he didn't know why. He wondered if he was allowing Buzz's anger take over him as well. He looked at Max in the eyes and nodded his head once. “Yes...we know Max. I'm..I'm sorry. I didn't mean to act like that..We didn't mean to anyway.” He gently elbowed Buzz. “Right, Buzz?”

Buzz rubbed his shoulder and glared up at Rodger, giving him a look that told the computer geek that he felt both angry and betrayed by his actions. Buzz rolled his eyes and mumbled reluctantly, “Yeah, sure..whatever.” He glared at Michelle before looking away, the same glare on his face.

“Are they...” Michelle asked in a soft, anxious tone of voice. “..are they always like that?” She asked this in a soft tone so that, hopefully, only Max could hear her clearly enough. The jock looked at her, a little surprised by the question, and quickly shook his head. “It's because of me, isn't it? It's because I'm here that they are acting differently, right?”

Max said, “Well..yes..but if they would just...”

Michelle held up her hand and shook her head. “No. Perhaps I should make my leave now. I..I have to get back to Raptor Dyne before Victor finds out I've been gone for too long.” She would tell them about how he could have tracked her in dino mode and found that she had gone here, but she figured she was better off keeping that part a secret. The less they knew about that, the better. But there was another piece of information she wanted to give them before she disappeared out of sight. “Before I leave, I should give you and your friends one final warning.”

After being quiet during this entire situation, Caruso, finally recovering enough from his fear to say something, asked, “What is...that...?” He winced a few times as he spoke, but not as much as he had before. The pain was starting to get a little better now, and he looked forward to when he'd be able to talk without feeling any pain. Not being able to talk was driving him insane.

Michelle glanced back over at Caruso, and was surprised and somewhat relieved that he wasn't cringing from her gaze this time. She wondered if this meant that he was growing a little used to, or more comfortable to, her presence. But the warning she was about to give him would shatter that feeling of being safe quickly, and perhaps would shatter whatever trust Max had put into her. But if she didn't tell them, their reactions would probably be even harsher then. “Since Victor has ordered everyone in Raptor Dyne to kill Caruso, that means that....that I should be trying to kill your friend right now. If Victor finds out that I was in close proximity to you, the Dino Squad, he is going to wonder why I hadn't tried to take out Caruso.”

“Where are you getting at...?” Fiona asked, her eyes narrowed dangerously. “You saying you are going to try to kill him?!”

Michelle quickly shook her head, waving her hands in front of herself frantically. “No! No! That's not what I was going to say!” Michelle shouted, and cleared her throat to speak in a calmer voice, trying to make herself sound far less afraid that she actually was. “What I was going to say is this: I won't try to kill him. I don't want to try to kill him. I don't want to hurt him...” She shook her head. “But in the near future..I might be forced to try and kill him...” She looked at Caruso again. “The next time you see me...run. For your own safety, run!” Caruso's eyes widened in fear when she said that. “And while you already know this... Do not go out in public alone. Ever.” Then she stepped back and addressed the whole group. “And do not let your guard down, all of you. Be wary of Moynihan.”

* * *

Victor paced around the large room where he stored his computer and those cylinders of failed experiments. He glanced at them from time to time, and grimaced in disgust at them. These miserable failed experiments both encouraged and discouraged his efforts to reshape the planet back to the way it was supposed to be. The experiments made him question his genetic engineering capabilities. But it also encouraged him, got him to try even harder. If it were not for these failed experiments, he would not have gotten as far as he had with the experiments. Had he let failure set in, he would have given up a long time ago and none of this progress would have been possible.

And his efforts eventually did pay off. He had created ooze that resulted in the perfect formation of dinosaurs! But there was something that he was trying to solve. That same batch of ooze resulted in a mutant Megalodon, not a perfect one, evident from the fact that it looked more like a Mosasaurus than a Megalodon, which was supposed to look like a shark. And, from what he heard from Michelle, the Dino Squad have a dog that can change to and from his mutantsaur form at will. Victor didn't completey know, yet, how these kids each got a perfect dinosaur form while the shark and the dog both got imperfect forms.

He thought, at first, that it was something in the water. Some kind of disgusting human pollution could have intermingled with the ooze, bonding with it somehow and that could have caused the perfect forms to arise. But Victor quickly realized that this could not have been the case. Both the shark and dog were also exposed to the same ooze in the same environment as the teenagers, whom he knew were most likely in the water when they got contaminated. He had managed to figure out which batch had mutated the kids simply by recalling their first appearance and what the last batch he had released was before then. But knowing when and possibly where the kids got the ooze wasn't enough for him to realize what made their dino modes so perfect. And that's why he needed more blood samples.

Victor had already gotten a blood sample from Caruso. He had collected some of the blood from the boy while he was still knocked out and he still had that tiny blood sample from him when he had met Caruso in that one high school. Since he already got blood from the boy and did what he wanted with him, he now wanted to kill the boy, especially since Caruso also knew the cure to something that would help him defeat the Dino Squad. Once he had the boy out of his way, he would then go to capture his friends while they are too weak from mourning to fight back. And after he had gotten their blood, he would kill them off too.

It seemed to be a shame that he had to kill all five of the perfect dinosaurs. It felt like such a waste to him. He wished he could keep them alive. But they were too dangerous to his plans to allow them to live. They would naturally seek vengeance on the death of their friend and attack more fiercely, albeit not as intelligent, letting their anger get the better of them. They would more easily make mistakes, increasing his chances of getting them, and yet at the same time it would also make the situation more perilous, even if he would not really admit it to himself or to others. The team might be more physically strong when they let their anger take a hold of them, and they would be more violent in their attacks. He would need to figure out a way to deal with them without giving them a chance to attack him or his minions.

Victor knew he would have to think of this plan thoroughly, leaving absolutely no openings or loose ends that the human children would be able to exploit, allowing them to thwart his righteous plans and get away from him, or attack and defeat him, if they were brave enough to try anyway. The chances of kids like them defeating him were very slim. He was a more experienced dinosaur fighter while they were nothing more than mere rookies, barely fighting for more than a couple years. It would amuse him to see them try to fight him now, trying to beat him in a battle. He chuckled. Humans were such arrogant little nuisances who would blindly rush into battle, believing their so-called 'smarts' would allow them to win any fight. Oh how wrong they were...

And yet, Victor could not forget that these students were equipped with the most efficient fighting machines of all time: the superior dinosaurs! They might not have the minds of the dinosaurs, and thus would not be able to unlock the complete potential of the dinosaur forms, but they did still have the body of the dinosaurs. And as much as he hated to admit it, humans can be quite clever creatures at times, such as the time when he was captured in a human farmer's net, much to his chagrin. He was so angry then because the human farmers made him miss his opportunity at finding his creations; the signal had disappeared not long after he had freed himself. And yet, he also had to admit that those humans were a bit clever, trapping him like that, even though it angered him to admit that.

Did the Dino Squad have any tricks up their sleeves that he was completely unaware of? Would they be able to pull a stunt that he would not expect them to be able to perform while in dino mode? He had thought, a few times, that Caruso was going to pull some unexpected stunts, whether in human or in dino mode. And Caruso had done such a thing. Not only was the boy smart enough to know how to turn the heat-seeking Stinger against himself, but he also nearly escaped by trying to rush out of the room while in dino mode when he was supposed to be getting ready to fight the blind mole mutantsaur. Caruso had failed both times, of course, almost escaping the first time, but he had still tricked Victor, something Victor did not really expect a human to be able to do.

That was one of the reasons he decided to torture Caruso. He did want to gain control over the boy and make him submit to him. This made it easier for him to test those weapons on the kid. But he also wanted to make sure the boy wouldn't try to come up with a clever plan of escape, and to ensure he wouldn't even begin to unlock the potential of his dinosaur form, if that were even possible for a human. Victor knew that he took a huge risk in confronting the boy while he did not have his bridle on and was in dino mode. He might have been too overconfident at this point and it would have cost him his life if the plan had backfired. He knew he was lucky that the boy allowed fear to overwhelm him, preventing him to attack. And he was lucky that he was able to dodge the boy's attacks. One swipe of that tail could have ended his life.

Gaining control of Oscura and Michelle was a lot easier for Victor. One reason was because their dino modes were smaller than his own, and another because Oscura had seemed genuinely eager to join Raptor Dyne. He didn't even need to do any persuading with her. Usually, Victor would usually need to persuade a potential worker into joining him, to try and convince them why working for him was the right decision. He often did this by a subtle threat, suggesting that if they didn't join, they would die along with the other humans. He wasn't sure if he would actually go through with that, but the subtle threat was enough to get the other workers in. It was one of the reasons Peter had joined him in the first place, other than wanting revenge.

But Michelle was another story. Victor had found her and Oscura together. One of his teams, assigned to search through the oceans to try to find any animals infected by his DNA, found them both in the shallow water near a beach, very close to the tide pools, but out of sight so that anyone on the tide pools would not see the girls. The team managed to save the students, but noticed very quickly that their footprints were glowing and they suspected that they were contaminated with dino DNA, which proved to be true when the two started to mutate unconsciously. When they were brought over to Victor, he helped them gain control of these powers and instead of getting rid of them, he decided to let them join Raptor Dyne. While Oscura agreed with this, Michelle took a little more persuasion.

Although it was very brief in comparison to Caruso, Michelle was subjected to the war bridle because the normal persuasion did not convince her. Victor had two reasons for using the bridle on her. He wanted to give her a good reason to join him, something that would stick in the back of her mind and make her unwilling to try and betray him. The other reason was that he had just designed the bridle and he wanted to make sure it worked. It was designed so that it would be able to stretch to fit almost any size, which was why it was able to still fight Caruso even in Stegosaurus mode, despite the fact that the bridle was metallic. Unlike Caruso, though, Michelle submitted much more quickly and only suffered minor injuries to the mouth. Victor could imagine the injuries in Caruso's mouth to be much more severe.

Thinking of Michelle, Victor started to realize something. He hadn't seen her for a few hours now. He had a feeling that she probably left on her break. He did let both her and Oscura out once in a while to go somewhere secluded so they can transform and stretch their dinosaur legs. He wanted them to keep their dino modes in perfect health because, unlike Peter, they played more active roles in this mission. Peter's form was potentially unstable and Victor didn't want to risk having him transform until he was forced to. Now that he knows Peter's form is just fine, when he would return, Peter would begin having more active roles as well. But his mind quickly went back onto Michelle. He looked up at the clock flashing on his screen in tiny letters. The girl should have been back by now. What was taking her so long?

Victor knew he could easily track down the girl if she had gone into dino mode. His tracker would only be able to tell him if she was currently in dino mode, however, and it did not yet pick up the signatures of a human. He didn't see the need to do such a thing. There were billions of humans on the planet, and the scanner would not be able to tell him which humans were his and which were the ones oblivious to his plans. This was why he didn't really have it set up to detect human signatures. It wouldn't be able to tell him which one would be Michelle, anyway. According to that scanner, any human would have been Michelle Brown. With no means of being able to track her unless she happened to be in her Guanlong Wucaii form, Victor could only wait until the girl came back to ask her where she was.

But he knew he couldn't really think too much about Michelle right now. His mind was now turning towards something else, even more important than the whereabouts of one of his few transforming Raptor Dyne members. He quickly went over to his large computer and pressed a few buttons to bring up the human and raptor avatars once again. He was satisfied to see that, now, only about half the legs and feet of the human side remained while next to it, almost all of the raptor icon was filled except for the neck and head. This meant the transfer was nearing completion. Victor grinned evilly as he eyed the two avatars. He looked forward to the day when the two were completely flip-flopped. It would mark the true beginning of his next plain to defeat the Dino Squad.

Victor chuckled to himself as he thought about the kids in their lighthouse, thinking they're in one of the safest places possible. Even though they were attacked there before, they still considered it a safe haven. Oh how wrong they were. “If only they knew what I had in store for them all...”

* * *

Michelle did her best not to panic, despite the fact that her heart was racing, beating so heavily against her chest. She had been quickly backed up against the fence again. This time, everyone except for Caruso were blocking her path, even Max, the only person who seemed willing to give her a chance. Max didn't look as angry as the others and he was still making sure that no one got too close to her, but she could tell from the look in his eyes that he wasn't happy. She almost immediately regretted giving her warning, telling them how she might end up attacking Caruso the next time she ran into him and how they should be wary of their own mentor. But then again, what other choice did she have? It was either that or let them find out the hard way, and by then it would have been too late, most likely.

Michelle pressed her back against the fence, her eyes starting to show the faintest hint of a glow. It was a reaction to the tension that she was feeling right now. The glow was also present in the four teens blocking her path, but they were also flashing their teeth and claws at her, most obvious in Buzz and least obvious in Max, who was, despite the anger he might be feeling now, was definitely keeping his cool and staying calm. She couldn't help but be impressed with this behavior. No wonder he was the leader of this team. She wondered if he would be able to keep the others from attacking her.

But Michelle couldn't allow her mind to wander for too long. She was almost immediately brought back from her thoughts when she heard a hiss from Buzz. Despite trying to ignore him, she found herself moving her head quickly over to him. Buzz was positioned on the left side of Max, standing very close to the boy, but still staying back. She could tell by the way that he was flexing his Pteranodon claws that he wanted to get at her. He and the others were obviously pissed about what she had said, and that didn't surprise her too much. She pretty much just admitted to being a real threat to Caruso, and they had only very recently went through all this trouble to get their friend back.

Caruso was hanging back, directly behind his friends. He wasn't too far away. He would start feeling paranoid if he stayed far back for too long. He wanted to always be within close range with someone he trusted. He made sure he stayed behind everyone else, and tried to hide from Michelle. He knew that she could probably see him. It was hard for someone like him to hide from someone. And while he trusted his friends to protect him, he couldn't bring himself to completely believe that they would be able to protect him from Michelle, which was part of the reason that he was hanging back, keeping himself behind them so that Michelle didn't have a chance to charge him simply because his friends would be in the way.

Caruso was feeling very afraid as he continued to hang back behind the others. Hearing Michelle announce that she might kill him the next time they met was terrifying enough, but what made it worse for him was pretty much everything Michelle had told him. She had warned him that it's not just Victor who wanted to kill him, and it wasn't just her and Oscura who were assigned this task. Everyone in Raptor Dyne was assigned the task. This made going out in public even more perilous than before. Victor would surely make it so that his men did not wear their suits at all times. Caruso would not be able to recognize someone from Raptor Dyne. The next stranger he would make could very well end his life, and he would not be able to see it coming. He was somewhat grateful that Michelle gave him this advanced warning, but at the same time, it made him feel even more insecure and afraid.

Having to tolerate Victor's torture was unbearable enough. He could still feel that cold metallic bridle scraping up harshly against his face. He slowly lifted up his hands and traced a few fingers along some of the scars he had gotten. He winced as he felt the change in depth as he touched the scars. Some of these would fade within time, but he was informed that some of them would also become permanent, never going away within his lifetime. The thought of it made him sick to his stomach. Who would want to look at him now, all torn up and ripped? Other than his friends and family, no one, that's what he believed. He wondered if this is what Victor had wanted all along when he ripped his face with that bridle. Victor had wanted to hurt him both physically and mentally, to break him, to make him let go of any belief that he had held dear. And as much as Caruso hated to admit it, it had worked; he had succumbed to Victor's will. And now Victor was coming back for him, and this time he was going to break more than his will.

Michelle immediately brought her hands forward, showing them her palms and clawless fingers, an attempt to show them that she isn't a threat, at least in that moment. It was also a very weak attempt at trying to protect herself. It wouldn't' do her much good, but it was the only thing she could think of to do so that she would have some chance at defending herself in case one of the Dino Squad members lunged at her. “Look..I didn't mean to upset you guys.” She said in a shaky yet calm voice. “I just thought that you Dino Squad people needed to know what I had just told you, so that you have a better chance to prepare yourself...better chance than..the last time..” Her voice trailed off, remembering when they were ambushed at their lighthouse with little warning.

Buzz was about to respond, but Max held out an arm in front of him, a silent order telling him to keep his mouth shut. Buzz growled but complied with Max and backed down. Max turned his attention back on Michelle. To show his authority, he straighted his back, locking eyes on her, never pulling his gaze away even as he turned his head to the side, a look of suspicion quite clear on his face. His eye glow was a little brighter now, but still not as bright as Buzz's were. “Yes..It was..nice of you to give us an advanced warning...” Michelle could tell from the way that he was talking that he didn't completely trust her nor was he completely sincere in his statement. “But answer us this: why even bother giving us a warning if we are nothing more than enemies? That still doesn't make sense...”

“Enemy or not, I don't want anyone to suffer like this... No one deserves to go through what..what Victor wants to put you guys through.” Michelle responded, eyes narrowing slightly. “I want to make sure you don't have to go through..what I did...” Her gaze lowered as she said that. She didn't want to bring up this terrible memory. She had tried putting it behind her a long time ago.

“What do you mean?” Max asked her.

Michelle shook her head. “I do not wish to talk about it. Just..heed my warning, Dino Squad. I speak to you the truth of what is going on.”

“Why did you tell us to..be wary of Moynihan?” Max asked, eyes narrowed.

Michelle bit her lip when he asked her that. She wasn't sure if she should tell him right away. She thought that, by now, he would have experienced what was going on with Moynihan. She was positive that he did, so why was he asking her that? Was he wondering if she knew what was going on with her? Was he going to ask her what was happening to Moynihan? She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly stopped herself. Would it be wise for her to say something now? After all, they had gotten mad at her with her previous warnings. She wasn't sure if she could afford having them becoming even more angry with her.

Before Michelle had a chance to try and respond again, Buzz finally had enough of hanging back behind Max and decided to take action. He moved forward, brushing up against Max as he did so, wanting to get closer to Michelle than Max currently was. Michelle, surprised by this, pushed herself as far back as she could go, despite what little space she had to maneuver around in. Max realized what was going on right away and grabbed Buzz to try to pull him back. Buzz glared at him, but remained standing where he was. He turned his attention back on Michelle, baring his sharp teeth at her. He was not going to let Max hold him back this time. Buzz reached forward with his free arm and seized Michelle by the collar of her shirt and pulled her roughly forward.

This action startled Max. “Buzz! What are you doing?” He cried, surprised at Buzz's unnecessary actions. But Buzz just ignored him, making Max feel frustrated with the punk kid. He narrowed his eyes. Buzz was acting harsher than normal, angrier and bitter. It was almost like he was becoming another Victor, becoming like the enemy.

Buzz's arm bulged as muscles in it increased, rapidly becoming as powerful as his wing. Pteranodon wings were very strong. They have to be in order to constantly flap and down to keep him aloft in the air, unless he was gliding of course. Once his arm changed in color and was larger than his normal human arm, claws still completely exposed, although larger now, he managed to lift Michelle up into the air, a few inches off the ground. Despite her feelings of terror, Michelle did her best not to struggle in his grasp. She didn't want to provoke him further.

“You do not need to say what is wrong with Moynihan...” Buzz said in a strangely calm voice. Michelle tilted her head in confusion, not knowing why Buzz was acting calmly if he had just lifted her up in the air. But then the boy's demeanor quickly changed. His voice grew darker and more menacing. “..because you are the cause!” He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and then looked back at her. “And if you threaten Caruso again, I'll...!” He stopped himself. Then he continued, “Stay away from Caruso!”

Michelle gripped Buzz's strong, green arm, but did not try to push his hand off of her. Her legs dangled inches above the ground, but she did not try to kick Buzz with them. And she had yet tried to transform. If she did, she would only make him even more upset, and she might also provoke the other Dino Squad members as well. “I am not causing it! And I am not threatening Caruso!”

Buzz was about to say something, but someone gripped him by the shoulder. He saw that it was Fiona. She moved her hand over to his arm and gently pushed it down. Although he was clearly stronger than she was, Buzz found himself lowering his arm as Fiona was physically instructing him to do. Once Michelle's feet were now touching the ground, Fiona moved for Buzz to release her. Buzz wasn't sure why she was asking him to do this, but he complied, further encouraged to do so by Max still gripping onto his arm, squeezing a little tighter no. Buzz released his grip on Michelle, shifted his arm back, and stepped backwards, allowing Fiona to get up in front of him. Max was about to reach out towards Fiona, but he stopped himself when he saw that she wasn't adopting a hostile posture like Buzz had been doing. Perhaps she wouldn't make the same mistake Buzz was making.

Michelle watched Fiona warily, one of her eyes narrowed and the other eye widened. She lowered her head slightly, and her teeth were bared in self defense. She was wondering if Fiona would be sort of like Oscura in this instance. Even though Fiona had not done anything to her yet, that could change very quickly. While the redhead lacked the poisonous bite that Oscura had, Fiona still had an advantage over Michelle in combat; she was bigger. Much, much bigger, and so were the others. From what she had experienced from Fiona, however, Michelle did not think she was quite as aggressive as Buzz was acting now. Fiona did not seem to be the hostile type, almost the exact opposite of Oscura. But still, this did not mean that she was not aggressive when she had to be. Michelle watched her carefully, waiting for her to make her move.

Fiona did likewise and eyed Michelle warily. To her, Michelle was the enemy, one of the people responsible for Caruso's capture. She should not be taken lightly and they should not let their guard around her. Michelle's dino mode may not be as big as hers or the others' were, but she made up for that with speed. Michelle was a smaller, thus harder target to keep focus on, and her black coloration helped her more easily disappear into the shadows. Even in broad daylight, there were places casting dark shadows for Michelle to disappear into. However, Michelle clearly did not appear to be as aggressive as Oscura was. By this point, Oscura would have already have taunted them to the point where it would have escalated into a fight. But Michelle has been keeping her distance, or at least trying to, and has not yet lifted a claw to try and harm any one of them. And yet, despite this, Fiona refused to let her guard down with this girl simply because she worked for Victor Veloci.

Finally, after allowing the tense of silence hang in the air for a few minutes, Fiona decided to make her move. As she made a step forward, Michelle instinctively tried to take a step back, only to bang her heel against the fence behind her and nearly lose her footing. She looked on the ground to see where her feet were and noticed she had completely run out of room to back up into. She then looked back at Fiona, who was now folding up her arms. Fiona then said, “How can we be so certain of that?”

Michelle tilted her head, her teeth still bared, although less slightly than before. “What are you talking about? How can you be certain of..what?” She sounded a little more angry in that last word than she had intended to, and she immediately bit her lip in worry that she had provoked Fiona.

Fiona narrowed her eyes slightly. “You should know what I'm talking about!” She realized that she used more force in that statement than she had intended to, and took in a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down. She was trying to follow Max's lead and try to be as calm as possible with Michelle. It was difficult, but if she lost her temper with Michelle, it could result in dangerous consequences. “Everything you said.” She said in a softer tone of voice. “How can we believe that the things that you have been telling us are the truth? You got any way to prove that?”

Michelle struggled to come up with an answer. She strained to try and answer Fiona without giving an answer that would make her suspicious of her even more. Just by looking at her in the eyes, Michelle could tell that Fiona did not really trust her a whole lot. “I..I can't prove it...” Michelle finally said, lowering her head in submission. “You guys just have to trust me on this one...”

Fiona pulled her head back a little, a scowl appearing on her face. For Michelle to be telling them that they should trust her, even after all they had done to them a few weeks ago, angered her. She wasn't sure if they should be accepting help from one of their mortal enemies. Maybe Buzz was right about this; that Michelle was merely trying to get them in the right place and right state of mind to unleash a trap. What kind of trap that would involve increasing their sense of wariness, Fiona wasn't so sure of. But Victor was clever and thus it would not really be above the guy to be able to create a trap out of a situation like this.

Rodger decided to interject before Fiona had a chance to respond to Michelle's answer. “That is not a good enough reason.” His voice was a little dark and angry, but more controlled than Buzz's voice. “After all that you have done to us, how can you expect us to just trust you on this issue? How can we know for sure that you are speaking the truth?”

Michelle lifted up her head to look at the dark-skinned teenager. He and Fiona both had valid points, and so did the others on this. And she had known it already too. How could she expect them to trust her after their past confrontations as enemies? “I know it's hard to trust me. After what I had done, I wouldn't trust me either... What can I do to prove to you guys that I am telling the truth?”

“Nothing...” Buzz answered in a low hissing voice under his breath. Then he spoke again, this time in a louder tone of voice so that Michelle and the others could actually hear him this time. “No matter what you say, I will refuse to believe you. I trusted you before. I will not make the same mistake again!”

Michelle grimaced. “Yes..I am quite sure of that...”

“Then why are you continuing to try and get us to believe this lies of yours...?” Buzz asked, eyes narrowed.

“But..I'm not lying...” Michelle said weakly, her eyes widening slightly.

“Buzz...” Max said. When the green-haired teen turned to look at him, Max asked, “..when are you going to stop? How far must you go with your accusations with Michelle until you are satisfied?”

Buzz looked confused and wondered what Max was talking about. “What..I....” But he couldn't think of what to say. He glanced back at Michelle, this time his expression softened as he started to come to terms with what Max had asked of him. Was he really going too far with how he was treating Michelle? He was just trying to protect his friends...

Max lifted up his hand. “Don't strain yourself now Buzz... We can discuss this later.”

Michelle finally had enough of this. She was tired of listening to Buzz yelling at her. She was tired of the team not listening to her warnings. She was tired of them not taking her a little more seriously. And she was tired of feeling frightened constantly. Her heart was racing so much that she thought it was going to explode inside her. She placed a hand in the middle of her upper chest, feeling her heart pounding against her ribcage and flinched. She wasn't sure how much more fear she could take. She had to get out of here and fast. Besides, she was due back at Raptor Dyne very soon. Victor might be wondering where she was. She eyed the team, wondering if she should tell them one more thing. She hadn't yet told them just what was going on with their teacher. Should she wait? Or spill the beans now?

“Is there something else you wanted to say, Michelle?” Max asked. Michelle was slightly startled by him suddenly talking to her. A couple seconds ago, his attention was focused on Buzz. Now he had his eyes on her. Max was reading her expression and concluded that there was something else that she wanted to say, but was holding back. Max narrowed his eyes slightly. He wondered why Michelle would tell them all this dire information only to hold out now. Could it be that she was keeping a secret from them? Could Buzz's treatment of her be justified because of that? “I can tell, from the look on your face, that there is something else you want to tell us. So spill it.”

Michelle gulped and started to rub her arm in an anxious manner. She darted her eyes left to right as she struggled with coming up with a valid response. “Well...I was going to tell you about what is going on with Ms. Moynihan..but I don't know if I should... Maybe I should let you guys figure that part out on your own...” She tilted her head to one side slightly, the faintest hint of a smirk on her face. “You guys seem..smart enough to figure out what is happening on your own. You don't need me to help you on that...” She chuckled lightly.

“What did you do to Moynihan?!” Buzz snapped instinctively, earning himself a glare from Max and Fiona. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh as he realized his mistake. He cleared his throat and changed his demeanor as best as he could. “I mean..what is going on with Moynihan?” He tried to sound as calm as he could, but it was easy to tell he was straining to keep himself from yelling at Michelle.

“I guess I might as well tell you.” Michelle said, her smile fading away briefly, quickly being replaced with a smile that had the faintest hint of evil in it, an attempt at trying to make herself feel less afraid around this team. It was not a genuine attempt at provoking the Dino Squad team. “Maybe I overestimated your capabilities by stating that you could probably figure it out on your own.” She ignored their glares and shook her head. “By the time you would have figured out it, would have been too late probably.”

“What are you talking about...?” Rodger asked, his expression hardening a little. “What would we find out too late?”

Before Michelle answered, she turned her gaze over to Caruso. Then she looked at the other students and addressed them as a group. “Do you remember smelling something weird when you found Caruso? Something that was out of the ordinary, that seemed..wrong? Not normal?”

The Dino Squad looked at each other, mixed expressions on their faces. They didn't like thinking back to that day. They glanced back at Caruso, who also seemed very uneasy about thinking of what had happened then. Nonetheless, they were able to remember how Moynihan had scented something horrible and had concluded that Caruso must have died. Max nodded his head. “Yes..well Moynihan had detected it. She smelled it when we first went into the room and immediately became suspicious of it...” Before he could continue, Michelle interrupted him.

“Did she get very close to him?” Michelle asked, taking a confident step forward. “Did she push her muzzle up against his body? How much of the scent did she breathe in?”

Max looked a little disturbed by what Michelle was saying, but nevertheless, he replied, “Well yeah..It was my idea. You see..I was suspecting that horrible smell wasn't really his own, so I had Moynihan sniff at a much closer distance and...”

“You idiot!” Michelle snapped, flexing her fingers, indicating that she wanted to grab him by the throat and shake him for doing such a thing. “Do you have any idea what you have done? Do you?!”

Max took a few steps back, almost bumping into his friends as he did so. “What are you talking about?” He asked, his voice filled with anger and confusion. “I didn't do anything wrong!”

Rodger stepped up beside Max, backing him up. “Yeah! What right do you have to go accusing him like that?!”

Michelle narrowed her eyes and muttered under her breath. “Well it hasn't stopped you guys from accusing me without much physical evidence...”

Fiona said, “Are you trying to tell us that Max had something to do with what is going on with our teacher?” She moved an arm towards Max to indicate him as she was talking. “How could he have done anything? He would never hurt her!”

Michelle shook her head. “I never said he hurt her..” She glared at him softly. “But..Max is it? Max, you made a mistake in having her sniff that close. That was a dangerous thing to do. But then again, how could you have possibly known...?”

Buzz asked, “Possibly have known what?”

Michelle said, “Didn't you think it was odd that the smell was coming from Caruso?” The Dino Squad shook their heads, and Michelle let out a soft sigh. That was probably the wrong question to ask. Maybe they thought he was dead or something and associated the smell with that of death. That would be why they weren't suspicious of it. “Scratch that question... Anyway, what really happened was this: Victor wanted to lure you guys into a trap by using Caruso. Originally, he wanted traps to be laid out before you arrived into the room and he would capture you that way. So he had sent me and Oscura to do just that, however, as you all remember, I chased away Oscura and led you guys on my own.”

Fiona lifted up a finger. “But there were no traps in the room that you led us into.”

Michelle nodded her head. “Exactly. I was able to get you guys to Caruso before Victor's men could move fast enough to set up any traps. But unfortunately, Victor's plan was not completely ruined.” She narrowed her eyes in concern. “You see, the scent on Caruso was put there by Victor himself, and it's not really the scent of death obviously, although it does smell like that. He actually put some kind of chemical on him, specifically engineered to effect only Velociraptors.”

“But..Moynihan is almost never in raptor mode.” Rodger pointed out.

“Ahh..but she is a Velociraptor, is she not? She has Velociraptor blood in her.” Michelle said, narrowing her eyes slightly.

“Well...yes...” Rodger said, not liking where this was heading.

Michelle nodded her head. “Yes, Velociraptor blood, and the chemical was made specifically to effect her in particular. You see, this chemical has DNA rewriting capabilities. It is sort of like the infamous primordial ooze, except it works slower and can be more easily concentrated to effect one or a few species.” She eyed Caruso, who was looking even more frightened by this news she had just given. “He had told me that he had used the same stuff on you, Caruso. I don't know if you remember that part, given that you were knocked out, hit in the head pretty hard.” Caruso rubbed his head gingerly where Victor had struck him. “But he said that he tested out a version of the chemical on you before completing it for Moynihan. He said the chemical made you crazy, and kill a mutantsaur, albeit you returned the normal quickly after the death of the mole mutant.”

The Dino Squad stared at Caruso in horror, a terrified expression on each one of their faces. Caruso, although couldn't really recall that one particular incident, looked just as horrified as the rest of them. The very idea of actually killing a mutantsaur had never crossed anyone's minds. It seemed so foreign and so..evil to them. Ms. Moynihan had taught them that the mutantsaurs were not monsters; they were just animals. She had told them never to hurt the animals unless it was self defense, and she disapproved of them actually killing one. For Caruso to kill one, whether or not he was under his own control, was unspeakable. They wondered how Moynihan would take this news.

Noting their silence and deciding to continue, Michelle said, “Yes, I know that must be very shocking for you guys.” She had seen death before and while it bothered her, she was not as bothered by it when she compared herself to these students. “Victor had created this version of the chemical specifically to change the behavior of Moynihan. That is why you have noticed changes in her.”

“But what is happening her specifically?” Max asked. “She is not just acting aggressively; she is acting completely differently at times. It's almost like she's becoming a...”

“...a Velociraptor.” Michelle said, finishing his sentence for him. “Haven't you noticed her stalking anyone? Eating raw meat? Showing her claws or teeth? Sharpening her claws?” The looks on their faces told her that they had seen at least some of what she had described. “Don't you think the behavior of a wild Velociraptor would fit what she has been going through?”

The group of kids glanced at each other nervously as they started to realize what Michelle was trying to tell them. It all made sense now. Moynihan's increased aggression, her change of diet according to what people have said who had seen her eating the raw steak, her stalking, and of course, her sharpening her hand claws on the wall and then lunging at Max. These were all characteristics that they would expect to see from a Velociraptor, not a kindly old woman like Joanne. Now knowing that she was slowly regressing back into her primal state left them all feeling very uneasy. They don't know how long it would be until she regressed completely, and just as scary, they didn't know whether or not the regression would stop and reverse itself. It reversed itself in Caruso, but so far, Moynihan was only getting worse as each day passed by. It would only be a matter of time before she really hurt someone.

A sense of fear and terror began to well up inside the Dino Squad. They were realizing just how lucky they have been all this time at the lighthouse, or around Moynihan in general. At anytime, she could have given into this chemical messing around with her mind and attacked them without warning. She could have revealed her true self to the public and not only tarnish her reputation forever, but she would also have become the target of mad scientists other than Victor Veloci and they would have tried to capture her and subject her to scientific experiments, perhaps even kill her. And even if this didn't happen, Moynihan would still be attacking anyone she saw as prey, including the Dino Squad! Suddenly, the group of teens no longer felt safe going to the lighthouse.

But then Buzz started to have some doubt in what Michelle was saying. Could Michelle be lying to them about what was happening to Moynihan? It seemed logical that she would do so. Perhaps she was only trying to make them feel even more afraid, to try and weaken their will. She might also be doing it to make sure that they didn't go back to the lighthouse. This would leave them more vulnerable because they would be separated much of the time and not have as much protection as they would if they were at the lighthouse or with Moynihan in general. Buzz narrowed his eyes at Michelle, who looked confusingly at him as if she wondered what was wrong. Buzz didn't believe for one second that Moynihan was becoming corrupted. Yes, a little more aggressive, but she would never deliberately hurt any of them. She couldn't be turning into a raptor. She just couldn't be!

“You're lying...” Buzz said boldly, lifting up a hand clenched into a fist. “You must be lying! This can't be true! Moynihan would never turn on us!”

Motivated by Buzz, Rodger shouted, “Yeah! She's just going through a hard time is all! But she is not turning into some mad Velociraptor! She isn't like Victor!”

Michelle chortled darkly. “Not like Victor eh...? They are both Velociraptors, are they not? Or do you think that, despite the same appearances, they are of a different species?”

Buzz snapped his head back and growled softly. Michelle did make a good point there. Moynihan was a Velociraptor, just like Victor was. But that didn't mean anything. Moynihan still wasn't like Victor. She was more human than raptor; a kind, gentle woman who would never deliberately hurt anyone. Victor was nothing but a monster. How could Michelle even dare try to compare Moynihan with Veloci? “Just because they are both Velociraptors does not mean that they are alike in any way!”

Michelle's eyes narrowed. She wasn't sure if Buzz's claim was completely true. Yes, in her encounters with Moynihan, she did realize she acted quite motherly towards the students and was not as vicious as Victor. But somehow, she couldn't help but think that, given the right situation, Moynihan would behave a lot like Victor. Michelle wouldn't trust Moynihan completely even if she weren't being corrupted by the chemical. “Yes, you say that now... but when Moynihan digs those sickle claws of hers into your skin, you will not be saying that anymore.”

“How dare you!” Rodger snapped, offended that anyone would say that about Moynihan.

Max was starting to lose his patience with Michelle. She was slowly becoming a little more bolder and she had made claims about Moynihan that offended him as well as the others. Michelle was implying that, deep down, Moynihan was a lot like Victor simply because they were both Velociraptors. And he started to believe Buzz's statement that she was lying. Michelle could be saying it simply to scare them, trying to psyche them out to make them easier to target later on. “If I were you, Michelle, I would be careful about what I would say when I am outnumbered five to one...”

“But you aren't me, are you?” Michelle retorted, smirking lightly.

Max took a small step back and said, “Well I...”

Michelle cut him off abruptly. “See? You can't even come up with a response!” She completely ignored the fact that she had cut him off before he had a chance to respond. He probably did have something to say, but she did not want to hear it. She was getting tired of listening to these ungrateful teenagers, constantly accusing her of lying to them or showing suspicion when she told them something that actually made sense. It reminded her of the time when she had brought food for Caruso, who immediately accused her like this. Michelle turned her gaze towards Caruso, this time her eyes were narrowed. “You were behaving the same way when you were a prisoner...” Without really thinking, she took a step forward, directly towards Caruso.

Terrified by the way Michelle was looking at him and taking steps toward him, Caruso let out a small yelp of fear and took a few steps back. Reacting instinctively to Caruso's feelings of anxiety, the Dino Squad immediately took action. Fiona, Max, and Buzz immediately moved close to Caruso, forming a small, protective circle around him. Rodger, being the largest, immediately charged forward. He didn't use his claws to attack her. Instead, he used his sheer size to intimidate her as he came in fast and at close range. Michelle gasped in shock and immediately ran to one side, alongside the fence. She ran back several feet, stopped, and then turned to face the team.

They were all glaring at her, minus Caruso who was trying to hide himself among his friends. Michelle narrowed her eyes and slowly shook her head. Caruso didn't seem to change much after being brought back. He used to be so bold the first time that they had met. He would usually be challenging her by this point, unafraid to show her that he didn't trust her. Now he was hiding, trying to avoid eye contact from her. He was outright terrified of her, and she didn't even lift a finger. She couldn't begin to imagine his reaction if Victor Veloci were here. If Caruso was going to stand up to him, which she knew was going to happen eventually, he will have to show courage, not hide behind his friends like this.

Addressing Caruso but not eyeing him directly, Michelle said, “You're such a pathetic thing, you know that, right, Caruso?” She gave the team a sideways glance. “If you continue acting like this, you will never have the courage to challenge Victor. No matter how well you prepare, the encounter will still happen...and you will have to fight back.” She closed her eyes then reopened them. “But if you continue to be like this, a pathetic weakling, you will always be pushed around.”

Upon hearing this, Fiona's eyes shifted into their dino forms, the pupils slit and the irises glowing a gold color. “Don't you dare call him that!”

Michelle turned her head towards Fiona. “Call him what, if I may ask?”

“He is not a weakling!” Fiona shouted.

Michelle couldn't help but smile at Fiona's claim and glanced at Caruso for a few seconds, seeing the look of fear in his eyes. So far, Michelle had only seen Caruso as nothing but a weakling. He was so easy to put the tracker on and so easy to capture. He was no match for Victor Veloci and he had eventually given in. The only bit of strength he ever showed was his impressive tolerance of the bridle, able to endure it for far longer than she had before he finally gave into it, and even after that, he still held onto an ounce of hope that he would be rescued. But when it came to physical strength and courage, Caruso was now lacking both of these. He was scared of his own shadow! Michelle felt that she had every right to call him a weakling.

“Oh really? He's not?” Michelle pointed towards Caruso. “Then why is he hiding behind you guys? Why isn't he standing up to me..?” Before the others could react, she continued, “I'll tell you why. It's because ever since he went home with you people, ever since his little stay with Dr. Veloci, judging from what I am seeing here now, he's been nothing but a paranoid coward and a pathetic weakling! He used to be arrogant too, about fame, until Veloci wiped that ignorant smile off of his face!” She paused, noticing the cuts still noticeable on his face, and said, “..along with some flesh too, I see.” Upon hearing this, Caruso gasped audibly and gingerly touched his face with a shaky hand. “Still going to try and seek fame, little boy?” Michelle said mockingly before she could stop herself.

Max clenched his fists tightly and started to shake visibly in anger. The others, minus Caruso, did likewise. Michelle was going too far that time. What gave her the right to insult Caruso like that? What gave her the right to judge anyone in such a harsh manner? What did she know, anyway? She was just a minion from Victor's company, Raptor Dyne. She had no idea what she was talking about! Max had tried being patient with her, but now it has run out. Michelle tried to act in the best manner possible, but she has angered him and his team too much. She'd never learn, it seems. Max knew that Michelle would have to leave now or there will be a huge fight. He could see the looks in his friends' eyes; they wanted to attack.

“That's it!” Max said. He bent forward and pulled one arm towards his chest in a threatening manner. “I've had it!” As he said that, with his other arm, he made a sweeping motion from his chest and outwards past his side, his palm flat and almost in the shape of a blade. He struggled to keep his eyes from glowing, but ending up failing. Michelle's eyes were also glowing and she and Max were baring their teeth at one another as the tension began to rise.

“You've had it, eh?” Michelle asked sarcastically.

“Get out of here!” Max shouted, pointing his finger at Michelle. “Get out of here now!”

Michelle smirked slightly, taking one step back but not running off just yet. “And why should I leave? This isn't your school, you know. It's not your football field. You don't have any right to tell me to go anywhere!” She put hands on her hips.

“Just leave, now! Before you regret it!” Max shouted angrily, pulling both his fists together and baring his teeth in an attempt to intimidate Michelle into turning tail and running away. But Michelle remained standing where she was, looking at him as if he were crazy.

“You better get out of here!” Rodger shouted, his eyes glowing more intensely.

“And don't you ever come near Caruso again! You understand me?!” Buzz shouted.

Michelle narrowed her eyes. “I did not harm the boy! I did not threaten him!”

“Just stay away from him!” Fiona yelled before Buzz could respond. “Or we'll do more than just scare you...!” As she said that, she and the others not only bared their sharp teeth at her, but they raised up their hands, showing their talons at Michelle. This was to show that they were being very serious about their warning.

Michelle's eyes widened and she took a few steps back, glancing at the team for a few minutes. She wondered if they would really live up to that warning she was just given. The Dino Squad were supposed to be the good guys, or at least that is what she had thought. Even if the Dino Squad would really want to hurt her, would Ms. Moynihan even permit them to do that? If they were right about the old woman, than she wouldn't permit them to attack her, even if she was their enemy. But then again, Moynihan was a raptor, so maybe she would allow them to do that....

She couldn't think of that right now! She brought herself back to attention. The team hadn't made a move towards her, but they were still in those hostile positions, their teeth and claws in plain sight, an attempt to scare her off. Michelle had gotten used to the sight of claws and teeth. That alone wasn't scaring her. What was making her feel uneasy was the fact that she was outnumbered five to one. If they were indeed being serious, she wouldn't stand much of a chance against them. They wouldn't even need to attack her. Their sheer size would be enough to force her into submission now that she has no help from a partner. It was times like these that she wish she still had Oscura as a partner, even though the girl did want her dead.

Michelle took a few steps back, her eyes still locked onto the team. She was about to turn around, but couldn't bring herself to do so. She thought that if she turned around, the Dino Squad would attack her from behind. But she shook off that fear. That didn't seem to be like the Dino Squad at all, or did it? They simply wanted her out of their sight. They hadn't threatened her life...yet anyway. Michelle glanced at Caruso one last time before she finally got herself to turn her back on the team and made her way towards the fence.

Hunching over in a posture more similar to that of a dinosaur, Michelle glowed and almost instantly warped into her Guanlong Wucaii form. In this from, getting over the fence would be a piece of cake. Before she climbed over the fence, Michelle looked over at the team, staring at them with her glaring, glowing dinosaur eyes. 'So long, Dino Squad. Until we meet again...' She easily leaped over the fence. 'And heed my warning... If you care about your precious friend..you will.' With that, she bolted off into the distance, leaving behind a very angry and shaken up Dino Squad behind in the football field.

* * *

Back at Raptor Dyne, Victor took notice of something flashing on his monitor. Curious, he strode over towards the computer screen. Narrowing his eyes, he pressed a few buttons, enlarging the screen until he could get a far better picture of what was going on. As soon as the picture was large enough, he could tell that it was the football field again. He noticed that there were six figures on the football field. Five of them were humans, obviously not the ones that triggered off his scanner. The sixth one, however, was a dinosaur. At first, Victor thought it was one of the so-called 'perfect dinosaurs', but he was quickly proven wrong when he took a closer look. The five figures were the Dino Squad, and the sixth was...Michelle in dino mode!

Victor watched as she stood there, on the other side of what was probably a fence, looking back at the students. He was expecting her to break through the fence at any minute, and he was expecting the Dino Squad to morph before Michelle got too close to them. He thought that he was going to witness a major battle on the football field, but what actually happened both disappointed and angered him at the same time. Instead of charging towards the students, Michelle actually turned around and ran away! Victor couldn't believe it. She had Caruso in her sights! She must have! But she made no move towards him! Victor uttered a guttural growl reminiscent of that of his Velociraptor form. He tried his best not to allow the anger to overwhelm him.

But it was very hard for him to control his anger when he saw one of his own workers deliberately disobey a order! And it wasn't just any worker; it was one of his dinosaur-transforming workers! A dinosaur would know better! Victor started to wonder if he did not 'train' Michelle enough. He wondered if he did not give her a severe enough punishment a couple weeks ago. Perhaps he should have been a little bit harder on her. Perhaps then she would have actually listened to him. He continued to watch the screen with narrowed, angry eyes. He zoomed out a little, hoping that perhaps Michelle was going to run around and attack the team from behind. But again he was disappointed when she continued to run off into the distance. It didn't take him long to realize that she was going to head back to Raptor Dyne. A long distance, but it was pretty easily manageable for Michelle's species. That and she could hitchhike whenever she had to be in human mode.

Eventually, Victor had another thought cross his mind and it allowed him to calm down. There was something that he did not consider when he first looked up at the monitor: time. It could be possible that the scanner had detected it late and perhaps Michelle was in dino mode for a longer period of time than he thought originally. The humans' scanners were not always so reliable. Something could always go wrong, such as a power failure or other obstruction. He also recalled what had happened the time when the scanner had led them to the wrong place. Back then, he thought it was a malfunction, which proved the unreliability of scanners. But now that he thought more about it, knowing the existence of the Dino Squad made him realize that maybe it wasn't a malfunction. It was probably the result of one of the pesky teenagers rerouting the signal somehow. Still, Victor didn't completely trust the humans' scanners. The raptor nose was far more reliable than any machine.

Victor returned his thoughts to the screen before him, displaying the scans of the football field and the immediate areas around it, including that school that the Dino Squad go to, and the place where Moynihan apparently now works. He wondered if Michelle was actually in dino mode all this time, and the scanner just caught it now. That would explain why he didn't get a notification until now. Perhaps Michelle did try to kill Caruso, but was eventually subdued and she was forced to flee. Victor smiled slightly at that thought. That did make him feel better and it would show that Michelle was a loyal employee after all. But to be sure, he would probably need to question Michelle as soon as she got back to Raptor Dyne. He wanted her to confirm his suspicions. If she truly was trying to kill Caruso but just failed, although he would still be upset with her, it would relieve any burden of having to kill her. He wouldn't want to get rid of such a valuable employee. But if he absolutely had to, he would go through with it. It was how the Velociraptors in the past would deal with traitors. It was the right way. It was the only way to deal with traitorous fools.

Victor decided to switch the monitors again. He wanted to see how the progress was going with the experimental chemical of his. After pressing a few keys on the large keyboard, he was able to bring up the screen with the two avatars once again. He was disappointed that there wasn't much progress. Only a small portion had filled up the last time he had checked. He was hoping it would move a little faster. But he would just need to be patient. He had waited thirty long years for this moment. He could stand to wait a little longer. Everything will fall into place in due time. The switch will soon be complete, and once it is, not only will he have a new ally, but the Dino Squad would soon be no more. He chuckled evilly at the thought of witnessing the downfall of those pesky humans once and for all.

Just then, Victor was interrupted from his thoughts when the door opened up without warning, and someone quickly stepped inside. Narrowing his eyes in anger, Victor turned over to see who it was. He didn't like to be disturbed and he was about to let this intruder be reintroduced to this rule, to never come in unless he was expecting them. Of course, he did let this slide once in a while, but he wasn't going to let it slide this time. But before he could get a word out, he realized who this intruder was. It was Kista. She walked into the room as if she was doing nothing wrong. She smirked at Victor, probably liking the look on his face as she came in unannounced. She looked up at the monitor, noting the two avatars, and smirked evilly.

“I see your plan is going on just fine.” Kista said, sounding somewhat impressed with the scans, at the same time amused, though. The avatars simplified the process way too much. What was actually going on with the plan was more complicated than any pixelated graphics like that could show on the screen. “I wonder how long it will take before it is complete...”

Victor shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. He hadn't really thought of that too much, the exact time it would take anyway. He assumed that it would take a few weeks once he had gotten the chemical where he wanted it to go. But it was going on a little faster than he thought it would, which got him excited. The process had slowed down a little as of late, but was still going on steadily. He took a guess at how long it would take for the process to finish up. “I would guess, judging from the data I am receiving and comparing the changes, probably a couple more days. Perhaps this weekend.”

“The weekend, huh?” Kista said, sounding slightly unimpressed. “That seems to be a bit of a...long time for such a small portion to change.” She looked up at the avatars. Almost all of it had changed except for part of the necks and heads. For it to take around five or six days, if not longer, for the rest of it to fill up was difficult for her to believe. “That is just too slow, I'm sorry to say it.”

Victor hissed at her, but kept his distance from her. He had no intentions on trying to fight her, and he did not want to hear another one of her unusual and bizarre vocabulary words. He understood his other men better half the time than he understood Kista. “Patience, Kista, patience. Those days will come and pass by faster than we might think...”

Kista smirked. “Of course. Patience is a virtue. Even the humans know that...”

Victor narrowed his eyes. “I know that!” He hissed. He then decided to change the subject. He had assigned her to get into the school. He had been informed that she got in. He was curious to know whether or not she had gotten any interesting information, something that could help him in the future with dealing with the pesky Dino Squad. “Anyway, at the school..did you find out anything unusual? Other than what you already told me?”

Kista's eyes suddenly glowed, the pupils sharpening up and her iris taking on a bright yellow glow. Parting her mouth in an evil grin, she exposed razor sharp teeth. “You could say that..yes...” She said, chuckling evilly in a voice that sounded a little more like a Tyrannosaur's voice than a human's voice...


	23. Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“Leave me alone!” Peter shouted as he marched towards the exit of the hospital.

“You aren't supposed to leave yet!” A nurse, the some one in charge of cleaning his room, shouted back at him, trying to pull the man back towards his room. But Peter wouldn't have it and just kept pulling himself away from the woman, intent on getting out of this hospital. “Your injury hasn't healed enough for you to be permitted to leave! You've got to wait!”

Peter turned to look at her and gave her a scowl. “I've been in that hospital for two weeks! If I have to stay in there for one more night, I think I'll go crazy!” He didn't care what the doctors said. He didn't care what the nurses said. He didn't care if his arm was not completely healed or not. He wasn't going to let this slow him down. He was going to march back down to Raptor Dyne, resume his job there, and seek revenge on that darn kid who managed to trick him into thinking that those pitiful 'weapons' were of any threat to him.

The nurse, regardless of the man's resistance, continued to try and pull him back. She knew that she didn't stand much of a chance getting him back, but with his broken arm, she thought she would have some what of an advantage. But she was wrong. Even with the broken arm, the man continued to pull forward, forcing her to slide along the floor several times on the heels of her shoes. She said in a desperate voice, “Sir, please! You're not completely well enough to leave! If you leave now, you could injure that arm even more and you could end up with an amputation!” She hoped that she would get through to him with that warning. Indeed, Peter did pause, but he then continued to pull forward, unfazed by the warning, much to her shock.

“Thank you for the warning, miss.” Peter said callously. “But I'll take that chance... I can't afford to stay here much longer.” He stopped in his tracks and looked down at the woman. She looked up at him, confused. He could tell that she didn't know or understand why he wanted to leave so badly. But even if she did know the truth, she probably would still try to keep him from leaving. Nurses were so stubborn. Hospitals in general were stubborn as far as Peter was concerned. “Let's just say if I don't get back to my job soon, I could suffer dire consequences.”

The nurse furrowed her brow suspiciously. “You mean you'll get fired? What kind of job could anyone have that requires them to ignore severe medical conditions?”

Peter closed his eyes. “Just don't worry about it, miss. It's..it's nothing you should concern yourself with.” In a calm voice, he asked, “Now..can you please let me go?”

The nurse looked at him, still thinking that he was crazy. He did sound confident that leaving the hospital now was not going to create a problem. But what did he mean by 'dire consequences' if he didn't return to work soon? And why wouldn't he tell her about it? But then again, it wasn't any of her business. What right did she have to try to get hospital patience to tell her everything about their lives? If she weren't still holding onto Peter's arm, she would slap herself in the face for being too nosy with the man. Peter probably did know what he was doing and he was in the hospital for two weeks and within that amount of time at least some healing would have taken place. Maybe she could let him go, not that she could really stop him if she didn't.

The nurse slowly released her grip on him. “Okay, fine. If you really want to leave, go ahead.” She felt a pang of guilt in her heart. If her boss found out about this, what was he going to say to her about it? What would he do to her? What was her punishment going to be? “...but if you get hurt again, don't say I didn't warn you.”

“Thanks..” Peter said as he moved his unbroken arm away from the woman and towards his front. He then lifted it up and put it on the door that he was standing in front of. He paused again, and thought about what the woman had told him. He gave her a sideways glance. He wondered if he should heed her warning and stay in the hospital. Part of him did want to stay and fully heal. But the other part of him wanted to leave, largely because he wanted to get revenge on one particular member of the Dino Squad, as well as the team in general. They broke his leg, and that one kid had made him into a fool! They couldn't get away with that. They couldn't!

And yet... perhaps leaving now was not the best option for him. He was still healing, after all, and like the nurse said, if he suffered another bad injury, he could end up losing the arm if it is severe enough. He continued to think, wondering which was more important to him: his life or revenge. Well that was an easy question. Of course his life was more important. But even though he knew this, Peter couldn't bring himself to just stay put. He had this burning feeling inside of him, urging him to leave and go back to Raptor Dyne. And he was still worried about what Victor would think about his absence. He wondered if Victor was growing impatient with how long the healing process was taking. If not for his arm, he should get back to Raptor Dyne to save his job.

“Are you sure you aren't going to change your mind and stay here?” The nurse asked, sounding a bit hopeful. Maybe Peter would change his mind at the last second and decide to stay put. “It would save you a lot of trouble if you would just stay here.”

“I'm sure..” Peter said, looking away from her. “I just..don't want to lose my job. I've been away long enough and I used up all my vacation time.”

The nurse nodded her head. “Okay, mister.” She took a few steps backwards. “Goodbye.” She was about to turn around and walk away, but then something unexpected happened. Peter had turned around, took a few steps towards her, and planted a quick kiss in her cheek. The woman froze where she stood, startled by the kiss. Even though it was more of a farewell kiss than a romantic one, she couldn't stop herself from blushing. “Oh...”

“Don't worry about me, sweet cheeks.” Peter said to her in a soft, surly voice. He winked at her and then said, “I'll be fine. Just return to your job and don't get all worked up over this, okay?”

The nurse touched her cheek where he had kissed her. “Okay...mister..” She managed to say.

Peter smiled at her, and then he turned around and made his way through the doors. Once he was out, he looked up towards the sun, something he hadn't seen in a couple weeks now, and smiled up at it. He gave in a sharp inhale of fresh air and exhaled. He looked back at the hospital. The nurse had already left, probably to go tend to another patient or report to her superiors. He shook his head. That nurse was so nagging and so annoying. At least his less-than-genuine kiss was enough to get her off of his back. He turned around again and made his way down the sidewalk. He started to make his way towards where he knew Raptor Dyne was, but then he realized something.

“I don't have a way to get there...” Peter said, feeling so stupid that he forget to get a mode of transportation. What was he going to do now?

“You need a ride?” A feminine voice asked. It was very faint, although it sounded louder a little bit with each word spoken. It sounded like it was coming off from the distance, and from what Peter could tell, it sounded like they were coming in fast, probably circling around the hospital or something along those lines. It didn't take too long for the person he had heard to show herself. When he saw that it was Oscura, he grimaced. She wasn't whom he was hoping to see. Oscura said, “Need a lift?”

Peter noticed that she was coming in on a motorcycle. It took him a double take to realize that its appearance was not like anything he usually sees in motorbikes. The appearance was custom made. It took on an appearance that was very Troodon-like. The bike itself reflected Oscura's dino colors, with the main parts of it a bright red while it had stripes of pink and orange on it. She was wearing a helmet, mostly red with some pink in coloration, and it was slightly shaped like that of a Troodon head. The bottom part of the helmet was lined with pointed triangles, shaped like teeth. The build of the bike suggested that it was made for speed rather than pure power. It was sturdy, but still quite thin and actually looked a little frail. He wondered how the teen had gotten a hold of such a motorcycle.

“How did you get that motorcycle?” Peter asked as Oscura came up to him.

Oscura twisted her wrists in towards herself, activating the brakes on her motorcycle. The wheels started to rapidly slow down and then quickly stop. The loud screech filled Peter's ears and he quickly covered one of his ears with his unbroken arm. As the motorcycle skidded to a stop, a gust of dark gray smoke rolled out from the exhaust pipe on the edge of the bike. Once she had stopped and was standing in one place, Oscura pulled her helmet off. Her hair was a little messed up from the ride and she quickly smoothed out her hair before greeting Peter. “Hello, Peter. I'm surprised to see you out of the hospital this fast.”

Peter narrowed his eyes at her. He was going to ask her why she was out here, this far away from Raptor Dyne, but he decided not to ask her now. As much as he hated to admit it, she was her only ticket back to Raptor Dyne. He did need a ride after all, and he didn't have his cellphone with him. It had been broken back at the hospital much to his dismay. He would need to buy a new one and he'd have to do it as soon as possible. “I will ask you again, Oscura.” He pointed his finger at the motorcycle. “Where did you get that bike?”

Oscura hopped off of her bike and leaned it on its stand once she kicked it out from the side. “Oh this thing?” She asked innocently, stroking the top of it as if it were some kind of weird pet. “Victor designed it for me. He hasn't finished one for Michelle yet, though.”

“Where did he get the idea?” Peter asked.

“He got the idea from the Dino Squad.” Oscura said. “He saw their motorcycles and thought they were a good idea. Motorcycles are a little easier to make than cars and other large vehicles. Though we already have motorcycles, he thought he should start designing a few dinosaur-like ones This is the first one that he designed. He made it specifically for me, and I happen to be the beta tester.” She put her hands on her hips and straightened herself up, lifting up her head into the air as she said that, acting all proud and snobby just because she is the first to try out one of Victor's dinosaur-like motorcycles. “Of course, he did do one thing differently.”

“And what is that?” Peter asked.

“He gave this one the traditional engine. You know, the one that makes the carbon exhaust stuff? The kind that increases global warming? Yes.” Oscura chuckled softly as she glanced down at the exhaust pipe. “Victor dislikes these 'energy efficient' engines because they threaten to slow down, or even stop, global warming altogether. So he made sure to equip my motorcycle with such an engine to ensure that every time I use it, I bring him closer to the environment he lived in sixty-five million years ago.”

Peter shook his head. He lifted up his hand towards the sky, his hand flat down. It was like he was holding a tiny cup or something, but there was nothing in the palm of his hand. “Isn't it enough that millions of humans are already contributing to global warming? Why would he need the extra help from someone like you?”

Oscura shrugged her shoulders. “Every little bit counts, or so he says.” She then pulled her motorcycle back up and proceeded to jump back onto it. She looked back at the man and said, “Well? Don't you want a lift back to Raptor Dyne?”

Peter looked at her suspiciously. He knew of her reputation at Raptor Dyne and he wasn't sure if he should completely trust her. Even Victor is likely cautious around her because of her ambitious and trickster ways. If it weren't for her dinosaur morphing powers, she wouldn't even be a part of Raptor Dyne. “Okay then...but no tricks.” He warned her. “If you try to fool me, I'll just go dino and squash you!”

Oscura was unfazed by the threat. She burst out laughing, eyeing his arm with an evil smile. “You? Go dino? While wearing that cast? Don't make me laugh!” She continued to laugh for several seconds before forcing herself to settle down. She moved herself further up towards the front of the bike, making a little bit of room on the back. “Okay, I won't try to trick you. Just jump on!” She quickly placed her helmet back on, completely concealing her face, and gripped onto the handlebars. The standing stick had been pushed back up so she was now supporting the bike with her own legs and feet.

Peter continued to eye her with a suspicious look in his eyes, but he figured he didn't have much of a choice. Letting Oscura take him back to Raptor Dyne was at least better than a total stranger, or even worse, traveling the distance on foot by himself with a broken arm. As he got on the bike with Oscura, he looked back at the hospital, and started wishing that he had stayed behind in the first place and not try to leave. But it was too late now. Oscura twisted her wrists and the motorcycle roared to life. Soon they were speeding off along the road. Peter tried his best to hang on with only one arm. Oscura offered some assistance by wrapping her Troodon tail around him.

“What if someone sees your tail?” Peter asked nervously.

But Oscura didn't seem concerned about it. “Oh calm down, will ya? Motorcycles go too fast for anyone to take notice of a tail. And besides, we're taking the back roads back to Raptor Dyne, limiting the amount of people that will see us.” She eyed him quickly and said, “Besides, even if they did see the tail, how many people do you think will believe it? People will think they were crazy!” She turned her eyes back onto the road.

Then something struck Peter. “Hey, why were you at that hospital anyway?”

Oscura shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno. I was just riding around, testing out this new motorcycle, and didn't realize just how far out I actually was from Raptor Dyne.” She closed her eyes and laughed a little. “I didn't even realize I was in Maine until I saw this hospital.”

Peter narrowed his eyes. He was having a hard time believing this. Oscura wasn't the type to suddenly forget where she was. And even if she had forgotten, the signs alone would have reminded her of where she was. Unless she was taking back roads all the time, she should have seen the signs and posters and all that stuff on the road, which would have told her where she was. He believed that Oscura was lying to him. There must be another reason for her being at that hospital, but what?

“Now really, Oscura. That doesn't sound like you.” Peter said, tightening his grip on her to support himself a little more. “You, an intelligent young person, forgetting where you were half the time and only realize you were in a different state until a few minutes ago?” He chuckled lightly. “Come on, do you really expect me to believe that? Now, what is the real reason you were here?”

Oscura opened her mouth to answer but then paused, contemplating what she was about to say. Was it really any of Peter's business of what she was doing at the hospital? Yes, she was out for a test drive and she had already told him that. But she was also out there looking for Michelle, whom hadn't gotten back to Raptor Dyne yet. Victor had told her that if she saw Michelle to give her a lift back to Raptor Dyne. As much as Oscura hated Michelle, she agreed to do it. It did give her an opportunity to twist some story about Michelle to make it look like she was doing, or attempting to do, something wrong, at least in Victor's eyes anyway. No, Peter didn't need to know that.

Shaking her head, Oscura finally answered Peter. “I'm sorry, but that is confidential. I cannot tell you anything. Victor made me swear not to tell anyone.” That part was a lie, but she figured that Peter would be stupid enough to believe it. He was so loyal to Victor, as were many of his other followers. Though she wondered if it was because they respected him, or if it was because they wanted to stay on his good side and not get hurt. It was probably the second reason; humans were so pathetic sometimes. They would do anything to keep themselves out of trouble. That was probably the reason why so many people joined up with Victor. They wanted to ensure their own safety, and yet Victor could still turn on them at any time. Oscura wondered what would happen if Victor did do such a thing and how she, herself, would be effected.

“Victor said that?” Peter said almost absentmindedly after Oscura gave him her answer. While he wouldn't doubt that some things Victor wouldn't really want spread around Raptor Dyne, he was unsure whether or not he should believe Oscura. She hasn't always been known in telling the truth. She has even lied to Victor very recently in an attempt to get Michelle in trouble. The thought made him chuckle a little. He wondered how Oscura thought she could so easily trick Victor Veloci after working for him for such a good amount of time. “Okay..if you say so.” He said, a tone of doubt in his voice. He didn't say anything further as Oscura continued to take him back to Raptor Dyne.

* * *

Later that night, Buzz was sitting down in his room back in his own house. He was holding a gaming controller in his hand and staring at his television screen. The screen was displaying some kind of title screen, but Buzz, for the first time in his life, didn't really feel like playing a video game. His mind kept going to Michelle and what she said, particularly about Caruso and Moynihan's fates. As much as he didn't trust her and hated her, he couldn't help but wonder if she really was telling the truth. If she was, he was frightened for he wouldn't know what to expect. They wouldn't know when Caruso would be attacked because they wouldn't recognize them without their costumes on. And as for Moynihan, how would they know when she would just suddenly attack with no provocation?

There was no way that they could really prepare for any of those scenarios. This meant that the only way to be completely safe is if they defeat Victor once and for all, or at least find some way to make him leave them alone for a very long time. But what could he and the others do to a powerful billionaire? It wasn't like they could just walk up to his hideout and plan a full-scale invasion. For one thing, Moynihan would forbid such a risky tactic, and the other thing was security; they were very lucky that the security at the warehouse was not as strong as it would have been at Raptor Dyne. To even think about trying to invade Raptor Dyne was suicide. There were just too many risks involved and the only way to succeed is to be very lucky, like how Caruso was when he used his lotion to control the ants. If the ants weren't there, he would have failed in rescuing his friends.

Thinking of Caruso and looking at his controller made Buzz realize something. He still hadn't gotten a rematch from Caruso. He narrowed his eyes and began to think about it. Caruso might not be in the mood to play a video game, but at the same time, it would offer some kind of relief, something else to think about besides the pain he was still in and it was something to keep his mind off of Dr. Veloci. He glanced at his cellphone, which was placed on a table where his pet tarantula was currently residing. He started to consider calling Caruso now and see if he would be interested in playing the online dinosaur game, but then something else came to mind. Was the game even still online? With the computers that had the game on it destroyed, although mostly repaired now, was there even any servers running the game now?

Buzz turned his gaze back to his video game. He had put in a dinosaur video game, but not just any dinosaur game. It happened to be the one that he was playing when he first realized he had Pteranodon wings. He hadn't really touched the game much ever since. This was one of the few times he dared put in it. He didn't know why, but something about the game, ever since that incident, frightened him. He considered starting a new game, but a pain in his gut told him to turn the game off. Giving in, Buzz got up and switched the console off. The TV screen instantly went black. He quickly thought better of it, being afraid of the dark and all, and quickly turned it back on, but muted it so that the sound would not bother him. He dropped the controller on the ground and went over to sit on his bed. He placed his head in his hands and rubbed his face, trying to think of what he should do.

But he didn't get much time to think. He started hearing voices coming down the hallway. He quickly got up and moved towards the door. He pressed his ear against the door to try and hear the voices better. He quickly recognized it as his father and mother talking. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he thought he heard his dad say something about wanting to speak with him. Buzz took in a sharp gasp of breath. He wasn't expecting his father here at this time. He quickly looked at his room and realized how much of a mess it was, even more so than usual. He scolded himself for not picking up his stuff like his mom had told him earlier. He quickly ran over to put his console and controller away so that at least something was out of the way. The boy then returned to the door.

Pressing his ear against the door again, Buzz was no longer hearing the voices of his parents. Instead, his eardrums were filling up with the sound of footfalls heading towards his bedroom. He quickly backed away and sat down on his bed, and waited for his father to come in. As he waited for the few seconds that it would take his father to come in, Buzz started to ponder what his dad would want with him. It must be important if he would want to suddenly, unexpectedly, wanted to talk to him. But what he would want to talk to him about, Buzz couldn't think of anything that it could be. Maybe his dad wanted to try to get him a job at his workplace. Buzz flinched at the thought. The last thing he wanted was to go for a job that not only did he have no idea what it was, but would cut into his Dino Squad fighting days. It would increase the chances of him having to reveal his Pteranodon form to his family, something that he felt, now, that he should have done a long time ago.

The doorknob started to turn and the door quickly opened up, revealing Buzz's father, Drew Buzmati, who stepped into the room. Buzz was expecting his father to smile at him and give him a hug since they don't get to see each other too often because of the job. But to his surprise, there was no friendliness in his father's face. Instead of a smile, there was a frown. Not an angry frown, but a sad and confused one. His father looked more confused than happy or angry. He stood there in the doorway, looking as if he was pondering on what to say. He rubbed the back of his head nervously, giving his son a look that told him he wasn't sure what to say.

Finally, Drew took in a deep breath and stepped completely inside the room. He turned around briefly to close the door. He then turned around to face his son. He took a moment to look around the kid's room. He forced a chuckle. The room was as messy as it usually was. That was typical Buzz. He then turned his head to Buzz and wondered what he should say to him. He couldn't just outright ask his son if he was a dinosaur. That was just crazy and it would make him suspicious. And he didn't think he could just say that he wanted some of his blood. That would probably shock Neil and make him feel very nervous, especially if he really did have dino DNA in him.

Drew got himself to give his son a greeting, although it was not as happy as he had wanted it to be. “Hello, son...” He looked around his room once again before taking a few steps further into the bedroom. “How are you?”

Buzz felt a bit disappointed. This was not how he expected this meeting to go. His father didn't sound too sincere in his question. It was like he wanted to ask him something, but didn't have the heart nor courage to even ask him. “I'm fine dad....” Buzz then made a weak attempt at a conversation. “How was work today?”

Drew winced slightly at that. But he answered Neil nonetheless. “Oh it went all right, Neil... Just had to do some paperwork was all.” It was a lie, but, for now, his son didn't know just whom he was really working for. And he felt it was best of Neil never found out. “You're..probably wondering why I'm here, aren't you, son?”

Buzz nodded his head. “Well yeah..I mean why wouldn't I? You and I hardly ever see each other anymore since you got that job at...” He narrowed his eyes as he realized that he still had no clue where his father was working. But where ever it was, he must be making a lot of money for them to be able to afford all the pets and games that Buzz had. “..just where do you work, dad? You never told me...or mom.”

Drew blinked a few times, a little surprised Buzz asked him that. He didn't know why it surprised him though. He should have known that this question would have come up sooner or later. “I..I'm sorry, son..But I am not able to give you that information.” He did wish that he could tell his son the truth, but there was no way that he could.

“But..but why not?” Buzz asked, sounding very confused. “Why can't you tell your own son where you work at? What is it going to hurt?”

Drew shook his head. “I'm sorry. But I can't tell you that. But..there is something you can tell me.” He knew he still needed to somehow get blood from his son. But before he did, maybe he should ask him this unsettling question first. He moved towards the bed and sat down next to his son. He fumbled with his fingers for a few seconds before looking down at Buzz and asking slowly, “Do...do you know anything about those..dinosaur sightings that we sometimes see on the news?”

Buzz flinched visibly, hoping his father wouldn't see it. Unfortunately, Drew had seen the gesture, but decided to stay quiet about it. Buzz looked up at his father and said, “..yes. What about them?” Buzz wondered what his father would want to know about dinosaurs. He briefly wondered if his dad had seen a green Pteranodon fly near this house. The idea frightened him. What would his dad think of him if he knew he was a dinosaur?

“Well...” Drew started to say, trying to come up with the best way to ask the boy. “I was wondering if you...” He almost finished his sentence to ask him if he was a dinosaur, but he quickly stopped himself when he saw the expression on his son's face. His eyes were widened and his mouth was partially open as if he was going to gasp in shock. This indicated that what Victor had suspected was true. “..if you had seen them personally. You know..up close?”

Buzz almost let out a sigh of relief. His father just wanted to know if he had seen the dinosaurs. For a second there, he thought that he was going to get discovered before he was even ready to explain the situation. But something came to his mind. His father had actually paused before finishing the question. Was he nervous in asking him? Did he think that he was going to upset him by asking that? Or maybe... Buzz narrowed his eyes at the thought. But there was the chance, a slight chance, that his father was going to ask something else, then saw his expression and immediately changed the question. Was his father going to ask him if he was a dinosaur in the first place?

Buzz looked up at his dad again. “Well..no, not really. Is there any reason why you are asking me this?” His father flinched at the question and Buzz immediately sensed that something was very wrong about this. Without really thinking about it, he started to edge a little bit away from his father and as he looked at him, his eyes widened a little bit. “What...What is it that you have been hiding from me, dad?”

“I'm not hiding anything from you, son.” Drew responded, trying to move a little closer to his son. “You've got to believe that. I would never hide anything from my own family.” He wished he could say something to make the boy feel better, but the words slipped his mind.

Buzz wanted to believe his father, but one thing still gave him reason to doubt him. “Then why won't you tell me and mom where you work at? Why can't you tell your own family your career? It's not like we are going to judge you or anything.”

If Buzz was indeed a Pteranodon, then he would judge his father for working for Victor, Drew thought as he stared at his son. He really wanted to tell him the truth, but threats from Victor held him back. If he revealed any information and it is found out, he could be severely punished for it. He couldn't risk losing his wife or his son, even if he was one of those 'perfect dinosaurs' that Victor has been wanting for so long.

“I'm sorry, Buzz. But if I...” Drew paused, biting his lip nervously. He didn't know if he should tell his son this, but if he didn't, then the boy would never truly understand why he can't reveal any information. “..if I reveal any information, and I'm found out..I'll suffer..consequences.” He looked at his son with a worried look on his face. “I don't want you or your mother getting hurt because of me. So please...stop asking me where I work, okay?”

Buzz looked at his father in shock and became uneasily silent. His father couldn't tell him anything because if he did, someone at his job would hurt him or his family? Buzz was in denial at first, hoping that his father was just joking in order to scare him into not asking again, that it was just a cruel joke. But the longer that he looked into his father's eyes, trying to find some kind of hope that he was lying, he found nothing; his father looked dead serious about what he had told him. The gravity of the information started to weigh on him, making a sharp pain jab at him in the stomach, making him feel a little sick. He tried rubbing his stomach to make the ache go away, but it only got worse.

It just didn't make any sense. What kind of job could his father have that he couldn't tell anyone about what was going on? What kind of job would issue a punishment for that, involving the threat of family members? Maybe his father was a jewel thief or something, going to stores stealing jewelry for people and getting paid a bounty for them. Or maybe he was an assassin, going around killing people for large doses of cash. There were all sorts of disturbing jobs running through the punk kid's mind at that moment, jobs that would really put his father on the spot if he were found out.

But then one job in particular came to his mind. There was one job that he could think of that would force the employers and employees to swear to secrecy, a job where every precaution is taken to ensure that its true intentions are never found out by the public. The very thought sickened Buzz even more thinking his father was even involved with this group, but it was the only thing that would make sense to him. He looked up at his father, his eyes widening in shock. “You...you work for Victor Veloci...” His voice was full of dread and fear. He moved further away from his father. “..don't you?”

Drew closed his eyes and lowered his head in shame. His son figured it out and even though Drew himself didn't say anything, he could already sense the terror in his son's voice. His son was not very happy with the idea of him working for Victor. And if the kid knew anything about the guy, then he couldn't really blame him for it. Neil was right in fearing and distrusting Victor. The guy was crazy, trying to bring back the dinosaurs. Drew worked for him so he would have a chance at surviving the upcoming return of the dinosaurs. But now he was starting to feel guilty about joining in the first place. If his son was this upset with him for being a part of Raptor Dyne, then what hope would he have in convincing Buzz to at least be happy that he was thinking of the family?

Drew didn't answer Buzz right away. He, instead, starting to move towards Buzz, reaching out with his arms to try and hug him. But Buzz kept wrenching away from him, not allowing the man to even touch him. Buzz looked too afraid to let his ow father try to comfort him. Even though he hadn't verbally confirmed of whom he worked for, his actions alone confirmed Buzz's fears. He wasn't sure if he wanted to let his father get close to him at this point. He also felt too angry and upset with his dad to want to talk to him too much. How could his father keep this a secret from him for so long? And how could he, himself, fail to know that one of his own family members was working for Victor? How could he have been so ignorant?

Drew recalled Victor's words. He still needed a blood sample from his son. But at this point, there was no way he could get it willingly from the kid, and he couldn't hope to bring him to a doctor to get blood drawn. They would want to know why he wanted the blood to begin with, and how would he get his son to go to the doctor in the first place? Buzz would probably put up a fight and manage to get away before he could even get the kid into the car to go see the doctor. And if he could turn into a Pteranodon like Victor thought, then Buzz could easily fly away to get away from him. Drew sighed softly. There was only one thing left that he could do, but he wasn't going to like it very much and he knew that Buzz was not going to like it very much either.

Buzz narrowed his eyes at his father. “You should have told me about who you were working for...” Buzz hissed under his breath. Instead of yelling at his father like he wanted to, he turned his back on him and refused to make eye contact. However, this would quickly turn out to be a very big mistake. But how was he to know what was about to happen...?

Drew reached into his pocket, confident that his son wasn't going to see, or smell, what he had in his pocket. “I'm sorry you feel like that, son. And I'm sorry that I never told you this until now..” He moved a little closer, trying to be as quiet as he could. With one arm he reached forward slowly to grab him quickly. In the other hand, he held a small cloth, slightly damp and giving off a faint smell. He had put a little chloroform on it. Luckily for him, Buzz didn't pay any attention to it. “And I'm also sorry for this.”

Without warning, before Buzz realized what was going on, his father grabbed onto him. One large, muscled arm was pressed against Buzz's chest, pinning his arms at his sides. The other arm, the one with the cloth, was quickly pressed against the boy's mouth. Panicked and shocked by what was going on, Buzz's eyes widened in horror and he started to struggle in his father's grasp. He wanted to go dino, but something was holding him back. The smell on this cloth, it was driving him insane, preventing him from thinking straight. It didn't take him long to realize what it was: it was chloroform. His struggles increased, and he started kicking wildly and tried frantically for free his arms. But his dad was too strong for him and he found himself being held pretty still, forced to breathe in the chloroform on the cloth. His mind started getting a little foggy, but regardless, he still fought back.

Drew didn't want to do this to his own son. He didn't want to do it to anyone. But it was the only thing he could think of doing that would reduce any chance of him really hurting Buzz and still getting the blood sample for Victor so that Victor wouldn't do anything to hurt him or his family. He continued to hold onto his son's struggling body, pressing the cloth against his mouth as hard as he could, doing his best to ignore his son's whimpers of fear. “I'm sorry it has to be this way... But I need to get a blood sample from you...” He whispered in his son's ear. “He wants to know if you are the Pteranodon...and if I don't get him the blood sample, he'll hurt me..or even you or your mother.. That's why it has to be this way...”

Shortly after, Buzz's mind quickly became foggy and he was unable to fight the chloroform for much longer. He quickly and suddenly stopped struggling. He fell limp in his father's arms. His mouth hung open loosely and his eyes were shut softly as if he had just fallen asleep. Drew quickly pulled the cloth away and stuffed it back into his pocket. He had to work fast. The chloroform was only going to keep Buzz knocked out for about an hour at best. He settled his son's body on the bed as if he were just sleeping. He pulled one out so that it was hanging off the side of the bed. He took out a leather strip and tight it tied around the boy's upper up to make the boy's veins pop closer to the surface so that it would be easier to draw blood out.

Drew pulled out a sharp needle. He looked down at this son and said, “I'm so sorry, Neil..I hope you can forgive me for this....” With that, he opened up the plastic cap to the needle. He inspected it for several seconds and then shoved it into Buzz's arm and began to draw out dark red blood...

* * *

Approximately forty-five minutes later, Drew had gotten the blood sample that he needed and had put it inside his pocket. He had stopped the bleeding in his son's arm, bandaged it as tightly as he could to keep it from bleeding again. The bandage that he used, white in color, stuck to the boy's skin. In the middle, where the needle had punctured, was a cloth, soft, pushing against the tiny hole. He then moved Neil a bit further onto the bed and lifted his arm up and rested it at his side. He pulled the blanket from underneath him and pulled it over his son's body, and then carefully rested the boy's head on the pillow. By the time he was finished, it looked like Neil was just sleeping.

Drew sat back down on the bed and stared at the sleeping boy's face and felt a sharp pang of guilt inside him. He couldn't believe he had just done this to his own child. Drew closed his eyes and lowered his head in shame. What kind of father was he? To knock out his own offspring like that... Even if he did have a reason, not everyone will be so understanding. What would his wife think when she found out about this? And when Buzz would come to, what would he think of his father? Would he be understanding? Or would he end up hating him for what he had done to him?

Drew felt it was better that he leave at that moment. After gently stroking Buzz's head, planting a quick, goodnight kiss on his forehead, and apologizing for his actions once again, Drew quickly got off of the bed and made his way towards the door. Opening it up, he gave one last sympathetic glance at Buzz before he turned off the light and shut the door behind him. He made his way back towards the front of the house and started walking towards the exit. Before he got to it, however, he was interrupted by his wife.

“Where are you going?” His wife asked, her eyes slightly narrowed. She was wearing oven mits and an apron, so the man suspected that she must be in the middle of cooking something, or at least close to being finished.

“Out, dear.” Drew responded.

“Oh no you don't.” His wife put her hands on her hips. “You haven't even eaten your supper yet! And it's almost done. You should stick around for a little while longer. It's been a while since we had a real family dinner.” She turned around and headed back towards the kitchen. “I'm sure Neil would like it if you were to stay for dinner.”

Drew gulped at that thought. He stammered, “N-No...I'd rather not...”

His wife was incredulous. “What? Why?” She thought that he would be happy to eat with the family. Before he got this mysterious job that he can't reveal any information about, they always enjoyed the family meals together, chatting and talking about what was going on with their lives and such. “You used to really enjoy them...”

“It's not that, Megan.” Drew said as he moved his way into the kitchen so it would be easier to talk to his wife about this issue. He could smell the steamed vegetables cooking in the pots and Megan had something cooking in the oven. While it smelled of meat, it was most likely imitation meat. Buzz was a vegetarian. “It's just that, if I don't get back to my job, my boss will...fire me, for lack of a better word...”

Megan nodded her head. “Oh of course, your boss...” She said in a sarcastic tone. This wasn't the first time Drew had used that excuse to leave home as quickly as possible. “And just what is so scary about this boss of yours? You seem to be terrified of him. I know bosses can be harsh, but sometimes you act as if this boss of ours is a real monster!”

“You couldn't be more correct about that...” Drew muttered.

“What do you mean?” Megan asked.

“Oh nothing.” Drew quickly said, realizing what he almost said. He hoped that this would discourage his wife from asking him further, but that was just wishful thinking. Once he made that statement, it was too late and how his wife started becoming a little suspicious as well.

“Don't 'oh nothing' me, Drew!” Megan said. She was starting to sound a little concerned. She wondered if her husband was being abused at work and if this was true, she wanted him to quit that job as soon as possible. “Did something happen at work? What is it that you are not telling me? Come on..” She placed her hand on his shoulder. “You're my husband. I'm your wife. You can tell me anything. Is your boss..abusing you?”

Drew answered, “Sort of...” But then he quickly answered with, “But it's nothing I can't handle! Look, don't worry about it. I'll be fine.”

Megan didn't believe him. She reached up to touch his face, but pulled her hand back when her husband turned away from her. Something must really be upsetting him, but what? The woman wanted to ask him so badly. She wanted to let him know that he could tell her anything he need to, or wanted to. But in this case, he didn't seem to be in a talking mood at the moment, and she thought it would be best to not pressure him any further. She nodded to him, removed her other hand from his shoulder, and moved away from him.

“Okay, Drew...” Megan said as she returned to cooking dinner. She moved towards the oven. She pulled it open, closing her eyes for a few milliseconds as the wave of hot air hit against her face. She took a look inside. In the oven, on one of the two racks in it, sat a long dish with tin foil over it. She thought of taking the food out to inspect it, but thought it would be better if she waited a little while longer. She turned her attention back on Drew, how hadn't left the kitchen just yet. Since dinner was almost done, Megan wondered if she should get Buzz out now to get something to eat. He must be hungry by now. “Drew, could you go get Neil? Dinner's almost ready and I'm sure he is starving at this point.” She picked up a couple cloths and was going to use them to wipe off the counter, which was a little messy at the moment.

Drew winced at the question, though she didn't see him do this. With the guilt he was feeling, he almost had the courage to tell her what he had done to him, but he quickly caught himself. He couldn't tell her what he had done to Neil. What would she think of him? “I...I don't think that's a good idea...” Drew managed to say, his voice low and somewhat fearful.

Fearing that something was wrong, Megan quickly turned to him, almost dropping the cloths that she was holding in her hand. “Did something happen to him?!” Her voice sounded so urgent and so scared. Drew started feeling guilty about what he'd said, but he couldn't bring himself to respond. His eyes slowly trailed towards the direction of where the boy's bedroom was. His gaze was broken when he felt his wife grab onto him. “Drew, answer me!” This time, her voice sounded a bit more forceful than she intended it to be.

Drew forced himself to let out a light chuckle, confusing Megan enough to make her let go of him, back away, and look at him with a perplexed expression. Drew continued to chuckle, offering her a smile as sincere as he could muster. “Oh, honey, you sometimes take things so seriously.” He slowly shook his head. “Neil isn't in any danger; he is just sleeping! That's why I said it probably wasn't a good idea to call him out.” Drew stopped chuckling, but the smile on his face continued to remain. His lips parted in a friendly grin. “I don't think it's wise to wake him up now. He might be hungry, but if he's too tired to get something to eat, well..just let him sleep then.”

But instead of calming his wife down as he had expected, this only made her even more confused. At first, Drew couldn't think of why she would be confused. He gave a pretty good logical explanation for why Neil would be absent and why it would be a bad idea to call him out just yet. He thought that his explanation would relax his wife. He had no idea that it would make her even more confused. Then he realized why she was confused. Due to his video gaming habits, Neil sometimes tended to stay up very late at night. And it was still too early, at least to Neil, to be sleeping. He wouldn't be nodding off at this point; he would be in his room, lights out probably, and the TV turned on, either watching TV, or, more likely, playing a video game, probably one of those dinosaur ones he had gotten not too long ago.

“But Neil stays up till around midnight or so playing one of those darn video games of his.” Megan said, her eyes narrowed. “I still don't know how he can stand playing one of those games for more than an hour.. but he manages to do it..” Megan was hardly a video games fanatic and generally regarded them as a waste of time. Nonetheless, she permitted Neil to play video games as much as he wanted to provided that he at least get his homework done and studied as much as possible to keep his grades up at school. But because he would stay up till around midnight, it would be very unlikely that Neil would be tired around this time. “But how could he possibly be tired now? It's not even nine o'clock yet!”

Drew did his best to act as confused as she was. He leaned back and lifted one arm to scratch the back of his head in a slow manner with a single finger. “That is a good question Megan. I'm not sure... I just went in there and he was very tired already.” It hurt him having to lie to his wife, but it was the only thing he could do. He couldn't allow himself to get punished. He didn't want to lose his wife or his son. “I asked him why he was so tired and he said he just had a hard day and didn't want to talk about it. And before I could say anything else, he fell asleep. So I just picked him up and set him down in his bed and pulled the blankets on him. I shut off the light and turned the television set off and walked out.”

“Why did you turn the lights and the television off?” Megan asked. It didn't have to do with what she was initially concerned about, but she was a little surprised that her husband would turn the lights off. Neil was quite afraid of the dark and didn't want his room to be completely dark. “You know Neil is afraid of the dark!” Her eyes were now narrowed a little.

“I know,” Drew replied, “...but he needs to learn that he shouldn't be wasting electricity like that. And he was out like a light the last time I checked. I'm sure he'll be able to sleep just fine, regardless of how dark it is in his room.” He quickly looked at the watch on his hand and realized he had stayed a little longer than he should have. At any minute, Neil was going to wake up and he didn't want to be around when that happened. And Victor wanted to see him as soon as possible. Patting the pocket that carried the blood sample gently, he turned to leave. “I'm sorry, but we can discuss this later. I have to get back to work now.”

Megan let out a long sigh. She was disappointed that he had to go already. He wasn't home for very long. And she still wanted to talk to him about what had just happened. She still didn't understand completely why she couldn't know anything about her job. She didn't know why Neil would be sleeping this early, and she also didn't know why her husband turned off both the lights and the television set when he knew full well of the boy's fear of the dark. His notion of wanting to save electricity did actually make sense. She herself sometimes complained to Neil about his bad habit of wanting to keep both the TV and the lights on at night. The best she could do is get him to turn the lights off but leave the television on. But even then she wasn't pleased with the amount of electricity Neil would consume in just one day all because he refused to turn the TV off. But somehow, she couldn't be completely convinced that her husband's story was completely true. But who was she to doubt him?

“Okay, honey.” Megan responded, giving him the best smile that she could force herself to make. As her husband opened up the door and made his way through it, she said loudly, “Goodbye!”

Although his back was turned towards Megan, Drew lifted up a hand and waved it and said, “Goodbye! I'll see you when I get back from work!” With that, he closed the door, leaving Megan to return to making dinner.

* * *

“Oooo...” Buzz moaned as he started to stir in his bed. His mind was very groggy and clouded up and he couldn't really remember much of what had happened. He felt a mild pain in his arm, but he sleepily thought that he had just slept on it wrong. For a while, he thought that he had fallen asleep, probably from playing his video game too long. He slowly pushed himself off the bed and sat straight up, his body hunched over and his head low, eyes closed. Then he slowly opened them up. It took him a few seconds to become aware enough of his surroundings to realize something was wrong. “Huh..what...?”

He looked around his room and slowly, quite slowly, he realized that it was too dark for him to see. The only light visible was from the small crack underneath the door, and even that was a little dim. He turned over towards his television set, which he usually has on. It was as black as the room. He looked up and the light was turned out. This he also usually has turned on. Even though he realized something was wrong, he didn't really make a full reaction just yet. He was still groggy and weak from what he thought was a short nap. He slowly got up from his bed and placed his head in his hands, trying to regain his bearings. “Man...why am I so tired...? And why is it I can't remember why I fell asleep in the first place?”

His eyes slowly traveled up to his digital clock. He had recently purchased it and he had placed it on top of his television set. He had done this so that he could easily see what time it was without having to put down the controller. His mother had called him lazy because of this, but he didn't really care. It suit him just fine. But as he read the numbers, Buzz noticed something else was wrong. The clock was reading eight fifty-four in the afternoon. This was odd, Buzz thought. He usually doesn't go to sleep until around midnight or a little bit after, although he sometimes went to sleep earlier than that, especially on a few school nights. But why would he go to sleep this early? By this time, he would usually be playing his video games...

Then something struck Buzz's mind and his eyes slowly widened. A few memories started flowing back to him. He glanced down at his gaming console. It was very hard to see it in the dark, but he could make out the shape just barely. He remembered he was playing something earlier, not very long ago. He was playing..or trying to play it, but then he put it away, but why? Buzz looked over towards the door, seeing the faint light on the ground. He was becoming more alert, and when he realized how dark it was in his room, he immediately rushed over to the switch and flipped it on. As the room quickly lit up with the brightness of the light bulb hanging from the ceiling, he let out a sigh of relief. He then walked over to his TV and turned it on, but kept it on mute. Soon his room was so brightly illuminated that it looked like it was daytime and that's just how Buzz liked it.

His mom sometimes complained to him about how his habits are going to run up the electricity bill, but Buzz didn't really care too much. He was terrified of the darkness, that fear more reinforced ever since the joined the Dino Squad. What if some mutantsaur suddenly burst into his room and he wouldn't be able to see it if the lights are off? How was he going to fight it and protect his mother and father if need be?

His father... That thought provoked more memories into Buzz's mind. He suddenly remembered that his father had come over to talk to him. He couldn't think of just what it was, but it was something important, or so he remembered. His father had seemed so nervous in telling him whatever it was. He had come right into this bedroom to talk to him. That was probably why Buzz had put away the game. Or maybe it was because he got bored of it. Buzz's mind was still a little big foggy, but the memories were coming back. And as he continued to think about what happened, he noticed a painful sensation in one of his arms, his right one to be precise. He tried to move it, but the sharp pain kept on shooting through his arm. It wasn't a terrible pain; more like a pricking feeling.

Then he slowly realized that there was another sensation on his arm. This sensation was soft and smooth, and yet tight at the same time. Something was wrapped around his arm. He looked down at his right arm and noticed something was wrapped tightly around it. He slowly leaned in towards it a little and gingerly touched it. It was a cloth of sorts. But why was it wrapped around his arm like this? He didn't get into any accident. He pressed against it carefully, and he felt the sharp pain again and he immediately pulled his hand away. He gently lifted up the cloth to take a look at the wound. After a few attempts, he eventually got it lifted up enough so that he could see a blood stain and what looked like a small hole in his arm, as if a needle was jabbed inside of him.

Suddenly, another memory hit him, almost like a freight train crashing through, plowing him down onto the hard surface of some broken road. Words flowed back to him, his father's words, and they made chills go down his spine. His father..he needed something..a blood sample, but why? Victor..the crazy scientist wanted a blood sample from him because he thought he was the Pteranodon... Buzz tried to keep himself standing as this shocking revelation struck him. His father had been working for Victor Veloci this whole time and he had taken blood out. But how could his dad have taken blood from him?

Then he realized what had happened. His father had grabbed onto him and held him firmly while he drugged him with a cloth soaked in some kind of smelly liquid. Chloroform, he thought. That was why he had felt so groggy when he woke up. That was why it was still so early in the afternoon, or night, at least for him. And the fact that his father had taken blood out of him was why there was a sharp pain in his arm. There was no other explanation for why he had blood a little and why there was a bandage there, coupled with a mild, sometimes sharp pain.

“...dad...” Buzz whispered, gently rubbing his arm as feelings of emotional pain set in. How could his own father do this to him? How could his dad have had enough courage to drug his own son and then take blood away from him? Buzz tried to fight the feelings of betrayal and pain, but he couldn't hold them back for much longer. He dropped down on the ground, his body hunched over, and started to cry. It wasn't like him to cry, but he just couldn't help it. The fact that his father had betrayed him like this stung him deep. The pain that he was feeling was as strong as when he thought that Caruso was dead. He tried to make himself stop crying and tried to feel better. But the emotional pain was too much and he found himself going from crying to sobbing uncontrollably.

Why? Why did his father do this to him? Why would he betray his trust like this? Buzz had thought that his father loved him and cared about him. But if his father truly loved him, would he have drugged him like he had? Buzz shook his head to answer his own question. No, he would not have. But instead, his father had went on with his plan. He had apparently only come to talk to him to try and get a blood sample from him for his boss, Victor Veloci. His father didn't care about him. He didn't care what pain he was causing him. He only cared about his own safety. As Buzz continued to sob, letting out all his pain, a new emotion started to take form inside his mind. A burning sensation in his heart and head spread, growing more intense as each second passed. It was feelings of anger that he had towards his father for what he had done. As his tears slowly stopped, he clenched his teeth and squeezed his hands into tight fists. 

“He betrayed me...that selfish jerk! He betrayed me!” Buzz pounded the floor with one fist angrily. He didn't care if his mother could hear what he was doing. He didn't care if he was acting immaturely at that moment. All he could think about was how his father had betrayed him without much hesitation. All that was on his mind was his anger and bitterness towards the man that he had called 'father'. “And being tricked by some stupid girl online..I thought that was bad enough...” Neil growled in frustration again and pounded the floor. How could he have not seen the signs? How could he have been so stupid and trusted this man?! Was there anyone else he knew that wasn't trustworthy? His eyes widened. “Mom...?”

Megan looked over towards the bedroom where her son would have been sleeping. She narrowed her eyes slightly. She thought she was hearing noises. She couldn't make out what it was at first, but when she heard the sounds again, she became convinced that they weren't in her mind; they were real. And judging from the sound of them, it sounded like someone was pounding the floor, or kicking it or something along those lines. The only thing she could think of was that it was Neil. But how could that be? Her husband had just told her that their son was fast asleep. Could he have just woken up? Yes, that was probably what happened. Neil woke up and he was probably hungry.

Megan had already gotten the food out of the oven. Steam, colored a pale white, almost transparent, rose off the food, giving off a steady wave of heat. Using the fork that she was holding, she poked into the food to make sure it was cooked thoroughly. Satisfied that it was finished, she placed the fork on the table next to the plate of food and turned around. She decided to go inform Neil that the food was complete and that he could come eat now. But when she reached the door, and the sounds became louder, another sound also became apparent. It almost sounded like Neil was...crying.

Widening her eyes, Megan immediately grabbed the doorknob and rushed into the room to see what was going on. She was shocked to see Neil on the ground, on his knees, supporting himself with his arms. His head was low and he had a scary-looking scowl on his face, but tears were flowing from his eyes as if he was just starting to cry. But that wasn't what shocked her the most. Megan took a glance at his right arm and realized it was bandaged. That bandage wasn't there when her son had gotten back home...

“Neil...” Megan said carefully, reaching a hand towards her son, but she stopped when he looked up at her. His eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks were reddish in color, and the same scowl was still on his face. When she looked closer, she also noticed that he was shaking visibly in anger. It was clear something was bothering him, but what could it be? Megan moved a little closer to her son and knelt down onto the ground in front of him. “Neil..what's wrong? What happened here?” She looked at his arm. “What happened to your arm?”

Buzz stared at her for several seconds, continuing to shake in rage at the thought of what his father had done to him. Eventually his expression softened up and his anger melted away, replaced with sadness and hurt. His tears started to flow faster and he was trying hard not to sob in front of his mother. “It's...it's d-dad..he...” He stammered, closing his eyes tightly. “I mean..I never thought...that he...”

Upon hearing this, Megan felt her heart start racing. At first, she thought something had happened to her husband. This was unlikely, though, as she didn't hear anyone enter the house. And her husband just walked out the door. But if this isn't want Buzz was trying to tell her, there was only one other possibility, but she hoped that she was wrong. She didn't want to think that something like that could happen, not here, not to them. “What about your dad? What does he have to do with...”

Buzz cut her off, speaking in a pained, cracking voice. “He did this to me... He knocked me out...and he did this to me..” He gestured to his arm. He wanted to tell her that his dad took a blood sample from him, but he refrained from that. He knew that if he did, he would have to expose his secret to her. And he didn't think that now was a good time. “I..I don't know why he did it, mom...but he did...” He lowered his head again and started to cry once more, unable to look into his mother's stunned face.

Megan was at first stunned by what Buzz told her. At first, she didn't want to believe it. This didn't seem like the Drew that she had known all these years. He had never shown any notion of being mean to anyone. She didn't think that he would have the capacity to be cruel to their own son. He had never done this in the past. If he had, Neil wouldn't have been excited to see his father whenever he would have time to be with the family. Perhaps it was all just a mistake. Perhaps Neil was just so upset with his father having to leave so soon that he was just making up a story to vent out his anger into. Perhaps the bandage wasn't really covering a wound. Maybe it was just for looks. Carefully, Megan reached forward to inspect what she thought was a fake wound. But upon seeing the blood and hearing her son yelp in pain, she knew that he was telling the truth.

Megan swallowed hard, trying her best to handle this situation as maturely as possible and to accept this new information. The thought of her husband doing such a thing stung her deeply. But what was hurting her the most was how her son was taking it. He was crying, something he usually would never do. She didn't like seeing him hurting like this. She moved even closer to him and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a gentle hug. Neil didn't try to fight back, and he didn't try to hug her. He just leaned against his mother, his face pressed against her shoulder, and continued to try. Despite the fact that her shirt was getting moist from Neil's sobbing, she continued to hug him.

“Shhh....” Megan whispered softly, trying to calm Buzz down.

Buzz spoke, but his voice sounded muffled because it was still pushed against her shoulder. “How could he do this to me...? How..?”

“It's all right now...” Megan whispered as she started to gently rock him back and forth to settle him down. As Buzz's cries started to quiet down, she said, “We'll get through this..I promise.”

* * *

Zoom sat back in his chair. He was back in his apartment after spending almost the entire day with O'Ryan, discussing how they were going to make their little plan work. Zoom's computer was turned on and he was checking his e-mail. Upon seeing that nothing interesting was sent, he logged out and leaned back in his chair, thinking about what O'Ryan had told him earlier. He had claimed to have known which kid was the T-Rex, or at least what he looked like. Zoom was a little doubtful because there could be a million kids that could fit the description. How could he be so certain that this kid was the one? Yes, he was in one of the general locations where there were a lot of sightings of dinosaurs, but that didn't mean that this one particular kid was the one.

But if he was the one, Zoom knew that if he captured him, he could get a huge reward from Victor. He knew the man was very interested in getting the T-Rex, even obsessed as he heard some of Victor's men say. Victor was so desperate in getting the purebred Tyrannosaurus that he even once left behind the other dinosaurs after he caught it, or so he had heard from one of the employees who were there to witness it. They had also commented, in a low whisper, that they were glad that the Tyrannosaurus Rex got away because they were afraid of what might happen if Victor was able to succeed in developing a perfect primordial ooze. That statement made Zoom laugh. He thought that, after all those years they worked for him, that they would realize, or at least have some idea of, what would happen.

Zoom contemplated about how he was going to catch the kid, provided that he was the T-Rex that Victor was searching for. If he truly was the one, then Zoom would have to be cautious. It was likely that the kid would know who he was, being a member of the Dino Squad. He wouldn't be able to just walk up to his house and convince him to take a walk with him or anything. The kid wouldn't trust him and his parents would surely become suspicious of the whole ordeal. Zoom would need to be more subtle and find some way to trap him. He could discuss this with O'Ryan, but O'Ryan was interested in getting revenge. He wasn't interested in getting praise from some billionaire, especially since he didn't even work for Victor Veloci and he probably didn't have plans to either.

The photographer quickly realized that he would need to find some way to get to the T-Rex before O'Ryan did while at the same time maintaining his alliance with the guy. He wanted to capture the T-Rex for himself to win more of Victor's trust, perhaps even letting him use some of his more..dangerous ideas, like the bomb. But he also wanted to make sure that O'Ryan was still willing to work with him and wouldn't get too angry with him. Zoom knew he would require help in getting revenge on all five of the kids. Getting the Tyrannosaurus Rex kid caught and imprisoned by Victor would be a good enough revenge for him.

But O'Ryan was different. It wasn't just Caruso that he was after. He also wanted the Tyrannosaurus. After learning that the T-Rex was part of the group called Dino Squad, he suspected that it was this kid that had sent him the false phone call that make him look like a fool. But even though this angered him greatly, his focus was still on Caruso for destroying his precious video camera, or specifically the camera that his cameraman used before O'Ryan fired him. Zoom suspected that the man would not be at all interested in trying to capture the T-Rex to give to Veloci. O'Ryan's idea of revenge would likely consist of exploiting the kid to become rich and famous.

“What should I do..?” Zoom said to himself, resting his elbows on his desk and leaning forward, staring at the computer screen. He was trying to think of what he should do now. He didn't want to linger too much on the subject of the T-Rex. His thoughts slowly shifted towards one particular member of the Dino Squad, the boy with the green hair. As O'Ryan wanted to get Caruso, Zoom wanted to get his hands on this particular punk teenager that stole his CD and gave a very bad first impression of himself to Victor Veloci. It was a little satisfying that Victor has given him another chance, but the fact that the switch happened at all still angered him.

Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on his door. He groaned softly. He wondered who could be at his door at this hour. It was past nine o'clock, going on ten o'clock soon. Usually he himself would be sleeping at this hour and he figured almost everyone else was as well. So who could be wanting to see him this late at night? There was only one way to find out. Zoom got up out of his computer chair and quickly made his way towards the door. The knocking had increased in volume and was growing increasingly more rapid. Zoom said angrily to himself, “Sheesh..don't they know how to wait?” He was certain it was O'Ryan knocking on the door. Zoom rolled his eyes. Why does this guy insist on bothering him right now?

Zoom gripped the doorknob and turned it and quickly pushed it open. Thinking that it was O'Ryan, he said, “Now what do you want now, O'Ryan?! I'm very busy here!” But when he realized who it was, he faltered and took a few steps back. He immediately regretted yelling. “V-Victor Veloci?! I'm..I'm sorry, sir! I-I didn't know it was you.. I...”

Victor just smiled, not looking all that offended. He lifted up a hand. “No need for apologies, Mr. O'Donnell. I want to come inside and have a little word with you.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “If that is all right with you.”

“Oh..oh sure.” Zoom stammered, still feeling stupid about yelling at a superior. He moved off to the side and motioned for Victor to get inside. “Please, come on in.” He said as politely as he could. Victor walked in slowly and looked around the room. He stared at the computer for a few minutes before moving on. Zoom followed him. Eventually they went into the living room. Victor sat down on the couch on one end while Zoom sat down on the other end. Despite this, they were only a few feet away from each other. “So..what brings you here?” Zoom asked cautiously.

Victor leaned back into the couch, turning his head up towards the ceiling. He didn't answer Zoom right away. He wanted to build up the tension a little bit. He wanted to make the man feel a little afraid of his presence, to allow him to accept who was in charge here. He heard the man's heart pounding his chest and he heard his breathing quicken a little. Of course, Zoom would not have noticed this. Humans often don't notice when their bodily function changes. But Victor had a much easier time noticing this when he listened closely enough. He turned his head to one side, the side closest to Zoom, and spoke without looking at the photographer. “So did Kista tell you anything?”

“Did Kista tell me anything?” Zoom echoed the question. “When would she have told me anything? She hasn't talked to me since...” He then realized what Victor was asking about. He was probably referring to the phone call he had gotten earlier in the day, when Kista was still working at the school. Zoom nodded his head once. “Well yes. She did say something to me a few hours ago. She thinks she might have found something that would..no I'm sure it would interest you, sir.”

Victor nodded his head. He thinks he knows what Zoom was going to tell him, but he figured he should let the man talk anyway. It wasn't going to hurt to receive old information. “Oh really? And what did she say, O'Donnell? And how would it interest me?”

Zoom said, “Well, sir, it seems that she thinks she has identified the..no wait....” He lowered his gaze, trying to recall the exact words spoken to him only a few hours ago. But he was having a hard time remembering. Why couldn't he recall them? He growled in frustration. While he was doing his best to hold back his anger, it was hard to keep himself from wanting to throw something to the ground, to lash out at something or someone, even Victor.

“What did she say?” Victor repeated himself, sounding a little frustrated himself.

“Let me think.” Zoom said almost callously. He leaned forward and pressed his head against one of his hands, gently massaging his temples as he tried to think of what Kista said. He remembered her saying something about spotting two kids there that she thought was the Dino Squad. But did she tell him their names? He thought that she described their looks, but most of the description was alluding him. He recalled something about one of them being an african-american, or at least dark-skinned. The other one, the only details he remembered was that he was wearing a green jacket, which was not going to do much good.

Victor narrowed his eyes. His patience was starting to wear down. Answering a simple question should not be this difficult. It shouldn't take Zoom long to repeat whatever Kista had told him. Even a baby Apatosaurus would have no trouble in answering a simple question, spoken in the right language anyway. Only a pathetic human monkey like Zoom could possibly complicate such an easy question. “I will ask you this one last time, Zoom. My patience is wearing thin. What did Kista tell you?”

Zoom's eyes widened slightly. Victor's voice sounded much more menacing and forceful than it had before, frightening Zoom. Victor didn't seem to be in too good of a mood today. Either that, or he was in a hurry and wanted to get an answer as soon as possible. Not wanting to keep the man waiting much longer, Zoom struggled to try and put together a response in his head. As he did so, he recalled that some of the information was not given to him by Kista, but by O'Ryan. That made him pause, worried about how he was going to tell Victor. He didn't want to bring up O'Ryan, but he wasn't sure if he could lie and say that Kista was the one who told him that the identity of the Tyrannosaurus might be known.

Zoom made up his mind, noting the increasing frustration in Victor's eyes. He didn't want to know what would have happened if he continued to wear down the raptor's patience with him. “W-Well, sir, she called me while she was still on duty at the library. She wanted to tell me that she had spotted two kids that seemed to be in association with..what was his name, Caruso?” Victor nodded his head. Zoom continued, “Well I think they were probably members of the Dino Squad.”

“And what makes you certain that they are?” Victor asked, shifting his body around so that he was facing Zoom directly. “How are you sure that they weren't just other friends of his?”

“I..I don't know... It's what Kista suspected.” Zoom explained. “She said that she believes that they were members of the Dino Squad just by the way that they were acting. They were spending a lot of time looking through medical books and she listened in on them a few times and picked up a few times where they talked about their concern about Caruso. I think she said that they mentioned you too...”

Victor nodded his head, not sounding too surprised by this. “Yes, that could make it possible that they were the Dino Squad, if it weren't for one little detail.” As he said this, he lifted up one hand and moved two fingers very close to one another. After he finished he relaxed his hand and lowered it down to his side. A knowing smile spread across the mad scientist's face. “I'm quite well known among the populations of the filthy human species. There is not many humans that do not know my name, and if they don't know it, they at least know what I look like. Just because those brats you mentioned talked about me does not mean that they know what I really am, and it certainly doesn't mean that they are the Dino Squad.”

Suddenly feeling desperate in convincing Victor that he was telling the truth, Zoom decided to tell a lie. He didn't know what came over him. He just found himself spewing out words without really thinking about it, forgetting about O'Ryan's ambitions entirely. “Well, Veloci, sir, Kista had also mentioned that these two kids were talking about..what was it, primordial ooze? And how they wanted to try to stop you from taking over the world? Yeah, I'm certain she said this. And if they did, I think it's pretty safe to assume they are the Dino Squad, or at least know about your little secret.”

At this, Victor suddenly paused, his eyes widened with interest. If these students knew his secret, perhaps here was a chance that they could be the Dino Squad. And if they were part of the Dino Squad, then now he knew where to find more of the members for sure. He had suspected that Caruso's teammates would be in that school, but he couldn't be too sure. Even though he had told Michelle that her assignment weeks ago was to spy on Caruso and any of his close friends, he could not have been able to verify if they were truly the Dino Squad members. Now he had some evidence that this was true. He already knew Caruso was part of this group, and perhaps the son of one of his employees, Drew. Now he might know the identity of two more.

Perfect, Victor thought as he felt a smile spreading across his face. That means he might now know the identity of four of the Dino Squad members, and he already knew of Moynihan. Now there was only one dino member left to identify. And once he figures that out, then he can proceed with devising a plan to capture all of them. Their DNA will prove useful in his plans, speeding up the production of a perfected primordial ooze so that it could be completed within a few months, maybe even shorter than that. He had plans on just killing off the teens once he had extracted enough blood from them, but then he wondered if he really wanted to do that. After all, it's not everyday that a human, let alone a group of them, can stand up to him and be able to outwit him several times, even though it was largely due to the fact that he didn't know they were humans. Perhaps he should let them live, perhaps stripping them of their humanity somehow, turning them into real dinosaurs.

But then he realized there was a problem. How was he going to pull this off? How was he going to capture them? Capturing them now was going to be rather difficult. In the past, he had employed some tricks into luring them in one spot and catching them that way. But now that he knew their secret, now that they knew that he knew the truth, trying to trap them was going to become even harder. The traditional methods using mutantsaurs to attract them might not work now. They would probably realize it was a trap set up for them. They would probably try to escape, perhaps being bold enough to shift back to their normal human forms to try to get away. He could still trap them in a cage that was large enough for dino mode, but impossible to escape in human mode. They would not be able to escape in either form, but even that might prove difficult. He would need to actually catch them first.

Victor briefly thought of figuring out where they lived and then invading their homes. This method might prove to be the most effective. At night, humans are generally asleep. If he and his men were quiet enough, they could sneak into the homes and capture the kids before they had time to wake up and put them in their cages before they could go dino or alert the family. But while this seemed to be the most likely to work, it was also riddled with risks. What if the kids woke up before they had time to transport them and called out for help, thus revealing his presence to the family? What if someone in the household besides the targeted human saw them and called the police? If the public found out that he was involved in a kidnapping, his public view would be dramatically altered, damaged beyond repair. And if he doesn't retain the favor of these filthy humans and lose their trust, it would become harder and harder to get funding for his research, making his dream of bringing back the dinosaurs an even more distant dream. He could not let that happen.

Victor looked back at Zoom. Perhaps this man could come up with some kind of plan. Zoom didn't seem to be the best qualified for kidnapping though, but he might still prove to be useful. He could trick humans using photography, so perhaps there could be something he could do to help him capture a bunch of teenagers without much of a struggle. “So..they know my secret eh?” He said, nodding his head slowly. His smile broadened. “Say, Zoom? Do you know anything about kidnapping?”

Zoom blinked a few times. “No... Well sort of, a bit...why?”

Victor continued to smile eerily at the man. “Because I want your input on this...”

* * *

Drew paused in front of the door that led into the huge building of Raptor Dyne. He narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the vial that he was holding in his hands. It contained a decent amount of his son's blood, which was retaining a very dark color since it was not exposed to oxygen. Then he glanced up at the door in front of him. He wasn't sure if he could go through with this. There wasn't anything holding him back. No one was there telling him that he couldn't proceed any further. All he had to do was walk into the building and give the blood to Victor Veloci or to one of his closer workers. And if he did this, Victor would probably see no reason to further torment his family and himself.

Yet something was still holding him back. A thought, a terrible feeling, it continued to nag at him in the stomach, creating a constant, dull yet sickening pain. Feelings of anger and guilt overwhelmed him. He felt angry that he had to do this to his family. He was furious that Victor made him do such a thing, furious of what he made him put Neil through. And if he turned out to be one of the perfect dinos, Drew knew that Victor would expect him to help him capture the boy. If Drew refused to help, then things would probably become worse for him and his family. Yet what difference would there be? If Neil is the Pteranodon, it would not matter if he helped or not; his son would still get caught by this man and tested on, or worse.

His guilt was not making him feel any better. He could only imagine the reaction Neil probably had after he woke up from the chloroform and realizing what had taken place. The boy was probably hurt and devastated by what he had done to him. Buzz probably hated him now and he couldn't blame him. Even though Drew had never intended on hurting the boy, he still betrayed his trust and he wasn't sure if he could face Buzz anytime soon, or if ever again. And his wife..did she knew? Did Buzz tell her what happened? Or was he too scared to tell her anything? If his wife knew, what did she think of him? Did she consider him a traitor? Did she loathe him? Did she want him out of her life?

Drew groaned in emotional pain, clutching his stomach as he tried to fight off the feelings of anger and guilt. They were making him feel nauseous. The sensation of this atrocious vial in his hands made his face turn red in anger. He wanted so much to smash it on the floor and let the blood get washed away in the next rain storm and just tell Victor he lost the vial and that he quit the job. But fear held him back. Fear kept him in check. Victor would find a way to ensure that he didn't leave Raptor Dyne unless he wanted him gone. And if he told Victor that he lost the vial, he would just tell him to try again. There was no escaping this. As much as Drew didn't want to go through with this, he had no choice. He never had a choice at all, not ever since he joined. It was always Victor's decision and he was forced to follow.

Drew continued to stare at the vial. He wasn't sure if Victor's suspicions were true, but one thing was for certain. He hoped that the tests would come back negative. It would mean that Victor would not proceed to investigate further, although he might be frustrated that his suspicions turned out to be incorrect. And yet there was a problem with this. If he turned out to be wrong, then Drew was forced to go through all that for nothing. His stomach ached horribly as he tried to think of something to tell his family if the tests turned out negative. What was he going to say to them? That he hurt them emotionally all for a blood test that turned out to be negative? Like they were going to forgive him that easily. No, he would have to beg them for forgiveness. There was no excuse for what he did. No excuse.

But what if he could cure him? What if Buzz turned out to be positive? That was the worst case scenario. He didn't want his son to get hurt more than he already was. He didn't want to go back to that house just to kidnap his own son and bring him to Victor, and he knew that's exactly what Victor would expect him to do. Victor didn't care if the boy was his son or not. Why would he care at all? He was a Velociraptor! They were nothing but heartless beasts. They only ever cared about themselves and Victor proved this. Intelligent creatures they were, but they were also cruel and cold-hearted. They would eat their own young if given the chance! No, Victor would not understand his reluctance in capturing his son if he turned out to be the Pteranodon.

But if Drew were to find someway to cure his son if he turned out to be positive, then there wouldn't be anything to worry about, at least on Victor's end. He wouldn't be able to hurt Buzz any further if he turned out to be just a normal kid, or at least as normal as humans in general go. But how was he going to develop a cure? The only way he could was if he kept this blood sample he got, or at least part of it. Drew was not as good with biology as some of the other workers, but he could probably come up with something that could work. Yes, he could take this blood and try to find a cure himself, and save his son from potentially being subjected to horrific experiments.

A few minutes later, Drew found himself walking down the hallways of Raptor Dyne, making his way towards the elevator that lead to Victor's office. He kept asking himself why he was doing this. He shouldn't be giving Victor this vial of blood. He should be trying to find a way to save his family! Yet his legs wouldn't obey him. They kept moving him forward towards Victor's large room where he is often at in Raptor Dyne. He swiped a card in the door blocking the path towards the elevator. It was located in a restricted area so that newcomers didn't stumble upon it by accident. He walked through the large doors and as he went towards the elevator close by, the doors behind him slowly closed behind him, making a clearly audible thud sound as the metal collided with one another. Victor claimed that he had done his best to make the door as quiet as possible while retaining the strength that he needed to make sure that no intruders happen by. How much of that was true, Drew was not sure himself.

Another few minutes later, Drew was now inside Victor's large office. It always frightened him coming in here because almost everything seemed to have a shade of red. He wondered why Victor would choose such a color for his office. Could it have something to do with the fact that Victor himself was red in color while in raptor mode and he thought that his office should somewhat resemble himself? That could have been the reason. It would make sense. Victor did seem to have some kind of ego, believing that he was smarter than every human on the planet. He also believed that dinosaurs were superior to humans despite the fact that dinosaurs and humans never actually lived at the same time, so how would Victor know that dinosaurs were superior? Longevity does not mean superiority.

Drew reached Victor's chair. He looked up at it. This was probably the scariest thing in the room. It was basically a Tyrannosaurus skull split in half. The top part of it hung overhead, shielding whoever was sitting down. Then the lower jaw was pushed downward to allow access to the chair inside. The teeth of the T-Rex rose up from both sides, almost encasing whoever sat here in it. Then the whole thing was kept together by a Tyrannosaurus tail that was jetting out from the back. Sometimes he felt compelled in asking Victor about this clearly customized chair, but he never really asked about it. There probably was no reason for it except Victor's love of dinosaurs. Even his vehicles, such as his helicopter, were modeled to resemble dinosaurs more so than anything else. He didn't see what the point was though. Drew was surprised that no one thought that this was suspicious. Then again, humans, or as Victor would say, weren't exactly always intelligent and sometimes are downright gullible.

Drew looked at the vial of blood and then at Victor's chair. Victor had expected him to leave the blood there and then quickly be on his way. He looked around the room. He didn't see anyone in the room other than a few scientists at the table nearby. They either hadn't noticed him or they were just paying no mind to him. Drew briefly wondered what they were working on, but he thought he knew what it was. It was probably either a new batch of primordial ooze or it was something else entirely. Most likely primordial ooze though. That is usually what Victor has them create, or at least experiment with what chemicals they could work with to enhance the mutations. Drew shook his head slowly. He couldn't think of why these people would willingly work for Victor unless they were threatened just as he was. And if that were the case, he felt sorry for him.

As Drew backed away from the chair, vial still in hand, and turned to walk away, hoping he wouldn't get spotted, he stopped in his tracks when one of the doctor's called out for him. “Hey, Mr. Buzmati!” Drew winced. They must have spotted him. Judging from the masculine sound of the voice, it was probably one of the older doctors that had spotted him. He hesitated, but then he slowly turned around and looked at the table. The scientists there were all looking at him, some taking notice to the vial that he had in his hands. The person who had spoke before, a scientist with white hair and clearly the oldest looking in the group, spoke again. “Come over here, Mr. Buzmati!” The man jestured with his arm for Drew to come over to the table. Reluctantly, Drew went over.

“What do you have in your hand?” A young scientist, probably in his early or mid-twenties, at most thirties, asked as he pointed at the vial in Drew's hands.

Drew almost instinctively pulled the vial away as if he was attempting to hide it from them. “Nothing! It's nothing!”

The same scientist responded with a chuckle. “Oh come now, Buzmati. You can't expect us to believe that, now can you?”

“I see the vial as plain as day, Mr. Buzmati.” The oldest scientist said, adjusting the glasses on his face. “We've been told to be expecting you to bring the vial down there. Victor wants us to test it.” Drew's eyes widened slightly. “So it is best if you just hand over the vial to us and we will do the rest.”

“I thought he...” Drew stammered. “I thought he wanted me to just leave it at his chair. That's what he told me before...”

“I'd hate to disagree with you.” A female scientist said. She was one of the few female scientists that worked for Victor. Most of the others were young males, although there were some older males as well. “But Victor had told us specifically to take the vial once you brought it down here.” She patted the table lightly to indicate where she wanted it to go. “So just set the vial down here, or hand it to one of us, and then you can be on your way.”

Drew started to hold out to bottle to the old scientist standing not too far from him, but then he hesitated, not bringing the vial any closer to the man. Something was holding him back. He couldn't simply hand over this vial. He thought that he could get out of here without getting spotted, but he turned out to be wrong. If he refused to hand over the vial, though, he would get into trouble. These scientists were very loyal to Dr. Veloci. Any sign of defiance from him would be reported almost immediately. But if he did hand it over, wouldn't he be betraying his family? Wouldn't he be betraying humanity itself? What did he fear more? Betraying his own species? Or betraying a dangerous predator that could kill him in seconds?

Noticing him spacing out, the same woman scientist spoke up in a loud voice to try and snap him out of it. “Sir! Are you going to give us that vial or not?” Drew blinked a few times, a little surprised that she snapped at him like that. Then Drew narrowed his eyes a little and pulled the vial close to himself and backed away and shook his head slowly. The woman narrowed her eyes dangerously. “Sir, I suggest you hand over that vial unless you want to suffer the consequences.”

But Drew had already made up his mind. There was no turning back now. He was going to do what he believed was right. He narrowed his eyes back at the woman and bared his teeth. He positioned himself to face the scientists, who were probably just as insane as Victor. “Make me..”

Drew almost immediately regretted saying that. It didn't take very long for the scientists, a total of six, to surround him quickly, cutting off all possible escape routes. He stood his ground, glaring at them. He looked left to right, hoping to find a way out, but all paths were blocked. The scientists didn't do anything to him, but their eyes were narrowed angrily, showing that they were clearly angry at his decision to turn on Victor. Drew pulled the vial closer to his chest and took a step back, almost bumping into one of the scientists. Before the scientist could grab him, Drew immediately moved forward and turned around to face that scientist, backing away again. He kept repeating this, avoiding scientist after scientist until he finally stopped and planted his feet firmly in the middle of the tight circle that he was in.

The scientists continued to scowl at him, but they didn't make a move towards him. They remained where they were, doing little more than just growling and hissing at him to show their contempt at his decision to turn against Victor Veloci. The only thing keeping them from attacking is that they still had some respect for Drew as a fellow member of Raptor Dyne. They couldn't bring themselves to outright attack him. And Victor wouldn't want them to attack unless they had a good reason. While this seemed to be a good reason, they still held back, partly because of the delicate vial that Drew had in his hands. If they attacked too quickly, he could drop it and they could lose that blood sample.

Suddenly, in desperation to get away, Drew ran forwards towards the oldest scientist and kocked him into the ground. With the scientist temporarily subdued and there being an opening for him, though only for a short time, Drew dove through it. He crashed into the ground, almost breaking the vial that he had. He scrambled onto his feet as quickly as he could and started running towards the door as fast as he could, hoping to make it before the other scientists could catch him. Unfortunately, he was cut off by one of the younger scientists, who ran out in front of him and blocked his path. Drew immediately skidded to a halt. The two exchanged glares for a couple seconds, and then Drew pushed him away with his free arm. The scientist landed on the ground, but quickly got back up again. He reached forward and grabbed Drew by the ankle and roughly pulled him down. Drew screamed in surprise as he lost his footing and hit his chin pretty hard on the concrete floor.

The vial was still not shattered, although now it was pressing painfully into his stomach. He struggled to rise up enough to pull it out. But once the vial became visible, the young scientist seized it and proceeded to try and pry it out of Drew's hands. Drew immediately flipped onto his back and grabbed the vial with his other hand and pulled it back, ripping it out of the youngster's hands. He then proceeded to kicking the scientist in the stomach with his foot, knocking the scientist onto his back. Drew climbed up to his feet and continued to make his retreat towards the door, hoping that the two downed scientists would be enough to distract the others.

Suddenly two of the scientists came out from both sides, completely taking Drew off guard. Both of them were men, slightly more built than he was, but not by much. They both seized one of his arms. Drew grunted and tried to pull himself free, but the two scientists were unrelenting. They continued to hang onto each arm and then proceeded to pull Drew onto his knees on the ground. As they held him in that position, the female scientist approached him, a disapproving look in her eyes as she reached forward and tried to grab the vial from his hand. Despite his predicament, Drew continued to defy them, holding the bottle as tightly as he good and moving his arm away from her as far as he could with the other scientists holding onto him as tightly as they were.

“Mr. Buzmati.” The woman said in a dangerous tone. “Either you relinquish that vial and we'll forget this ever happened, or we will report you to Dr. Veloci and you will wish you never even came here to Raptor Dyne!”

Drew narrowed his eyes and spoke bitterly, “Yeah..I already regret ever coming here!” With that, he did the only thing he could think of doing to keep them from analyzing the blood. He thrusted it into the ground. The scientists watched in horror as the glass shattered and the blood spilled all over the ground, staining the concrete and becoming absolutely useless to them. The blood was contaminated now.

“You have just made a huge mistake!” The woman snapped at him, gripping him roughly by the collar of his neck. She put her face very close to his, so close that he could feel her breath against his face as she spoke to him. “Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you are now in?! Victor is going to be so...!”

Drew cut her off with a rude remark. “Pissed off? Good. I'm tired of working for that rancid scaly monster!”

One of the scientists holding his arms gasped at that remark. It took someone with a lot of guts to say that about Veloci, especially in front of one of his more loyal workers. “You'd best shut your mouth, Buzmati, or you could end up as Dr. Veloci's next experiment!”

“Is that supposed to scare me?” Drew chuckled bitterly. “The scariest thing I ever experienced was having to knock out my son and take that putrid vial here!” His struggles increased and he almost managed to free one arm. “There isn't anything Victor can do to me that could possibly be worse!”

“Do you really want to take that chance?” One of the scientists asked him.

“Yes..do you?” The old scientist that Drew knocked down before was now approaching him. He didn't seem to badly hurt outside of a few scratches. “I recommend you go back to that family of yours and bring back another vial. Agree to do this, and we won't tell Dr. Veloci of your atrocious behavior. Disagree, and not only will we inform him, we will hand deliver you to him personally.” He leaned in closely, lowing his head so he could look Drew in the eyes. “So tell me, Mr. Buzmati... which is it going to be?”

Drew grinded his teeth. “I don't want to betray my family again!”

The old scientist's face twisted into a slightly evil, creepy smile. “If you continue to show defiance, you won't have a family to go home to...” Drew's eyes widened in fear. “The choice is up to you. Either you cooperate, or something terrible could either happen to you..or your precious family. I cannot tell you the details of what will happen, but believe me, young man, you don't want to cross the line. You don't want to find out what could happen.”

Drew moved his head back. “Grr....” He couldn't think of what else to say. He was really stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“So what's it going to be?” The female scientist asked, folding up her arms and smirking down at Drew.

Drew remained quiet for a few minutes, thinking about his options. They were really putting him on the spot here. If he continued to defy them, they were either going to threaten himself or his family. But if he did agree to what they were saying, it would still mean that his family would suffer. So what would the difference be? Neither decision would ensure their safety. His son could be in grave danger if he permitted them to test his blood. But if he did defy them, he could risk losing his family forever. They could be captured, tortured, or even worse: killed.

Noticing his awkward silence, another scientist decided to encourage him. “If you need a little..encouragement... Maybe this would help.” He pulled something from his pocket that looked like a vial, similar to the one that Buzmati had earlier. But this one was filled with the orange fluid known as primordial ooze. Drew eyed it and then looked back up at the scientist, giving him a confused look. “Refuse to bring us another vial, and you might become our test subject for this new primordial ooze that we developed for Victor Veloci. It's really unique actually...” The scientist said, sounding a little boastful. “It's been designed so that it's no longer susceptible to being removed by the Dino Squad's 'weapons', so to speak.”

Drew narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? I thought Victor's experiments were failing on their own...”

The scientist speaking to him shook his head. “No, not really. They were doing just fine, but those pesky kids kept taking away the ooze. After Victor got a good look at the weapons, he realized what was happening. The ooze was reacting to the cold air, coming back up to the surface so it could easily be extracted. But now, if this ooze works, they won't be able to do that anymore.”

“And why would you want to test it on me? Victor dislikes experimenting on humans.” Drew said, his eyes narrowed a little. From experience, he learned Victor wouldn't waste much time on humans. He already knew he could mutate them. He was interested in mutating animal and plant life mostly. If Victor were here, he would probably make sure that the scientists do not ooze him. “And if Victor found out, he would...”

“Victor would probably praise us.” The scientist said arrogantly. “He doesn't need to know that you were a human. And even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care after we tell him about your traitorous actions. Mutating you is the only usefulness that you have left in you! Unless, of course, you agree to do as we say.”

Drew struggled. “Never!”

The scientist narrowed his eyes. “Then you give me no choice...”

* * *

The following day, after school was over, the Dino Squad were relaxing, or at least trying to relax, at the lighthouse. Moynihan was upstairs working on the scans while the group remained downstairs in the living room. So far, the scanners weren't really going off and Moynihan had insisted that they try to relax by watching some TV or chat about whatever they wanted to. Moynihan could handle the scanners on her own for a while. If it got too overwhelming for her, and unlikely that it would, she would call for one of them to come up to assist her. As she kept an eye on the scanners, Rump laying down by her side in the same room, the kids were trying to come up with a topic to discuss. They didn't want to choose anything too scary, though. They didn't want to make themselves feel even worse, especially after what has happened recently.

Though it was very hard for him to talk to them about it, Buzz had confessed about what his father had done to him last night and about his discovery of how his father was one of Veloci's henchmen. The news came as a shock to the team and they sympathized with Buzz, feeling bad about how his father treated him that night. The incident was a heavy blow to Buzz and made him feel even worse. For a while, he wondered if he could even trust his friends. If his father could betray him like that, his friends could do so as well, much more easily than his father could have. Trust was becoming more difficult for the punk teenager. He had already had his trust broken with Michelle and now his father. What else could possibly go wrong?

They tried not to think of how things could get worse. They've been proven wrong many times when they thought that things couldn't get any worse. They learned, from their attempts at finding Caruso, that anything could happen to make the situation worse, like how they thought they had a working computer but it exploded because it didn't have a fan installed or when they found Caruso, knowing that he was going to be in bad shape, but he was in a far worse condition than they had been anticipating. Things just keep going downhill for the team. Ever since their first, although not really aggressive, encounter with Michelle Brown, their lives have started to rapidly spiral downward, effecting each of them emotionally. Even Moynihan has been effected, and she was usually even more level-headed than Max was.

They wondered if things would start getting better. They could not believe that this was happening to them. They never thought that, in all their missions to stop Victor Veloci, they would be struck with a constant feeling of terror each and every day, constantly looking over their shoulder to see where the next obstacle might be coming from. They thought that after they got Caruso back that life would start getting better for them. They knew that things might never be the same again, but they thought that things would start looking up after they rescued Caruso. But even though he was back with them, safe and sound, his life was probably still in danger. And their lives, as a whole, were all in jeopardy because Victor knew they were human now. And the crazy scientist also knew where their hideout was as well. It would only be a matter of time before he comes up with a plan to take them all away.

If Michelle's warning was true, then things were only going to get worse very soon. But they weren't sure whether or not to trust her words. If they listened to her or didn't listen to her, it could have very different consequences depending on which they choose and which one was actually true. If they didn't listen to her and it turned out that she was lying, things might not go as far downhill as they thought it might. But that did not mean that they were out of the woods and it would leave some questions unanswered, such as what was going on with Moynihan. But if they did listen to her and it turned out that she was telling the truth, they could have a fighting chance and prepare for the worst. They could try to help Moynihan and protect Caruso and the group as a whole against Victor's future assaults. Though if they didn't listen to her and she was telling the truth, they could let themselves get into deeper trouble. But if they did listen and she wasn't telling the truth, they could be falling for yet another trap, just like the one Michelle set up with her Troodon partner.

Even though not all of them truly believed Michelle, they all had the same uneasy feeling as they sat in the lighthouse. This was the first time they actually felt pure dread in being in the same building, relatively small compared to the school, as Ms. Moynihan. Even if Michelle was lying about what was really going on, one thing had remained true. Ms. Moynihan was still growing more violent. She had yelled at a student at school that day and she was found stalking yet again. She hadn't caused any harm to anyone and she did apologize for her behavior and tried to come up with the best excuse as possible. Fortunately, the school believed her and pretty much forgot about it. But the Dino Squad knew she was lying and no comforting lie would be enough to soothe them of their growing fear of being near the old woman. They were all dreading that Moynihan would call one of them up and then that would mean that one of them would be stuck with her alone for an extended amount of time. And with her changing behavior, who knows how it might go?

Moynihan could not do anything the whole time and they could leave without incident. Despite the scares they had been experiencing with her, most of the time, Moynihan was still acting like her usual self. She didn't act or look as if she was intentionally causing any harm and, despite her growing tension of being near them for fear she might hurt them, she still showed her compassion and caring nature towards them, sympathizing with them when they expressed fear either towards her or toward other immediate issues. Yet despite this, there was still that chance that something could go wrong. Moynihan's change in behavior would happen suddenly and without any kind of warning. One minute, she could be talking to them, and the next she could be yelling at them in what they interpreted as raptor foul language. They could not always understand her at this point, but they were glad that they could not.

Unable to take the silence for much longer, Max spoke up, expressing his concern about what was going on recently. “Things just keep getting better and better, don't they, guys...?” He let out a deep sigh. “First we almost lost Caruso, now Moynihan is getting increasingly aggressive... I wonder what could happen next. Maybe we could all kept captured, tortured..or even worse...” He winced at the thought of being tortured in a similar manner as Caruso had endured.

Buzz narrowed his eyes. He was clearly not happy with Max's attitude. “Way to make us feel even worse, Maxwell!”

Max lowered his head. “I'm sorry. It's just that..I can't think of anything else to think about, you know? I mean, all that has been happening to us, it's hard to think of anything other than what might happen to us next.”

“But that's no reason to act all emo.” Buzz said, his eyes still narrowed. “I mean, you're the leader! Shouldn't you be like..encouraging us or something?”

Max didn't have an answer for that. He remained quiet, unsure of what to say. Anything he could come up with might make the situation worse. He had already made the others feel bad by talking about such things. Moynihan had wanted them to avoid these topics, but it was so hard to do so. So many thoughts plagued not only his mind, but his friends' minds as well. It wasn't easy trying to ignore the obvious danger that they were in. And it was even more difficult to ignore the cuts on Caruso's face, each one reminding them of the torment that both Caruso and they all went through just a few weeks ago. Despite the days that had went by since then, the memories of what happened were still fresh on everyone's mind as if it only happened yesterday.

As silence fell upon the group again, Fiona found herself turning her head towards Caruso. She felt a little bad that she hadn't talked to him yet like Moynihan wanted her to. Joanne had suggested that she go on a date with Caruso so they could have a chance to talk to each other privately about their feelings towards one another. But she has yet to work up the courage to ask the boy. She wasn't sure how he was going to react. Would he laugh at her? Would he be too shocked to even respond? Was he going to think she was weird for her to fall in love with him? She knew that the only way to find out was to ask him, but she couldn't do it now, even if she had the courage to do so. She didn't want to ask in front of the other guys. And she wasn't sure if it was even appropriate for her to ask this of Caruso while he was still in a frightened state.

Caruso looked over and noticed Fiona was staring at him. Blushing a little, he quickly turned his head away, wondering why Fiona was looking at him like that. She was staring at him in a way that either meant that she wanted to tell him something or she seemed to really like how he looked. Caruso thought it was a mixture of both, though he couldn't imagine why Fiona would think he was good-looking, not with this darn scars on his face, ruining his once perfect appearance. Caruso motioned one hand to touch a scar again, recoiling from how it felt and put his hand back down. He couldn't stand feeling these scars and wished they would just disappear. But he knew that some of these scars would stay with him for the rest of his life. Caruso tried to get rid of these dark thoughts by looking over at Fiona again. This time, she had looked away, probably feeling embarrassed for staring at him like that.

Caruso had started to develop some feelings for Fiona, although he didn't think she really returned the favor. She probably liked him a little more than she had before, probably a result of almost losing him. But did she love him? Caruso didn't think so. Who could possibly fall in love with him now? With these scars on his face? With him acting like a coward all the time now? No one could possibly love a scarred coward, could they? Yet despite his doubts about what Fiona might feel for him. Caruso could not lie to himself about how he felt about Fiona. He was becoming a little attracted to her and liked being with her more than he did in the past. Was it because he felt horrible about what he inadvertently put her through when she thought that he was dead? Her words still echoed in his mind, making his stomach tie in a painful knot.

Caruso was interrupted from this thoughts by Buzz, who had decided to speak up after the group fell silent once more. “So..is there anything you guys want to do?”

Rodger shrugged his shoulders. “I really don't know. I can't think of anything we could do at this time, Buzz. Except talk, and you know what's on everyone's minds right now.”

Buzz nodded his head, understanding where Rodger was coming from. “Yes, I know that, Rodger. But we could at least try to think of something. I mean, this talk is just making us feel even worse.” He placed his hand on his stomach as he tried to soothe the emotional pain that was wracking it. “I'm not sure how much more of it I could take...”


	24. Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

“Well..we could try to play a game.” Fiona suggested, hoping it would lighten up the mood a little. The others looked at her, somewhat confused and yet interested at the same time. Fiona didn't bring any board games with her, but she thought that Moynihan might have some games somewhere. While Moynihan had television and computers, the woman probably also had low-tech forms of entertainment, namely board games. “Maybe Ms. M has some board games around here.”

“What about that chess board that Max and Caruso played on before?” Rodger suggested.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” Fiona said, nodding her head. Then she frowned slightly. “Although I was hoping for a board game that would take more than just two players.”

“Checkers?” Buzz asked, grinning nervously.

“That's just two players too.” Fiona told him. “Maybe Moynihan has a game that could take five players.”

Rodger slowly shook his head. “I doubt that, Fiona. Most board games are up to four players. If you manage to find a game like that, we could just take turns sitting out, watching the game. Although not being able to participate could make any game..well..boring.” He smiled weakly, feeling slightly amused by his own statement.

Max looked over at Caruso, who hadn't tried to speak a word yet. Max motioned his hand towards Caruso and called out his name to get his attention. “Caruso?” The boy looked over at him. Max then said, “Would you want to participate in a board game, if Fiona can find one? It would at least be something we could focus our minds on other than..you know.. And who knows? It might even be relaxing.” He leaned forward a little. “So..what do you say? Do you want to join in on the game?”

Caruso lowered his head a little, glancing down at this feet. He wasn't sure if he wanted to join in the game. He wasn't really in much of a mood to play anything right now. His mind was too entangled with thoughts about Fiona and of Michelle, the one who had given him the warning yesterday. But he figured he should do it anyway. After all, he didn't want to make his friends feel worse. And he didn't want them to worry so much about him all the time. He didn't want to be a burden to them. He looked back up at Max and offered the best smile he could without hurting himself. “Y-Yes...” He spoke as carefully as he could.

Max smiled back at him. “I'm glad to hear that.”

Since the team seemed to have made up their minds on wanting to play a board game, Fiona got up from her seat. “I'll go find a game.” Since she was the one who suggested the idea in the first place, she felt it was her duty to go find a board game. She walked away and disappeared upstairs to try and find a board game for her and her friends to play with for, hopefully, a couple hours.

* * *

Within a couple minutes, Fiona was on the top floor, entering the room where Moynihan was. Fiona couldn't see the old woman at first. But the computers, or the ones that were currently working, were up and running. The scanner was on as well, but nothing was showing up on the radar, the same as it has been doing for the past few weeks. Remembering Moynihan's condition, Fiona carefully, cautiously, walked further into the room. The fact that she couldn't see Moynihan scared her. But she tried not to let it get to her. “Ms. M? Are you in here?” She called out. There was no response. She narrowed her eyes. “Hmm..that's odd...”

Fiona looked over at the scanner that was still up. From where she was standing before, it didn't seem like anything of interest was being displayed on it. But then she got a closer look. This screen didn't seem like any others she had seen before. It was flashing and it seemed to have a slight reddish glow to it. Fiona's eyes narrowed. That was very unusual. It seemed more like a virus than anything else. A virus? On their system? That can't be good news. Fiona moved closer to the computer, reaching out towards the machine with a shaky hand. She put her hand on the mouse and tried to move it, but the computer wasn't registering the mouse. She tried the keyboard, but had no luck there. This was some virus, although not as bad as some of the others she had encountered. Fiona looked around the room, realizing that this was the only screen displaying the unusual image.

She took a closer look at it. She noticed it had a warning symbol flashing on it. What was strange is that it seemed like a symbol she could see if there was a biohazard or something. There was nothing on the screen indicating that the computer itself was in danger. Whatever was going on, it had nothing to do with the computer. She studied the screen again and then she started to notice something. It was very hard to see, but she could see two faint symbols in the background, both a different color. One was shaped like a human and the other a Velociraptor. One was mostly red and the other mostly black, almost invisible against the background. But what scared Fiona the most is that the human avatar had a cross through it, as if it was going to be rendered useless.

It took a little while for her to realize it, but Fiona suddenly understood what this screen meant. Michelle was telling the truth! And Moynihan probably realized what Michelle was trying to tell them and had hacked into Victor's system to see how much time she had left before....

GRRRRRRR......

Fiona froze where she stood, her heart racing so fast that she thought it was going to explode. The growling sent chills down her spine. She had heard a similar growl before when she got close to Victor while he was in raptor mode. But she knew that Victor wasn't here. There was only one other Velociraptor that could make such a noise. She didn't want to turn around. She was too terrified to look over to see if her suspicions were true or not. But curiosity got the better of her and she found herself turning her head to look behind her. She quickly wished that she hadn't come up in this room in the first place.

Without warning, Fiona's field of vision was filled with a flash of green, claws, teeth, and glowing eyes. Screaming in horror, Fiona dived out of the way. She heard the sound of something loud crashing on top of the desk that she was originally at. She heard the sound of a computer crashing onto the ground, but she had no time to focus on that. She dashed forward and then quickly turned around to face her attacker. Fiona's eyes widened in horror. It was Joanne Moynihan! She was in full Velociraptor form. She stood on the desk, hunched forward menacingly, drool dripping from her jaws. Her eyes were glowing not yellow or gold, but instead were a hideous red color. Fiona knew right then that something was wrong, just by the color of the eyes. She started backing away, but Moynihan's glowing red eyes tracked her every move.

“M-Ms. M...?” Fiona asked, raising up her arms in a cheap attempt to defend herself. She continued to back away. Moynihan didn't seem to answer her. She instead tilted her head from one side to the other, as if she was analyzing her. She let out a weird chirping sound, something that Fiona registered as either confusion or curiosity. Maybe there was hope yet. “Moynihan..it's me..Fiona.” She motioned towards herself. “Remember me? Please...you're scaring me...” She reached out towards the raptor, hoping that she could get through to her. But she quickly pulled her hand back when Moynihan suddenly snapped her jaws forward, missing the girl's hand by a few inches. “Moynihan...”

Moynihan lowered her haunches and raised her tail into the air. It started swishing back and forth, similar to how a cat's would before it would pounce. Uttering a guttural growl, Moynihan lunged forward, her claws spread out and her jaws split wide open. Fiona screamed again and dodged out of the way. Moynihan crashed into the ground, sliding across it for a few inches before she scrambled back up to her feet. She looked at Fiona intently, lowering her body again. This time, instead of a lunge, she charged forward, letting out a loud screech. Fiona found herself pushed into the ground, letting out a cry of pain as her head hit against the hard floor. She slowly looked up at Moynihan, her eyes widened with fear. The green Velociraptor glared down at her with those horrible red eyes.

“Moynihan...” Fiona whispered, in some pain because of being slammed into the ground and having a heavy raptor standing on her with one foot pressed against her body. Moynihan just narrowed her eyes and slowly opened up her jaws. She moved her head towards Fiona's throat, showing intention on tearing it out. Fiona's eyes started to water as fear started overwhelm her. She was too frightened to think of going dino to defend herself. “Moynihan..please...” But Moynihan ignored her and clamped her jaws around Fiona's neck. As she felt the teeth starting to penetrate the skin, drawing some blood, Fiona continued to shed tears. She slowly closed her eyes and waiting for the killing blow.

But the killing blow never came.

Fearfully, Fiona slowly opened up one eye and looked straight up to see what was causing the hesitation. Moynihan was still glaring down at her and her eyes were still glowing red. But the eyes were wide as if she were in shock. Moynihan's body started to shake as if she was afraid, but she didn't move away from Fiona. Her jaws were still clamped around her neck, but she was no long applying pressure with her jaws. The pain was still there, but it wasn't intensifying anymore. Then, Moynihan's eye glow started to change color. First it went to a bright orange coloration, and then shifted to the normal yellow glow. Moynihan's jaws loosened up and she opened them and moved her head back. Fiona felt the relief of having the teeth out of her neck.

Then Moynihan stood straight up. She glanced down at Fiona, letting out a soft growl. She lifted up her foot from Fiona and took a step backward, allowing the girl to climb up to her feet. Once Fiona was standing up, she stared at the green raptor, unsure of what to do. She was excepting that, any second, Moynihan would go nuts again and lunge at her. But this time, Joanne didn't move towards her. Instead, she took another step back, her head lowering as if she felt ashamed of what she had done. She let out a few more soft growls before a glow enveloped her body and she swiftly shifted back into human form.

Ms. Moynihan's eyes were still wide in fear and shock. Her mouth hung open in horror and she was still shaking in fear and realization at what she had almost done. She tried to bring herself to step towards Fiona, to hug her and try to calm her down, but Moynihan's fears of hurting Fiona again held her back. All she could do was bring her hand forward towards Fiona, the hand trembling terribly. “F-Fiona... I'm sorry..I'm so sorry....” She winced as she could taste Fiona's blood in her mouth.

Fiona responded by instinctively moving backwards away from Moynihan, as if she was trying to make sure that the woman couldn't snatch her. Fiona continued to back away from Moynihan until she could feel herself pressing her back against a wall. Moynihan started to approach her, looking just as frightened as she did. Fiona's eyes started to glow and she bared her sharp teeth, trying to keep the professor from getting any closer to her. “Get away from me...” Her voice was laced in fear and a sense of betrayal. “Don't come any closer!”

Moynihan felt hurt by this, but despite that she continued to move forward. She was confident that Fiona wouldn't transform as she tried to get close to her. She didn't want Fiona to be afraid of her. She never wanted to hurt her. Moynihan didn't know what happened to her. One minute, she was trying to manage the scanners, and then she saw something flash on her screen. After that, it was a blur, and then she finally snapped back to reality, finding herself with her jaws around Fiona's neck, about to tear it out. That horrified Moynihan. She had almost killed one of her own students! She was standing over her, pushing her into the ground, tearing into her throat. Moynihan didn't know how that happened. She didn't know how she could have lost control long enough for her to do something like this. What was happening to her...?

“Fiona...it's all right...” Moynihan said as she got as close as she could to Fiona. The teenager tried to back up further, her eyes still glowing and teeth still bared, but she couldn't get back any further. Moynihan was only about a foot away, if not even less than that. With one more step, Moynihan almost completely closed the gap of space they had between themselves. She lifted her arm, her hand shaky, and brought it over towards Fiona. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

Fiona narrowed her eyes in fear and anger. “I don't believe that! You were about to tear out my throat just minutes ago!” She gently rubbed her throat, still feeling some pain from the puncture marks where the teeth had sunk in. If Joanne had bitten a little harder, she would have cut the jugular vein and she would have bled to death.

Moynihan narrowed her eyes slightly. “I know, dear..I know.. I..I don't know what came over me. I-I didn't mean to do that..I didn't...” She continued to move her hand towards Fiona, but the girl just swatted it away fearfully. “You've got to believe me, Fiona. I would never hurt you deliberately.. It wasn't me doing those things.. It wasn't me...Not the real me...”

Fiona's eyes remained narrowed, although they softened up a little bit. Her heart started to slow down a little, but she was still on high alert. She wanted to believe Moynihan. She wanted to believe that she had calmed down now and wasn't going to attack her again. But Moynihan had gotten too unpredictable lately. How was she to know for certain whether or not the woman was not going to attack her again? Fiona could let down her guard, and then the next second Moynihan would have her claws in her again. “If it wasn't you...” Fiona said in a somewhat accusatory voice. “..then who was it? Who attacked me, if not the real you...?”

Moynihan closed her eyes briefly, letting a few tears of her own stream down her face. “It..it was a monster...A monster that took control of me...” She shook her head slowly. “And it's..gaining strength.. Oh Fiona... I'm..I'm scared...”

Fiona's eyes widened in shock. Did she just hear right? Did Moynihan actually admit that she was frightened? That was something that she thought she'd never hear from the woman. It's not everyday that Moynihan actually admits to being afraid. “You..you're afraid..?”

Moynihan nodded her head, offering a weak smile. “Yes..I am...” She then pressed a hand against Fiona's cheek, gently caressing it. “I'm afraid that I'm going to end up hurting you..or the others. I don't want to hurt you. I care about you kids.” As Moynihan stroked the girl's cheek, Fiona's heart slowly stopped racing and she started to relax herself. Her teeth changed back to normal and her eyes returned to normal as well. Moynihan continued to smile, not moving her hand away. She then moved her hand up to Fiona's head and started to stroke her long, red hair. “I love you kids... You're like family to me...”

Fiona's eyes widened at this remark and felt a few tears of her own form in the back of her eyes. “Moynihan...” She then wrapped her arms around the old woman and pulled her into a hug. Moynihan was surprised at first, but then returned the hug. “I love you, too...”

* * *

Back downstairs, Max and the others were waiting in the living room for Fiona to return. She had been gone for quite some time, although they weren't sure of exactly how long it's been since she's left. The room was basically silent most of the time she was gone, probably no more than ten minutes, or fifteen minutes tops. But the silence, although unbearable to the kids, continued to hang into the air. A couple times, someone tried to start up a conversation to at least entertain themselves until Fiona got back, but it quickly spiraled back down into an uncomfortable silence. Once in a while, one of them would glance over at the stairs to see if Fiona was coming back, but when they find that she wasn't coming back that moment, they would return their attention to the group. A few times, someone would open their mouth to speak, but they would quickly shut it, not able to find anything to talk about.

Fiona being gone for as long as she did wasn't too worrying to the team. She didn't know where the board games were, or so they thought, so they weren't alarmed that she hadn't been back yet. Other thoughts were on their minds, anyway. Even though they tried as hard as they could, they couldn't get the thoughts of Victor out of their heads. They were worried about what he might do next. They tried to calm themselves down, tried to think of something else, anything else, but Michelle's warning still hung in their minds. Even Rodger and Buzz, who didn't believe that Michelle was telling the truth, were worried about the things that she had said. What if she turned out to be right?

Finally, Rodger couldn't take the silence and he couldn't handle those dark thoughts. He decided to try and get everyone's minds off of Victor the best that he could. “I wonder where Fiona is...” Rodger said softly. This was probably the second or third time he has tried to break the silence. Perhaps this would finally bring up some kind of conversation. “She has been away for some time now.”

“She hasn't been away that long.” Buzz said, shaking his head slowly, his eyes slightly narrowed. He knew that Rodger was trying to get them to focus on something else, but he suspected that someone, perhaps Caruso, would consider the possibility of Victor or one of his comrades having something to do with Fiona's delay in returning, despite the fact that the lighthouse shield was up and running.

“Yeah. It's been, what, a few minutes?” Max asked, shrugging his shoulders. He wasn't really concerned about Fiona. He knew that she was fine and felt it was a little silly that Rodger was worried that something happened. While Rodger didn't actually say that, the tone of his voice seemed to indicate that he felt something had happened to Fiona. She was looking for some board games and she didn't know where they were, so of course she was probably going to be away for a while. “If you're so worried, Rodger, why don't you go up and find her?”

Rodger rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed. Maybe he was getting a little too worried. Yet, he knew Max was a little incorrect about one statement. “But it hadn't been a few minutes. It's been about fifteen minutes, hasn't it?” He wished he could see a clock or a watch, but there wasn't any in sight at the moment. But then he secretly became glad that there was no time measurement close to him. It would probably feel a little weird that he would be a little obsessive with how long someone was away. It might even make it look like he was in love with Fiona, which wasn't true. Yes, he liked her as a friend, but that's it. “I just thought that...”

“I-I...am sure..e-e-everything is fine...” Came Caruso's shaky, somewhat pained voice. The team looked over towards the bluish-haired teen. His gaze was shifted away from them, but they knew that he was directing his statement at them. He spoke again, and the pain in his voice was more clear. “She...she is just.. ow! She's just..getting some g-games... She'll be fine...ow...”

Max looked at Caruso with a concerned look on his face. “Caruso, I don't think you should be talking yet. You still haven't healed enough to speak without pain.”

“Yeah.” Rodger said, nodding his head, looking just as worried as Max did. “You should take it easy. Don't strain yourself by trying to talk.”

Caruso spoke again, despite his pain and despite the warning from Max and Rodger. “I-I kn-know... I just..ouch..! I-I can't help it, guys... I..I want to talk...i-i-it's how I-I am...” Caruso let out a small yelp of pain and placed his hand against his mouth.

Buzz quickly moved towards Caruso and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. He waited until Caruso looked up before he spoke to him. “Caruso, are you all right?” Caruso winced in pain again, but he still nodded his head. Buzz narrowed his eyes slightly. He had a feeling that Caruso was lying so that he wouldn't worry about him. “Caruso..tell me the truth.” He gently squeezed Caruso's shoulder. “I can tell you're lying.”

Fighting against the pain in his mouth, Caruso spoke again. “F-Fine.. I'm not okay... J-just..p-painful...”

“Then I suggest you stop talking.” Buzz said sternly, eyes narrowed further. He couldn't help but be a little upset and angry with his friend for disobeying orders. He was specifically told not to talk and yet he continues to do it anyway. Buzz realized that Caruso did like to talk, but he still should follow orders and keep his mouth shut for a few days, or weeks, until his mouth had healed enough so that he could talk at least a little without pain. If Caruso continued trying to talk like this, he could reopen some old wounds and hurt himself even further. “Your mouth still hasn't healed from the...”

Caruso growled softly. “I know that!” He winced and covered his mouth again in pain. He then quickly withdrew his hand and placed it firmly against his side to try to reinstate his claim that he was fine. He knew Buzz meant well, but he wished he and the others would try to get off his case about his need to talk. Caruso felt bad that he kept on disobeying the order, but old habits die hard. He was the kind of person who loved to talk and even an injury such as this wasn't enough to keep him from at least trying. But if he kept on talking like this, he would indeed just hurt himself more. Caruso lowered his gaze, feeling bad for snapping at Buzz like that. “Lo-Look Buzz..I'm sorry for...s-snapping...at...”

Before he could finish, Buzz raised up a hand, silencing him. Buzz smiled a little, trying to help Caruso feel better by showing that he had no hard feelings towards him. “It's okay, Caruso. I know you didn't mean it.” But deep down, Buzz was a little upset that Caruso snapped at him when he was only trying to help. Perhaps, though, Caruso was just simply frustrated because he hasn't been able to talk without pain for a few weeks. Or maybe it was just the pain itself that caused him to snap. Buzz removed his hand from Caruso's shoulder and took a step back to give the boy some room. Then Buzz decided to ask something that took Caruso off guard. “What do you want to talk about?”

Caruso looked at Buzz, a little surprised that he had asked him that question. Since he was not able to talk, Caruso was not expecting anyone to ask him what he wanted to talk about. And even if he could, he didn't think Buzz needed to ask that question because he knew what he was like. He liked talking about fashion in general, about the latest styles, clothing, make-up, hair gel, the works. Or at least, that's usually what he wanted to talk about. Lately, Caruso felt a sharp pang in his stomach whenever he's reminded of his interests, even though he does his best to hang onto them. He still liked these sort of things and he was still looking for the latest fashion trends.

And yet, almost every time that he thought about them, Caruso couldn't help but hear Victor's harsh words echo in the back of his mind. Victor had mocked him for his interest in the fashion industry. He had said horrible things to him in an attempt to completely crush his spirit, and it unfortunately had worked. Caruso had completely lost all will to fight back when Victor convinced him that his friends might not want him back anymore, that Moynihan was no different than he was, and that his dreams were pathetic and even immature to an extent. Caruso didn't want to let go of his interests, but Victor's words still haunted him and his new appearance didn't settle well with him. No celebrity in their right mind would go out in public with hideous scars on their face. No one would.

When Caruso remained silent, Buzz become slightly confused. He wondered if he had made a mistake in asking Caruso what he wanted to talk about. It was like he was contradicting his own advice. He had just told Caruso to be quiet, but then he goes around asking him, the one who is injured, what he wanted to talk about, and not even a couple minutes after he had already told him to be quiet so that his mouth doesn't hurt anymore. Buzz rubbed his head, feeling embarrassed for having asked in the first place. He was about to tell Caruso that he doesn't need to answer when Max decided to step up.

“It's okay, Caruso.” Max said. “You don't need to answer that question.” He then turned to Buzz, his eyes narrowed angrily. “Why would you even ask him what topic to discuss after you already told him that he shouldn't speak?”

Buzz grinned nervously. “Well..I...”

“What were you thinking, Buzz?!” Max hissed, his teeth bared.

Buzz cringed. “I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to...”

Max's expression quickly softened up and he started feeling bad for yelling at Buzz like that. He was starting to feel like how Moynihan has been the past couple weeks. He was becoming a little more aggressive as well, although he had always attributed it to being a little more protective of Caruso and the others after almost being torn apart by Victor's horrible scheme. He didn't mean to sound angry at Buzz. It just sort of happened. Max wondered if this is what Moynihan was going through, losing control of herself when she became angry and just snapped.

But there was a significant difference. Moynihan's behavior was more aggressive than Max's was. She was actually trying to attack people and had done so a few times already, the most notable when she had lunged onto him and tried to slash or bite him with her sharp dinosaurian weapons. If Rodger and Buzz weren't there, it was likely that Max himself would have been killed by Moynihan before the woman would come to her senses. Was this increase in aggression and viciousness truly the cause of so much stress, like they all had originally thought? Or was it because of what Michelle warned them about, that it was all a plan by Victor Veloci?

“Look, Buzz..I'm sorry I snapped at you.” Max said in a soft tone of voice. “I guess I'm feeling a little... maybe a lot...” He gripped his head in frustration. “I just don't know anymore... I don't know!”

Buzz looked at him sympathetically. “I think I know what you are talking about.”

Just then, they heard footsteps coming from the stairs of the lighthouse. The four teens looked over to see Fiona coming down with what looked like a large box in her hands. Following close behind her was Moynihan. The four were tense for a few seconds, wondering if Moynihan was in one of those moods again. When Moynihan made no threatening movement towards Fiona or themselves, they slowly relaxed. But they still had their guard up. They were never sure when Moynihan was going to go crazy or when she was safe to be around. Fiona walked towards them, box in hand, and set it down on the ground close to where the boys were sitting. Curious, the four boys walked up to her.

“So what game did you find?” Rodger asked, eyeing the box with curiosity. He had never seen this box in the lighthouse before. He wondered what could be inside it. Probably a board game that he never even heard of before.

Fiona paused for a second, her hands still on the locks that held the box shut. She thought about something for a few seconds before she answered Rodger. Looking up, she said, “...it's not a game, Rodge.”

Rodger's eyes widened slightly in confusion. “What..? But I thought that's why you went upstairs.. To find a game for us to play.”

Fiona nodded her head. “Yes..that's what I was going up there for..until...” She glanced up at Moynihan for a few seconds. She then closed her eyes and looked away, letting out a soft sigh.

Although Fiona didn't say right away what happened, the boys got a very good idea on what she was going to say. Moynihan's look of guilt and depression further confirmed their suspicions. A terrible incident must of occurred upstairs. The boys looked Fiona and Moynihan over and were relieved that neither of them were hurt. But just how bad was this occurrence? How close to Moynihan get in doing the unthinkable? Even though the two were probably not in the mood to talk about it, the boys wanted to know what happened. It was important to know what Moynihan had done, to know how more aggressive she was getting.

“What happened?” Max asked, being the first one of the four boys to work up the courage to actually ask one of the two females what had happened upstairs. Fiona gave him a glare and he winced, realizing he had touched a sore spot. But he kept on urging her to tell him. “Come on, Fi... We need to know what happened....”

Fiona narrowed her eyes further and opened her mouth to speak, but it was Moynihan who answered before she could. Placing a gentle hand on Fiona, she silenced the girl and answered for her. “Maxwell, I do not think now is a good time to be discussing that.”

Max frowned a little. “Why not, Ms. M? You two look like something has upset you, frightened you even. Don't we deserve to know what happened?”

Moynihan nodded her head. “Well yes..but I don't think that you boys really want to know what happened up there..” She lowered her gaze, feeling terrible about what had happened. She didn't think the boys needed to know that she had almost killed Fiona. What would they think of her if they found this information out? They were better off not knowing. She didn't want them to be more frightened of her than they already probably were. “So let's just drop that subject, okay?”

Max shook his head. He moved towards Moynihan. “With what has been happening to us recently, Ms. M....” He said as he got as close as he could to Moynihan without invading her personal space. “..I think it's safe to say that it is more dangerous to keep this information from us than it is to keep it a secret for the sake of not wanting to frighten us.”

Rodger nodded his head in agreement. “I don't think there's anything that you two can say that would scare us any more than what we've already been through.” He glanced over at Caruso briefly. He wanted to say that Caruso's supposed death frightened him more than anything else, but he decided to keep his mouth shut. He knew that the others knew what he was thinking. Nothing could be scarier than losing a loved one.

But Moynihan still insisted on not saying anything. But she decided to try to negotiate a little to get the boys to stop urging her and Fiona to talk about something that they didn't feel comfortable with. “We'll talk about it later, okay Rodger?” She said in a stern, somewhat angry voice.

“But...” Rodger started to say.

“But nothing.” Fiona spoke up, her hand still fumbling with the clamps that held the box shut. “We don't want to talk about how I was almost killed...” Moynihan and Fiona's eyes widened in horror when that was said. It was too late to take it back for the boys had already heard it, and they looked just as horrified as they did. Fiona covered her mouth with both hands and looked up at Moynihan. The woman was glaring down at her, looking very upset with her. Fiona quickly apologized even though it was already too late. “I'm sorry, Ms. M...It just slipped out!”

Moynihan's expression quickly softened. There wasn't much they could do now. Fiona had already spilled the beans and she knew there was no way that she could coax the boys into letting it go. She turned back to them. Their eyes were locked onto her fearfully and she understood why. She closed her eyes and looked away, not wanting to see their expressions when she confirmed what Fiona had accidentally spilled out. “Yes..it's true.. I almost killed her...”

Although frightened, Buzz took a step forward. “What..what happened...?”

Moynihan shook her head. “I..I don't know.. One minute, I was fine. I was just checking the scanners. Then...then I heard some strange sound.. and everything blacked out on me.” She looked over at Fiona. “Then the next thing I knew, I was on top of Fiona, my jaws around her neck...” She glanced over at the boys, who were clearly horrified by her story. They glanced over at Fiona and for the first time since her return, they noticed bite marks on her neck and noticed that there was some bleeding. “I was able to come to my senses and released her before I could finish her off.” She put her face in her hand. “I..I'm so sorry.. I don't know what's wrong with me...”

“I think it's obvious.” Max said as he took a step forward. He was shaken up by the story, but it did reveal one thing. “Michelle was probably telling us the truth.” He narrowed his eyes. “And if that's true, we're all in danger.”

Upon hearing this, Moynihan immediately looked up at Max, her eyes narrowed in slight confusion. She thought that the kids had told her about what Michelle had said, but she couldn't remember for sure. And she wondered if she truly wanted to know what Michelle had said. Still, she was curious to know what Max was talking about, especially since he had mentioned that they were all in danger. “What are you talking about, Maxwell? Since when did you kids talk to Michelle?”

“We sort of..ran into her at the football field.” Max explained. “She just...just..”

“She showed up in dino mode.” Fiona said.

“Oh my...” Moynihan whispered. “Did she attack you kids?”

Fiona scratched her head, a little confused. “Well..strangely, no she didn't. She didn't even try to attack any of us. It looked like she only came to speak to us.” While she was relieved that Michelle hadn't attacked them, she was still confused as to why Michelle would want to help them in the first place. Her claim that she just wanted to make sure they didn't suffer any further didn't sound very convincing to her and the others, although Max seemed willing to give her somewhat of a chance.

“And what did she want to talk to you kids about?” Moynihan asked as she moved towards the couch and sat down. It was confusing to her as well that Michelle would behave in this manner. It was unusual for any of Victor's workers to offer help to those considered their enemies. And Michelle's behavior was even more strange considering the fact that she had thrown her down the staircase without remorse. Now the same girl was supposedly trying to help, as she saw no other reason for the girl to try to talk to them, unless she was trying to lure them into a trap. That was a likely scenario, but it still didn't make total sense. This wasn't the way Victor set up traps in the past.

Buzz responded, his voice filled with anger. “She talked to us about this nonsense that she wanted to help us. I don't think it's worth our efforts to really listen to anything that she says!” Even though he considered that Michelle was telling the truth, he didn't really want to admit it, as if he felt that admitting Michelle could be right would be betraying himself, betraying his vow to never let him fall for another one of her tricks.

Rodger nodded his head. He felt the same way Buzz did, although to a lesser extent. “While it's possible she told us the truth, I don't think we should take her word for it. She could have easily manipulated the information, leaving out crucial components to stretch the truth. In other words, she could have outright lied to us. She's done so in the past.”

Max shook his head, turning his head towards Buzz and Rodger. “Even so, she did sound sincere when she spoke to us, and she didn't try to hurt us.”

“That doesn't mean anything! She was nice to us before and she still attacked us the following day! She sounded sincere back then and it still turned out to be a trap!” Buzz snapped, his fists shaking in rage. “How can you even think to consider that she might be telling the truth?!”

Max narrowed his eyes at Buzz. “Didn't you, yourself, consider the possibility that she might be telling the truth, Buzz?” He took a step towards him. “And now you contradict this by telling us not to believe her? How hypocritical can you get?”

Buzz's expression softened up. “Well...I...” He lowered his fists to his sides, feeling guilty about how he had acted. He hunched forward, ashamed. “I'm sorry...”

Max's expression softened a little as he realized what he was doing. He let out a frustrated sigh, not knowing exactly why he was behaving like this. The team, as a whole, hasn't been completely normal since Caruso was captured. Now none of them was in any real danger and he was still acting jumpy, as if something could happen at any moment. He ran his fingers through his hair and said, “Oh..just forget what I said, Buzz. I didn't mean to snap at you like that.” Buzz nodded his head and smiled, but he didn't respond. Sighing again, Max looked over at Moynihan, who was narrowing her eyes at him. “I'm sorry, Ms. M...”

“Did you forget the talk that we had before?” Moynihan inquired. Max nodded his head. He knew that she was referring to the talk that she had with him after he had snapped at Caruso and caused him to leave the lighthouse a couple weeks ago. Moynihan was pretty upset with him back then, especially since he was supposed to be the leader and real leaders don't act like that. “Do we need to have that talk again, young man?”

Max shook his head. “No, ma'am.”

Moynihan nodded her head. “Good.” Her voice sounded a little cold, almost icy, chilling not only Max but the other teens as well. Moynihan was starting to talk a little more like Victor and Caruso took the most notice to this. He had spent enough time with Victor to know how he talked and he could easily say that Moynihan was starting to talk in the same manner. Shaking a little, Caruso moved a little further away from the woman, frightened of what she might do next. Moynihan, realizing the manner in which she was talking, lowered her gaze. She spoke again, this time in a softer voice. “I'm sorry, you kids.” She then looked up at Max. “What did Michelle say to you?”

Max cleared his throat and said, “She came over to us to tell us about how we are all still in danger. She told us that Victor was still up to no good, that he was going to come after not only Caruso, but you, Ms. M.” He paused and waited to see her reaction. Despite being afraid, Moynihan remained as calm as she could. She motioned with her hand for the boy to continue. “Well, she said that Victor wanted to...kill Caruso.” He eyed Caruso, who was obviously very scared. “Victor had ordered all of his men to kill Caruso if they saw him, and he also hired an assassin to kill him. He seems determined to keep Caruso from telling us something..something to do with you, Ms. Moynihan.” Again, he paused to see if Moynihan had nothing to say. She didn't say anything, prompting Max to continue. “She explained that Victor is going to..reclaim you, so-to-speak.”

This time, Moynihan did say something. Straightening herself up and leaning back in shock, she said, “Reclaim me? Why, he's been trying to do that for years. What method has he thought of this time?”

“Do you remember that scent you smelled when we found Caruso?” Max asked her. Moynihan didn't like thinking about that. It brought back so many painful memories, the feelings of loss and the feelings of failure. Nonetheless, she answered by nodding her head. She didn't know why Max needed to ask her that question. He was the one who suggested that she sniff closer and that's when they discovered that it wasn't really his scent. Moynihan did find it odd that the scent wasn't Caruso's; that did mean it must have been planted there. But she hadn't really thought of it that much lately. Max then continued, “According to Michelle, that wasn't a scent of death, but a chemical designed to effect Velociraptors.”

Moynihan was a little surprised. “Velociraptors? But, boy, I hadn't been in raptor form that often in thirty years. How could it effect me now?”

“I thought you would have known that.” Max said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “It is strange, but Michelle insisted that it would still have an effect on you. She said that the chemical was tested on Caruso and it made him go crazy apparently. He..he even killed a mutantsaur!”

Moynihan gasped, putting her hand to her mouth. She couldn't believe what she just heard. She didn't want to believe it. She looked over at Caruso, hoping that he would confirm that Michelle was just lying. But when he just looked at her with wide, frightened eyes and made no move to disagree, she realized that Michelle, at least in that statement, was telling the truth. Moynihan started to feel disgusted, but not with Caruso. She knew it wasn't his fault. She was angry with Victor for making Caruso do such a horrible thing. Victor often claims he's trying to help life, but he only ends up destroying it without a second's thought. He considers some lifeforms to be expendable, and mutantsaurs are one of them. That was why he is willing to subject them to vivisections, which she had found out the hard way...

Max spoke again, interrupting Moynihan from her thoughts. “And she claims the same chemical is effecting you, Ms. Moynihan.” The woman's eyes widened as he said that and she looked at him straight in the eyes as if she was hoping that she had heard wrong. “Yeah, that's right... The chemical is, according to Michelle, the reason why you are acting more violent. She claims that the chemical is going to turn you back into a Velociraptor and she warned us to be wary of you for we'd never know when the transformation is complete...” He lowered his head, not able to look into Moynihan's shocked eyes anymore.

Moynihan was speechless. She couldn't think of anything to say to that. She couldn't think of anything to disprove what Michelle had said, even though she would have liked to. She had wanted to know what was going on with her. She was confused and scared that she was getting more and more aggressive and not knowing why. But now that she knows, she thinks that maybe she was better off not knowing. The truth was far more frightening than not knowing anything at all about what was happening to her. She thought of what had happened upstairs and she realized what she was doing. She was trying to kill Fiona to eat her. And back in the submarine, she was trying to kill and eat Max there. And the stalking and the preference of raw, uncooked meat...Oh why didn't she see it before? Why didn't she add all of this up and realize what was happening to her? She didn't need Michelle to tell her that she was becoming a raptor again.

Moynihan wanted to try and think of a way to stop what is happening to her. There just had to be a way. There just had to be! Maybe if she were take out a sample of her blood and look at it, she could think of an antidote to heal herself with. It worked in the past when she had to create an anti-venom to save Fiona after she was bitten. But back then, nothing was going on with her. She was her usual self, calm, unflappable, and undeterred. But now, with herself growing more aggressive by the day, even if she gets herself to take some blood out of her own body, her Velociraptor instincts would kick in and she would react in ways she never intended to, perhaps even going as far as drinking her own blood just for the taste of it. She would need help, and she looked up at the kids. They were her only chance of trying to find an antidote. They weren't as experienced as her when it came to analyzing blood, but who else was she going to turn to? There was no one else in the immediate area who could possibly help or come up with something to cure her except Victor, and she knew the chances of him to be willing to do that.

Then her thoughts were interrupted when one of the kids, Rodger, spoke up. “I'm just as worried as the rest of you, don't get me wrong. But..but I'm not sure if we should take Michelle's word for it. She could have exaggerated, or even lied, about what had happened.”

Fiona said, “Yeah..but what if she is telling the truth? Do you have any other explanation for why Moynihan is acting like this, Rodger?” Fiona felt a little guilty for showing some doubt earlier. She, herself, had started to think that Michelle was being truthful after she saw that image flashing on Moynihan's computer.

Rodger said, “Oh..well there could be..I.. I don't know.”

Buzz chimed in, “Maybe it's just stress, just as we originally thought before. Stress could make anyone act more aggressively than normal, and since we've all been experiencing it day after day after day, it could be possible that the continued exposure to stress is just driving some of us insane, pushing some of us, like Moynihan here, into becoming more aggressive.”

“But that doesn't seem like a likely explanation.” Fiona said, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Look, I'm not saying that Michelle told us everything. But her explanation, the chemical turning Moynihan into a raptor again, that seems to make more sense than anything else that we had come up with.”

“But what about when Michelle threw Moynihan down the stairs?” Buzz asked, motioning towards the old woman. “Are you sure you really want to trust someone who did something like that? I mean, if someone threw me down the stairs, I wouldn't trust anything they had to say afterward.”

Moynihan raised her hand to silence the kids before they could say anything else. She didn't want this to turn into some full-fledged argument. That was not what they were here for. They were originally here to just calm down and try to relax and enjoy themselves. But it seems there was no chance of that happening any time soon. There was nothing left to talk about except what Michelle had said. That was more important than trying to relax. It was more urgent. She understood Buzz's distrustfulness towards Michelle. Moynihan doesn't completely trust Michelle herself, but she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She wasn't going to shoot her down until she was certain that Michelle was lying. And so far, Michelle didn't seem to have said anything to give her reason to doubt her.

“I know what you might be feeling, Buzz.” Moynihan said as she moved towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her a little fearfully, but relaxed when he realized that she wasn't going to snap at him. “But I'm not going to knock off her claims just yet. It could very well be that she was speaking the truth. I have to admit, her claims make more sense than anything else I had considered.”

Buzz narrowed his eyes and raised his arms in confusion. “But..Ms. M..she tried to kill you! How could you even think to...”

Joanne shook her head. “No..she didn't try to kill me, Buzz. She was aiming to temporarily disable me. But she didn't try to kill me. That wasn't her intention. I could tell by the tone of her voice and the way she looked at me. She didn't even want to fight me. But I am not justifying her actions, oh no. She was still wrong to have done what she did.” She let out a soft sigh. “But what I am saying is this: do not let your anger towards Michelle cloud your judgment, Buzz. You could regret it someday.”

Buzz let out a soft sigh. Although he didn't think he could let go of his anger towards Michelle, he knew that Moynihan was right. He shouldn't let his anger control his judgment like that. “Okay, Ms. M... I'll try.”

Moyniahn smiled at him. She gently squeezed his shoulder and said, “I'm glad to hear that.” Then she let go of his shoulder and turned to look at the other kids. Her eyes narrowed a little and the smile had quickly vanished, now looking more serious than she had just moments earlier. “I think I know how we can deal with what is going on, and how we can find out exactly what's happening to me...” She closed her eyes. “It won't be easy. It might even be out of you kids' league, but I..I see no other alternative...” The kids looked at each other. They were confused about what Moynihan was talking about. If it was too complicated for them, why didn't she just call one of her old friends? She did so when Max got infected with the virus and she didn't seem to hesitate to want to send images of their dinosaur organs to another friend. Didn't they know the truth? Why else would Moynihan trust them with that kind of information? “I want you kids to take a blood sample from me.”

Max's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't believe what Moynihan had just asked of them. “Wh-What? Why us? We don't know anything about...” He couldn't finish his sentence. The way Moynihan was looking at him, that look of determination, caused him to freeze in mid-sentence. He knew that Moynihan probably knew what she was doing. But none of the kids had ever drawn blood from another person. They didn't know the proper technique. What if they messed up?

“I know what you are probably thinking.” Moynihan said, addressing not only Max, but the other kids as well who all looked just as shocked as he did. “But I can assure you that I know what I'm doing. I can't take blood from myself, not with the way I've been acting lately. I don't know what kind of effect it will have on me. I could see the blood and I could go crazy.” She lowered her gaze slightly. “It would just be counterproductive to have me do it. That's why I need you kids to do it for me so we can analyze the blood..or maybe you should analyze it. Knowing me, I'd attack the slide because of the sight and scent of blood. Even if it's my own.”

Buzz stammered, “B-But..why should we do it..? Why not have of your friends..do it? You know..? The ones you contacted before? Like when Max was sick with that mutant virus?” Buzz was trembling a little at the mention of drawing out blood. It reminded him of what his father had done to him and he was not sure if he could face the same situation again, even if it wasn't him who was getting blood taken out. He hoped that Moynihan would change her mind and let someone else do it. What did a couple of teenagers know about drawing blood properly anyway? What if they hurt her? “Aren't they trained in doing something like that?”

Moynihan nodded her head. “Well that is true..I could go to them.” At first, it sounded like she was serious and the others started to feel a little relieved. Perhaps Moynihan would indeed change her mind and call up some more experienced people to help her out with her situation. But then their hopes were dashed when Moynihan still refused to let anyone else but them do it. “But I cannot take the risk. I don't know how long it will take for them to get here, and they are probably too busy anyway. You kids are here and I trust you. That's why I want you to do it.”

“But we don't know anything about drawing blood!” Fiona tried to explain. “What if we put the needle in the wrong place? What if we hurt you even more?”

“Yeah...” Rodger agreed. He was the smartest of the group and even he was having doubts on doing this procedure. “Wouldn't it better to just call in the professionals?”

“And besides, with your..condition.. What if you...ya know..when we...” Max said, trying to explain. But even though he couldn't think of the right way to word it, the others got the idea and understood what he meant, Moynihan included. During the drawing of blood, Moynihan could go feral again and attack them before they could finish taking out the blood. And even if they get past that part, the sight of the blood in the vial could still trigger Moynihan's primal instincts and force her to attack.

But Moynihan had considered this scenario and had already thought of a plan to counteract it. “That's why I want you kids to anesthetize me before proceeding to take out blood.” She pulled out a Chiller and tossed it towards the kids. Rodger caught it in his arms and looked at it for a few seconds, then looked up at Moynihan as if he didn't understand what she wanted him to use it for. “Just as I anesthetized Caruso with that, I want you to do the same thing to do me.”

Rodger glanced down at the Chiller. He didn't know how the woman expected him to knock her out with the Chiller. All he could do with it was make her feel very cold because she was warm-blooded, not cold-blooded like reptiles were. He looked up at her, confused. “How do you expect this to work, Ms. M? It only works on cold-blooded reptiles, not humans. All it's going to do is make you feel very cold; it's not going to slow you down much.”

Moynihan nodded her head. “Yes..I thought about that. And I already thought of a solution.” Before the kids could ask her what this solution was, she closed her eyes and reopened them, revealing glowing yellow eyes. The group took a few steps back as Moynihan glowed and grew rapidly in size, her skin taking on a green coloration. She was soon in her Velociraptor form, looking down at them. Her eyes retained the yellow glow and didn't flash into the dreaded red color that Fiona had seen them as. Moynihan let out a soft growl and took a step forward, hearing a loud thud as her foot stomped into the hard floor beneath her feet.

Rodger now understood why she had wanted him to use the Chiller on her. In dino mode, she was cold-blooded and was susceptible to the Chiller's effects. Just like with Caruso, who was in dino mode when he was shot with the Chiller and put to sleep, Moynihan wanted him to spray her with the Chiller while she was in dino mode and knock her out. That would buy them some time to get the blood sample out of her without her trying to bite them or anything. But that wasn't too much comfort. The Chiller's effects did not last very long. Moynihan herself had to speed up the surgery for Caruso because he was not going to stay knocked out long enough for her to do any of the more complicated stuff, though she managed to do what she could to help him.

'Spray me with that.' Moynihan said in an almost demanding voice. She stared straight into Rodger's eyes as she spoke, letting him know that she was now addressing him directly because he held the Chiller in his hands. 'Spray me now!'

Rodger took a step back. “I..I don't think I want to...” But he couldn't finish his sentence. Moynihan uttered a dark growl from her throat, causing him to take a step back. He didn't know if she was threatening him or if she was fighting against her instincts.

“I don't think we should use the Chiller on you..” Fiona said, stepping up next to Rodger. “I mean, to use it on young people is one thing..but you are old, Ms. M. What if it has a prolonged, even worse, effect on you? What if it..kills you..?”

But Moynihan was not about to take no for an answer. Her eyes narrowed a little and she opened up her jaws, exposing her sharp teeth to them, hoping that they would be scared into spraying her out of self defense. 'You do not have a choice in the matter, Fiona. You kids must use that on me...or I might regret what might happen next.' She could feel her instincts pulling at the back of her brain and she did her best to fight them off.

“What..what do you mean?” Fiona asked, her eyes widening in fear and apprehension. She had a feeling she knew what Moynihan was talking about, but she was hoping that she was wrong.

Moynihan lowered her body slightly, her tail starting to arch upward a little. Her mouth remained open, and the kids could see drool starting to drip from her jaws. Even though she hadn't made a move towards them, the sight of the drool dribbling down her jaws scared them enough to make them move back a little further. Moynihan took a step forward, her head remaining low as she stared at them with glowing, unblinking eyes. 'I do not want to hurt you kids again. Please...just anesthetize me before my instincts take over..please...' She begged them, her voice betraying her increasingly hostile posture. But the kids refused to do anything, probably too frightened to react or too worried that they might hurt her.

“I..I don't want to...” Rodger said, staring at Moynihan and then at the Chiller in his hands. He eventually lowered the weapon to his side. “I'm sorry, I can't do it.”

“And neither can we.” Max said. Fiona, Buzz, and Caruso nodded in agreement. They just couldn't bring themselves to do it. They would probably cause a lot more harm than good if they tried to knock her out. They were better off finding Michelle and demanding an antidote from her. Trying to deal with the situation themselves was probably more perilous than trying to catch one of their enemies. Even though Moynihan was standing before them in raptor mode, they just couldn't bring themselves to knock her out. “It's just...I don't know if will work or not...”

Moynihan hissed softly, growing a little irritated that the kids weren't obeying her orders. She lifted up her head, her eyes narrowed so far that they almost disappeared completely, a thin sliver of glowing light being all that was visible. 'Do as I say!' She snapped, her voice raised up to assert her authority. She took yet another step towards them. She raised up her claws to them, almost like she was purposely threatening them. 'Do it!' The kids winced as she yelled, but Rodger didn't lift up the gun, frustrating Moynihan more. 'Why aren't you kids listening to me?! Don't you realize how important this is?! When I give you an order, I expect you to follow it!!' She snapped angrily.

But still, the Dino Squad remained standing where they were, trying their best not to become afraid of their teacher, who was now a green raptor, growling at them in anger. She was obviously very angry with them for not listening to her, largely because her raptor side was taking over again. But that knowledge didn't encourage them to try and shoot her with the Chiller. They just didn't feel right about it. To shoot their own mentor, they couldn't imagine doing it. Moynihan had always been there for them. She had always helped them out. She was the voice of reason and the one who encouraged them and guided them. But now she was getting reduced to a mindless monster, probably because of Victor if Michelle were correct. If they shot her with the Chiller, it would only confirm their worst fears: that the mentor has become the enemy. The one time that they needed Moynihan's guidance, she isn't going to be there to help them.

Moynihan was starting to lose her patience very quickly. At the back of her mind, her primitive brain was starting to get the better of her. It was pulling and tugging at the back of her mind, teasing her and taunting her, trying to urge her to attack the children. She could feel her dino hands trembling in anticipation, wanting to dig them deep into human flesh. Her legs were starting to shake, anticipating the lunge towards her frightened prey. And her mouth was starting to salivate, relishing in the thought of being so close to defenseless prey. But Joanne kept herself in check, keeping herself from taking another step towards the kids. She didn't know if she could get much closer without snapping at them.

But try as she might, Moynihan could feel herself starting to lose the battle. Her human mind was starting to lose out to the raptor mind. The mind of a dinosaur, at times, is stronger than the human mind, especially when it came to primal things such as hunting. She wouldn't be able to hold out much longer before attacking the kids. Perhaps she shouldn't have transformed. Perhaps it was a bad idea for her to go dino without talking to the kids first and make sure that they were willing to shoot her with the Chiller. She looked and could see that Rodger still had the weapon at his sides. If she were to lunge now, she wasn't sure if the kid would be able to react quickly enough to bring it up and shoot her with it. She might have her teeth sinking into him before he could finish the job.

'I said SHOOT ME!' Moynihan finally shouted in her mind. As she shouted to the Dino Squad, it was accompanied by a very loud, reptilian roar. It startled the Dino Squad, making them cover up their ears and looking at her in fear. But after a few seconds, it became clear to Moynihan that they weren't going to listen to her. She started becoming a little angrier and the kids took notice of the golden glow in her eyes starting to take on a more orange color.

Caruso gasped in horror. He recognized what that was going to mean for them. He took a few steps back, getting behind the other four teenagers. “Oh..Oh no...” He managed to say before he started to feel his eyes starting to glow, but this time he didn't transform in self-defense.

Fiona heard him and looked back at him. She said, “What is it, Caruso?”

“That is..th-that is...” Caruso stammered, pointing in Moynihan's direction. “..the same..that's the same color my-my-my eyes turned before I-I went f-feral...”

“What” Fiona gasped and she quickly looked over at Moynihan. Indeed, her eyes were now a bright orange with no hint of yellow in them anymore. And Moynihan's posture was getting even more hostile. She could see her sickle claws tapping against the floor in anticipation and she could thought she saw the muscles in Moyihan's leg flexing and she knew that it meant that Moynihan was getting ready to lunge at them. “Moynihan...” She whispered, remembering what had happened upstairs.

The other students noticed Moynihan's posture and started having second thought about not wanting to anesthetize her. If they didn't do something soon, she would be upon them, tearing at their flesh even if she didn't want to. If they continued standing there, stalling as much as they could, they would soon regret it. They were going to get themselves killed because of this. And what would this mean for Moynihan? They didn't want to turn their backs on her. Even after all that's happened, they still trusted her as a person. But if she were to seriously hurt any of them, they feared that they wouldn't be able to trust her completely ever again. Their relationship with her would be damaged, even shattered, even after she was treated and brought back to normal. The fear and the memory would still be there.

Moynihan growled softly. Despite her best efforts, she found herself walking a little closer to the students. They instinctively backed away, trying to make sure there was enough space between them to prevent her from closing in the gap. But when they found themselves backed up at the door, they realized they were trapped. They could not run forward because she blocked their route forward. And they couldn't open up the door they were backed up against and run away; Moynihan could get loose and that was the last thing they wanted to happen. How were they going to explain a Velociraptor running loose in the city? And what if she changed back in front of everyone? What would that do to the woman's reputation? The school's reputation? The city's reputation?

“I think you should do as she says..” Buzz said to Rodger in a soft, frightened voice. Moynihan was still getting closer. With each step she took, the gap between them was getting smaller. At any second, the woman could lunge at them and if she did, they would have nowhere to go. “..before she tries to kill us...”

“But..but I...” Rodger said. Then he noticed something odd about Moynihan's tail. It was swishing back and forth, similar to a cat's tail before it was about to pounce its prey. Rodger's heart skipped a beat. He knew what this meant.

Moynihan was getting tired of the delays. She was going to force them to shoot her whether they wanted to or not. She twitched her tail to signal her approaching attack. She didn't lose control just yet. She still had conscious control over her actions. But she knew that if she was going to get them to obey her, she would have to scare them into it. She didn't want to do it, but if she didn't, they would not try to shoot her until it was too late. She had to force them into doing it before it was too late. She let out a loud roar, coupled with a reptilian hiss. 'I warned you...' That was the only warning she gave them before she lunged towards them, her jaws split wide open as she prepared to bite into the closest human, Rodger. There as no hesitation in the attack.

The Dino Squad panicked. They screamed in fear and tried to back away. Buzz fell onto the ground, causing Max to trip over him. Max fell down and hit his head. Fiona and Caruso almost fell down as well, but they grabbed onto each other and supported each other so that they wouldn't fall. They quickly proceeded to bend down and help Max and Buzz up off the ground. Rodger had nearly stumbled as well, but he quickly regained his composure. Acting as swiftly as he could, he lifted up the Chiller and aimed it at Ms. Moynihan. He silently apologized to Moynihan and then sprayed the bluish white material at her. It hit her square on the head and chest area.

Moynihan instantly toppled to the ground, landing in the middle of the group. Her eyes were starting to take on a reddish glow and her growls were starting to sound more savage. She hissed and snapped as she struggled up to her feet. But her movements were now much slower than before. Her body was shivering from the cold and each movement took more and more effort as her body temp dropped lower and lower. Rodger took a step forward and once again aimed the gun at her. He started to spray her again, causing her to let out a shriek of surprise. She shook her head back and forth, trying to find the source of this unusual attack. But she continued to slow down and her movements became more and more delayed.

At last, Moynihan's body temp had dropped low enough for her to collapse back onto the ground. Her feet had given out from underneath her, no longer able to support her body weight. She had gotten too cold to continue shivering anymore. Her head smashed into the ground only inches away from Buzz's foot. Instantly, the punk kid took a step back. Moynihan's eyes were closed for a few minutes as her breathing started to slow down. At first, they thought she was out, but she opened up her eyes, now glowing yellow instead of red. Her eyes slowly looked up at the kids. 'I...I'm sorry, dear children...I'm so sorry..' With that, her eyes closed and her mouth hung open. Her tongue was splayed out at one side and drool began to drip onto the hard floor.

The Dino Squad fell into an awkward silence for a few moments. They were feeling guilty about what had just happened. Rodger looked at the Chiller, hands trembling as he had a hard time believing of what he did to Ms. Moynihan. The others were looking at him strangely, too, as if they couldn't believe he just did that. But Rodger had only done it out of self-defense. He didn't know what else to do. And Moynihan hadn't meant to attack them. She didn't mean to do this to them. The kids started to feel guilty about not listening to her earlier. If they had, maybe they could have avoided that nasty incident where she jumped at them without warning. But there was no use crying over spilt milk. They needed to move her body somewhere where she can be secured.

Max and Rodger, being the physically strongest of the team, bent down and grabbed one end of Moynihan. Rodger got her tail, legs, and back side while Max handled the front area, grabbing onto her head, neck, and front portions of her body. Using all their strength, they lifted her up off the ground the best that they could. But she was still too heavy for them and they almost immediately dropped her onto the ground. Instantly, Buzz, Fiona, and Caruso rushed over and offered their strength. Buzz helped out Max, Fiona helped out Rodger, and, despite his pain, Caruso helped out with the midsection. With their combined strength, they managed to pull Moynihan into the large, indoor training room where they were sometimes trained. The room was large enough for plenty of maneuvering even with a sixty-five million year old Velociraptor in the room.

Rodger and Max went to one area of the lighthouse and managed to locate some rope. They didn't know if it would hold Moynihan for very long, but it would at least slow her down in case she woke up. The two boys worked to bind the raptor's hands and feet together and then wound her jaws shut to keep her from biting them or slashing at them. They then secured several ropes around her and then attached them to a strong, sturdy railing. They hoped it was strong enough to hold a Velociraptor. They had never tied anything to the railings before. But they didn't have any other choice. They had to make sure that Moynihan was restrained to keep her from hurting herself or the team.

“So..what now?” Buzz asked after Rodger secured the final rope to keep Moynihan restrained until the procedure was done.

Rodger got up to his feet. “Now we have to find some syringes and vials. We need to take that blood sample, just like she told us to.”

“But again, we don't know how to take blood from a dinosaur..or anything for that matter.” Buzz said, eyes narrowed slightly. “How can she...”

Rodger growled, “Do you want us to take her to Victor Veloci then? I'm sure he would know how to take blood from a raptor. Do you think he would be willing to help?” Buzz fell silent and Rodger nodded his head. “I thought so.”

“So where are the syringes?” Fiona asked. Her hands were on her hips and she was looking around the room. She didn't see any place where Moynihan might keep them. “I don't see them anywhere.”

“I think she keeps them in another part of the lighthouse.” Max said, pointing his thumb in one direction. “I'll go find them.” With that, Max quickly left the room.

Rodger knelt down next to Moynihan. Carefully, he placed his large hands on her head and forced one of her eyes open with two fingers. He was checking to make sure that she was still completely unconscious. The eye, mostly black except for a beige pupil, the color that it is when it's not glowing, had rolled back so all Rodger could see was the blackness of the eye. Satisfied that she was indeed still unconscious, he released his hand from her, allowing the eyelids to close back together in a reptilian manner. He looked over at Buzz and said, “Buzz! When Max gets back, I'm going to need your help.”

“My help? Why?” Buzz asked.

“I need someone to hold Moynihan's arm up so I can take blood from it.” Rodger replied. “I can't hold the arm up and stick the needle in and keep it steady all at the same time.”

Buzz shuddered at the thought of holding the teacher's arm and seeing a needle go into it. It was like reliving what he had experienced from his father. “I-I'm sorry..I don't think I should be the one to do that.. Why don't you get Max to do it?”

“Well I suppose I could....” Rodger thought. “But why can't you just...” He saw the look in Buzz's eyes and quickly realized what was bugging the boy. Rodger felt guilty about forgetting all about what happened to Buzz and even more guilty about even considering having Buzz being the one who hold the arm up while he inserted the needle. Then Rodger realized something. A Velociraptor wasn't like a human. Couldn't they just choose another area? Like her neck or thigh? He spoke again, “Never mind. I don't think we need to take blood from the arm...”

“Yeah.” Fiona agreed, approaching Moynihan's sleeping form. She knelt down and placed her hand carefully on Moynihan's hind leg, on the meaty thigh. “This area would probably be a better place in getting blood. Her arms look too scrawny. You might slip up and accidentally...well..cause more harm than good.”

Rodger's eyes narrowed. “Thanks for the comfort.”

“Sorry.” Fiona said without looking at Rodger. She traced a finger along Moynihan's thigh, trying to locate a suitable spot to insert the needle into. Feeling the pulse of a blood vessel not far underneath the skin, she looked over at Rodger and said, “I think this area would be the best choice. I can feel a blood vessel underneath.”

Although shaken up by the mention of a blood vessel and despite his pain, Caruso managed to say, “H-How much blood d-do you need..?”

“Not a whole lot, Caruso.” Rodger replied. He had moved over to where Fiona was and was inspected the spot she had suggested. “We just need enough to be able to analyze it and figure out if there's anyway to reverse what is going on.”

“B-But...are any of us..e-even t-trained to...” Caruso started to say, but he had to immediately shut up because of the pain in his mouth. It was starting to feel a little worse now because he wouldn't stop talking. He felt guilty about that, but he just couldn't stand not being able to talk. But it did feel like something was still in his mouth, even at times still in his neck. He couldn't quite put his finger on it though. No one else seemed to notice anything still remaining behind.

“It's true that none of us were trained in the field.” Rodger said, his eyes narrowed. “And none of us probably know how to check for anomalies in blood. But who else is going to do it? Moynihan is counting on us! The least we can do is try!” Caruso nodded his head and said nothing more. The room soon filled with the sounds of approaching footsteps and they looked over to see Max returning, a syringe and vial in his hands.

Max ran over to Rodger. “Here.” Was the only word that he said as he handed over the syringe and vial, dropping them in Rodger's hands.

“Thanks.” Rodger said. He then looked over to Moynihan's thigh. Fiona still had her hand on the area that she had suggested trying first. Rodger moved in closer, gently pushing Fiona out of the way so he could have access to the thigh. He lifted up the syringe, pushing the needle out with one thumb. He pressed the needle against Moynihan's scaly skin, narrowing his eyes in determination. He hesitated for a few seconds, and then he pushed the needle into the leg. Moynihan's body seemed to twitch and the kids braced for action. But Moynihan quickly relaxed and the kids settled down. A dark red liquid started to feel the syringe as Rodger pulled the needle out, the pressure causing the blood to draw out without much trouble.

After Rodger managed to get the tube completely filled with blood, he pulled the syringe out of the skin and got out the vial and opened it up. He stuck the end of the syringe into the open part of the vial and pushed the blood into the tube. After he was finished with that, he closed the vial as quickly as he could to avoid exposure of the blood. The blood remained dark red, indicating that he hadn't exposed it to oxygen. If he had, the blood would have turned bright red. Rodger wiped his brow, feeling grateful to have gotten this done and over with. He had a feeling he had done something wrong, but with the pressure that he was under, he couldn't think straight. But he wasn't out of the woods yet. He still needed to have the blood analyzed.

Then he took out a knife that he had with him and went to work cutting through the rope. The others were probably wondering why he was cutting the rope already, thought Rodger as his knife first cut through the rope that bound the hands together. The Chiller would probably have calmed down Moynihan's nerves and suppressed her primal instincts. Once she woke up, she would most likely shift back to her human form. So the ropes were no longer necessary. Then he cut through the ropes that bound her legs together and then moved up towards her head. He pressed the knife against the rope, hesitating briefly as he stared at the fangs that were jetting out from the top jaw. Then he swallowed hard and cut through the ropes, freeing Moynihan's jaws. As the ropes loosened up and slipped off, the lower jaw slowly parted from the top jaw, and Rodger could see part of the tongue.

Buzz walked over, eyeing the rope on the ground. He was originally going to pick up the rope pieces and throw them away, but something about them caught his attention. He bent down and sifted through the pieces. A lot of them were still long enough to be used, albeit on a smaller target. Buzz murmured to himself, thinking that perhaps he could still use this rope for something. Might as well not let the rope go to waist. He grabbed several pieces and held onto them. He didn't have any pockets, so he couldn't stuff them anywhere. The others noticed he took the pieces of rope and Buzz felt a little silly about having to hold onto them constantly. “Sorry, I just think that we might be able to use these ropes sometime. You know, so..we don't waste them?”

Max walked over to Buzz. “I'll hang onto them.” He held out his hand and Buzz placed the several pieces of rope into it. Max was surprised at how much rope Buzz wanted to keep. “Are you sure you want to keep all of this? What could we possibly use them for?”

Buzz shrugged his shoulders. “You never know. They might come in handy some day.”

“Perhaps...” Max continued to look at the rope. He couldn't think of anything they could possibly use them for except tying books together or even repairs, if that was at all possible. But currently, they had no need for this rope. The rope itself wasn't too thick, so it couldn't be used for any of the heavy duty stuff. And now that he thought of it, it wasn't thin enough for tying up books. “But again, what do you think we could use the rope for? Or do you plan on just taking it home and using it yourself?”

Buzz shook his head. He pointed at the rope in Max's hands. “No. I think that rope should stay here. I think that...”

“..what we could use it. You already said that.” Max interrupted him, putting his hands against his hips. “But what I'd like to know is what exactly do you have in mind? Don't try to lie to me buzz.” He slowly shook his head. “I know you a little better than that. There is a reason why you want us to keep the rope. There's a specific reason. You just don't want to say what it is. Now tell me, Buzz.” He took a step forward. “What is the real reason you want us to keep the ropes?”

Buzz gulped nervously. He had a feeling that Max would have seen through his ruse. He was right, of course. There was another reason that he wanted to keep the ropes. In fact, there was only one reason he wanted to keep them. But he didn't want to bring it up, especially in front of Caruso. He didn't want to upset anyone and he didn't want to provoke a fight with his friends. Max continued to frown at him, arms now folded up tight against his chest. He wasn't going to leave him alone until he made some kind of confession. Buzz gulped again and slowly nodded his head. “Yes..there is a reason, Max...”

Max lifted up his head slightly. “And what reason would that be, Buzz?”

Buzz looked away, not able to look Max in the eyes. “Well...it has to do with...you know...” He couldn't bring himself to say it and he looked back at Max. “Do you understand what I'm saying”

“Um...no.” Max shook his head, eyes narrowing a little further. “How can I understand anything when you're not actually telling me anything?”

Buzz said, “Well, it has to do with Michelle...and...” But he didn't get a chance to finish. Max had immediately lifted up his hand to silence him.

“Wait wait...” Max rubbed his forehead with one hand. “So you mean to tell me that you want to keep the rope so that we could kidnap Michelle?” As he continued to speak, the anger in his voice became more and more apparent. “Are you crazy, Buzz?! We're a mutantsaur hunting team! Not a bunch of criminals!”

“But it's not a criminal act to...” Buzz started to say.

“Yes it is!” Fiona suddenly snapped, walking up to the green-haired kid. Buzz turned around to see Fiona glaring at him, jabbing a finger in his direction. “You're talking about kidnapping! That's a federal offense! Do you have any idea what would happen to us if she gets away and reports us?!” Buzz opened up his mouth, but Fiona quickly interrupted him. “And don't you dare talk about not letting her go! Murder is another offense!”

Buzz lowered his head. “I'm sorry you guys. I-I didn't mean to talk about such things...” He lifted his head back up. “I didn't mean to indicate that we kidnap her or kill her...”

“Then what were you implying?” Max asked.

Buzz hesitated and then replied with one word. “Interrogation.”

* * *

Victor paced back and forth, his eyes locked onto Drew who was now shackled in front of him. Victor eyed the shackles. They were tightened up to fit the human's feet. They were adjustable, although at first glance that didn't seem to be the case. Victor had used those same shackles on Moynihan. He wasn't expecting to catch her that day and he thought it would have led to his victory. He had tried to coax Moynihan into changing back, pretending to not know what she probably looked like and pretending not to know what her name was. She must have thought that he'd already forgotten. What a fool... He had a good idea of what she would look like, perhaps older than the last time he had seen her in human form. He smirked as he thought of how she resisted him, knowing full well that he would have been able to trace back to where she was hiding. He had used those same shackles that Drew was wearing to drain her energy, to force her to change back. She had, but Victor had forgotten about the shackles not tightened enough to secure her even in human form, so she got away.

Still, it was not a total loss. In the end, he had found out where she was hiding. Victor had to admit that Moynihan had done well in hiding the 'perfect dinosaurs', or as he now refers to them as, the Dino Squad. He had managed to capture one of them and they had come to save him, just as he had planned all along. Now Moynihan would not be able to resist him. She had done a great job, he admitted, in resisting him, to refuse to join up with him again. But once that chemical takes full effect and takes control of her, she will become a Velociraptor once more, whether she wants to or not. She had probably already gone raptor a few times, perhaps trying to attack those precious children of hers. Victor smirked evilly at the thought. Soon, so very soon, Moynihan would be back to her glorious dinosaur self! Finally, after multiple hibernations to keep up his energy, he would finally be one step closer to bringing back the dinosaurs!

Victor's attention returned back to the traitorous human before him, a scowl appearing on his face. He had gotten a report that this particular human had betrayed him. Victor did not tolerate treachery. He was going to deal with this human as swiftly as possible. He was originally going to kill him off. He had committed a terrible offense. He had destroyed dinosaur DNA! Victor was going to make sure that Drew didn't get away with what he had done. He had said that he would not go after his family, but that he had something else in mind. He had stopped the scientists from injected him with the serum earlier because he had another in mind. He had injected it into Drew, although the human's willpower helped him keep his sanity and his human form, but that wouldn't be so for long.

Victor had reversed the shackles. They were now programmed to pump energy into the man, stimulating the mutant DNA inside of him. It raised his body temperature slightly, not enough to kill, but enough to nurse the DNA, causing it to spread throughout his body, and causing it to become stronger and stronger as time passed. The shackles were going to keep on doing this until the man's mind would become too weak to resist, and he would be forced to transform. And once he transformed, his human mind would no longer be in control. Just as he had done with the students at Kittery High, Victor had injected a special primordial ooze into the man that would suppress the human mind. It allowed him to better control the situation. Humans, although weak, were harder to control if they were given powerful, mutantsaur forms, or dinosaur forms for that matter.

The mad scientist walked up to Drew. The man was struggling to remain standing, but Victor could see his knees wobbling, losing strength as his human side was getting weaker, losing the fight. Victor smirked. It wouldn't be long before Drew would transform. He had chosen a special mutantsaur DNA for him. One that was aggressive, very much like the dinosaurs, even in its normal mammalian form. Victor stared down at the man as Drew glared up at him. “In no time at all, you will be just like Moynihan...” His eyes glowed. “Powerful, ferocious....yet your pathetic human minds will not be in control...” Drew struggled against the shackles, but that only pushed in more energy faster, causing him to wince in pain. “Keep struggling. That's exactly what I want, Mr. Buzmati...”

Drew growled weakly at Victor. “You..you won't get away with this...”

Victor just chuckled. “Oh, but I already have, Buzmati. I already have...”

Drew wanted to struggle against his shackles again, but thought better of it. If he continued to struggle, that would only speed up the inevitable. He knew he was going to transform anyway, whether he struggled or not. He was frightened and he didn't know what to do. Once he transformed, his mind would go blank and the mutantsaur would take over completely. What if he remained like that for the rest of his life? What if he hurts his family while in that form? The Dino Squad wouldn't be able to help; Victor's serum was designed to be more resistant to the Chillers and Spillers. “I..I won't give into you.. I won't transform...” He suddenly dropped to his knees. His energy was getting weaker by the second.

Victor knelt down in front of Drew, just as he had with Caruso a few weeks ago. He reached out with a raptor hand and gently pressed a claw against Drew's chin, forcing the man to lift up his head to look at him in the eyes. “You won't be saying that for long, Drew. Within a few minutes, you'll be too exhausted to resist the transformation. You'll turn into the mutantsaur and be under my control!”

Drew jerked his head away with what little energy he had left. “No!”

Victor laughed. “You can resist all you want to, but resistance is futile. It won't be long before you will be mine. And after I am through with you, your son will be next.” Drew's eyes widened in fear. “And not just him, but his precious friends as well. And soon, my dream will be fully realized!”

Despite his better judgment, Drew lashed out towards Victor, who was within reach. Drew's hand had closed into a tight fist. He tensed the muscles in his arm and struck forward, striking Victor in the jaw. Victor cried out in pain and stammered back. The fist wasn't enough to knock out any of his human teeth, but it was going to leave a nasty bruise on his cheek. Victor stood straight up and placed his hand on his cheek. He could feel a tenderness there and he started to shake in anger. He glared down at the human, disgusted that he would even think to touch him with those filthy paws! How dare that human try to strike him, a superior species! Thoughts of Caruso ran through his mind as he stared into Drew's eyes. They were showing the same kind of defiance that Caruso had for a while before he was finally broken.

Victor raised his hand up, claws extended, and slashed Drew across the face. Drew cried out in pain as he felt blood start to ooze from the cuts and down his face. He looked up at Victor in fear. “How dare you try to fight me, you pathetic human monkey!” He moved in a little closer and raised up his hand again, prepared to strike Drew again. “Maybe this will teach you a lesson!”

“I-I'm sorry...!” Drew begged. “Please..please don't...kill me..!”

Victor laughed, his hand still raised in the air, the claws flexed forward as he prepared to strike. “That's right... beg for your pathetic life, you weakling human! Your screams of fear and pain are music to my ears!” With that, he struck down again, slashing across the man's arm to force him to scream again. Victor did this simply to prove his point. After Drew stopped screaming, Victor reverted his hand back to normal. “That's what happens when you try to challenge a more advanced species, Drew...” He folded his hands behind his back as he began circling Drew like a hawk, his eyes never leaving the man. “You were lucky that I didn't kill you. But you won't have to worry about that for long...” His eyes then focused on the cord attached to the shackles. “You will soon be under my complete control.”

Drew made one last attempt to get out of the shackles. But the pull he attempted pumped more energy into him and he suddenly was engulfed in an orange glow. His eyes shut tightly in pain and they quickly reopened. His eye whites were still white, but the pupils had changed to be more like Victor's; slit pupils with a yellow iris. Dark brown fur sprouted all over his body and for a brief moment, he looked like Sasquatch. He tried to stand up, but his spine had started to bend forward, preventing an upright posture. His legs changed shape, becoming more like a bear's or weasel's. Claws sprouted from where his toes were and a busy tail popped out from behind. His mouth elongated, long sharp fangs sprouting from the top and lower jaws, the canines being much bigger than the other teeth in the mouth.

Drew's ears became rounded and moved upwards. His nose broadened and darkened, becoming a pitch black color. His arms became more muscular and his hands became less nimble, becoming more suitable for walking on all fours. Long sharp claws grew from his fingertips. His body became more compact. The bushy tail grew in length, becoming more dinosaur-like. Sharp spines grew from the back. The nose remained black, but became much broader, the nostrils positioned on both sides of the muzzle rather than both being in front. Horns sprouted from the head almost like how they would on a dragon's head. Blade-like spikes also stuck out from the elbows and ankles, looking like they could do impressive damage but were most likely just for show. The rounded ears suddenly grew larger and more pointed. They faced backward and grew in length. While they remained as ears, they stiffened up and became sharp at the points, becoming useful weapons.

The last thing to go was Drew's mind. As hard as he tried to remain in control, it just wasn't enough. He screamed in pain and closed his eyes. Then the scream deepened and became more animal-like. Then he reopened his eyes and let out a loud roar that echoed through the room. The voice had lost all human quality to it, replaced completely by something primal and almost ancient. Victor smirked as he looked up at what Drew had become. The transformation was now complete. Victor didn't hesitate to approach the creature that was once Drew Buzmati. He reached out to touch the animal on the snout. The creature pulled his head away and let out a loud hiss at him. Victor's eyes narrowed, the glowing irises appearing and he stared into the mutantsaur's eyes. Drew, now driven mostly by instinct, paused. There was something about Victor that was keeping him under control. And he didn't resist when Victor reached out towards him again, placing his hand on the creature's long yet compact muzzle.

“Perfect..simply perfect.” Victor said, admiring his work. The creature he had transformed Drew into was a wolverine mutant. Wolverines are well known for their ferocity and their powerful bites. They could chase away cougars, animals much bigger than it was, because of how ferocious it could act. A wolverine was the perfect candidate for Victor to try out. It was one of the few mammals he respected because it acted more like a dinosaur, unlike a lot of the weakling mammals out there, especially the humans. “Now to unleash you out into the city. That will distract the Dino Squad so that they won't see what's coming next...”

A large red blip appeared on his scanners, giving out a loud beep every time it blinked. Victor narrowed his eyes and looked over. The blip seemed to be at the lighthouse. But the signal was very weak. He didn't know how the signal was getting through from the lighthouse considering that the lighthouse shield was up and running again. He sensed that Moynihan was probably in raptor form. Perhaps her signal was strong enough to penetrate the lighthouse's shield, or perhaps the lighthouse shield was temporarily down again. Whatever the reason, Victor was sure she was in raptor mode. An evil smile spread across his face. Drew can wait. “But not now....”

* * *

Moynihan slowly opened her eyes. Her mind was jumbled and a nearly complete blur. She had some memories flowing through her, but they were shattered and jumbled up like a jig-saw puzzle. Her mind swirled as she tried to make sense of it all. She remembered saying something of urgency, and then everything went red and she blanked out. She could see a flash, a blur in her mind. She struggled to get up off the ground. She was on something soft and very comfortable. As she tried to get up, she hit her leg against something hard. She groggily turned her head over to see what looked to be a bed. She blinked a few times and her vision slowly came into focus. It was indeed her bed. She craned her neck up and looked around the room. It took a while for her to recognize that it was her room.

Moynihan couldn't remember exactly how she came into this room, but nonetheless she started to stand up. She stretched out her arms and legs because they were feeling stiff and a little sore. She could feel that her muscles felt quite sore as if they were forced to remain in one position for an extended around of time. She looked over to her dresser. She was still very sleepy and she walked over towards the dresser, she nearly stumbled on a couple of her shoes that were laying in the middle of the room. Why there there, she couldn't think of any particular reason. Once she reached the dresser, she took a look in the mirror, half expecting to see the image of a worn old woman staring back at her. But that isn't what she saw. Instead, she was greeted with the reptilian face of a green Velociraptor, eyes looking so tired that the yellow glow was not present.

Suddenly, memories flooded back to her. She recalled how she had lunged at the children, lost total control of herself. She had almost killed them! Her heart started racing and, even though she was in raptor form, managed to place her dinosaur paws on her head in despair as she thought of what might have happened to them. She couldn't scent them and she didn't hear their voices. Did she do the unthinkable? Did she murder them? She shook her head violently left to right. No, it couldn't be true! It just couldn't be! Moynihan reared her head back and let out a mournful cry, mixed in with disbelief....

RRRAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!

* * * 

The Dino Squad were back in the living room. A few of them were relaxing on the couch, reading a book or a magazine to pass the time. The others were trying to play a game of Scrabble, but were being distracted by Rump, who had come downstairs and started sniffing around. He probably sensed that something had happened and he was either upset that he missed out on the action or he was curious to find out exactly what happened. Max was about to place a piece down on the game to spell out a word when he and the others were interrupted by the loud screech. They didn't know what it was at first. It sounded like either something was dying or it was some kind of monster that somehow got into the lighthouse. Then they heard the sound of rapid footsteps coming down the steps. Whatever it was, it was heading their way. They immediately got up and braced themselves for whatever was going to come.

However, they relaxed a little when they saw it was Moynihan. But their posture remained defensive. Something was wrong. What had frightened her so much? Her eyes were wide with fear and it looked like she was sweating a little. The way she was rushing down the stairs concerned them as well. It looked like she was going to trip at any moment and fall down the stairs. Her breathing was so heavy that they could hear it from where they were standing. Her hair was a little messed up as if she had just woken up from another night's rest.

When Moynihan finally reached the room where the children were, staring at them with eyes widen with fear and mouth agape as she tried to catch her breath, Max was the first one to work up the courage to say something. “Professor Moynihan? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost. Your face..it's so pale...” Indeed, Moynihan's face had lost a lot of its color. Something must have really spooked her to cause her face to become so pale.

Moynihan continued to take in sharp, loud breaths as she looked around the room. She was looking them over, trying to see if there was any blood on them, any signs of being attacked or anything. When she realized there didn't seem anything wrong, she relaxed slightly, but she was still in a panicked state. “Are you kids all right?!” She finally said, her voice filled with worry. The kids looked at each other, a little confused by what she was talking about. They looked back at her, just as worried as she was. They didn't like seeing her like this.

Fiona took a step forward. “Moynihan, we're fine. Nothing bad happened to us.” She narrowed her eyes slightly. “Why are you so scared?”

“I..I attacked you...” Moynihan murmured, clutching her head tightly. “I attacked you..and I couldn't stop myself!” She looked up at the kids, tears now visible on her face. The sight of this caused the children to gasp. Moynihan must really be scared for her to start crying all of a sudden like that. They wanted to walk over towards her and try to comfort her, but they held back, thinking that trying to get too close to her would cause her to feel even worse. “Oh dear, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you...”

The Dino Squad looked at each other, a pang of guilt rising up inside of them. They started to regret putting Moynihan back in her room all by herself. She must have thought that she had done something terrible to them because she wouldn't have seen them around, scented them, heard them, nothing at all. They had thought that putting her in the bedroom alone would help her to calm down, to help her relax. That was their intention; to simply help her. They put her in the bedroom after they had analyzed the blood the best that they could. They couldn't decipher what was going on, but they were able to understand enough to come up with something to help slow down the process. It was no cure, but it would allow Moynihan to more easily control herself for a while. That was why they weren't frightened when she approached them.

“It's all right, Ms. M.” Buzz said in a soft, comforting voice. “You didn't hurt any of us. There's no need to cry...” He reached out towards her, but quickly pulled his hand back when Moynihan looked at him with fear-filled eyes. He wasn't sure what to make of it. “What's wrong? I just told you that we were all right. You didn't hurt any of us...”

“But...” Moynihan spoke in a croaked, barely audible voice. “..I could have...”

“We're all fine.” Buzz insisted.

“For now..what if I...” Moynihan couldn't bring herself to finish. She tried not to cry. She had never been this frightened before in her life. She almost jumped when she felt someone put their arm around her. She looked up to see that it was Max.

“Please don't cry, Ms. Moynihan...” Max said to her in a consoling tone of voice. “You haven't hurt any of us. Rodger was able to knock you out before you did anything bad. And while you were out, we took the blood sample and were able to conjure up something to slow it down. It's no cure, but it'll stop you from going crazy for a little while...”

Moynihan wiped a tear from her eyes, feeling a little grateful that the kids managed to help her in some way. “Thank you...” But that didn't alleviate all of her fears. Whatever they had given her, it would only slow down the process. By how much she wasn't sure, but what she knew for certain is that once it wears off, she will go crazy once again, becoming a Velociraptor. It was exactly what Victor wanted. Moynihan closed her eyes. That was probably Victor's plan all along. Capturing Caruso, it was just a plan to get her to where he wanted her so he can spring his little trap. And she fell for it. Oh, how could she have been so stupid?! But then again, what choice did she have? Caruso was in danger! She couldn't have just abandoned him! If she did, he would have been killed! And Veloci knew that...

“So..what do we do now?” Buzz asked, a worried expression on his face. “What happens when that stuff wears off? Should we run? Fight back?”

Rodger shook his head and said, “I can't really imagine myself fighting you, Ms. Moynihan. I don't think I could bring myself to do it...”

Moynihan's expression softened a little. “I know, dear...” Her eyes narrowed. “But I fear that you will have no choice... I am not able to control myself in that form. Should I change into..that again...I'm afraid that you will have to fight me. Otherwise...” A pained look appeared on her face. “..I don't want to think of what might happen to you young ones.”

“I don't want to think of it either...” Buzz said softly, rubbing his neck gingerly as he thought of a pair of jaws clamping down around it.

Max was so frustrated with what was going on. If he weren't trying to comfort Moynihan, he would be trying to kick at something, anything to release the tension. How could they have let something like this happen? How could they have allowed themselves to fall for that trick? They should have known something was wrong when no one was in the room! This experience was more difficult for him to handle than the time when Moynihan was captured by Victor Veloci. They were lucky that they were able to come up with a plan to save her and he recalled how proud she was of what they had done. But now, it seems that no amount of knowledge they already know is going to help them this time.

“Why is this happening to us?” Max finally asked, addressing no one in particular. The others looked at him, wondering what the jock was talking about. Max's face was furrowed in frustration and his head was in his hand. He slowly shook his head left and right. “Nothing seems to be going right for us...”

“Don't say that, Max...” Fiona said. “Something seems to be going right for us so far.”

Max looked at her. “And what would that be..?”

Fiona managed a small smile. “At least we are still trying to be optimistic..at least we're still working together to figure out a way out of this.” She walked over to him and grabbed onto his hand, gently squeezing it. “No matter what has happened, one thing has remained the same about us. We're still friends and we're still willing to help each other out. No matter what he does, Veloci cannot change that.”

Although he wasn't completely convinced, Max was touched by what Fiona said. The others were as well. It gave them some hope. She was right, of course. They would help each other get through this. Their friendship and protectiveness of one another was stronger than anything Veloci could dish out at them. He could try as hard as he wants to; he'd never be able to break up their bond with one another. Max smiled at Fiona and said, “Thank you, Fiona.”

* * *

Victor's eyes narrowed as he looked at the scanner's readings again. Something was not quite right with it. A moment ago, it indicated that Moynihan was in full raptor form. But the dot wasn't moving anywhere. He couldn't think of why. Then she started moving, but remained in the same spot. And then, just as quickly as the strange signal appeared on his scanners, it disappeared, indicating that she must have changed back. His eyes narrowed. This couldn't be right. By his calculations, Joanne should have been in full-fledged Velociraptor form, in body and in mind. How could she have changed back so quickly? How?

Victor quickly brought up the two avatars that he had up before, the one with the Velociraptor and human icons. When he brought it up last time, it was nearly full, perhaps only three or four percent left to go. He gasped and then growled in anger when he noticed that the transformation had been suppressed. It had gone down to around fifteen percent left to go, or even twenty percent. The meters were still switching colors, but it would now take a little longer before Veloci would have a chance in getting Joanne back on his side. He formed a fist with one hand and pounded it on the table where the keyboard sat. “No! No!”

How could this have happened? How could the Dino Squad have figured out a way to reverse what was happening to Moynihan? There was no way that they could have! They didn't even know what was going on with her! They only knew that she was getting more aggressive. How could they have known that her mind was being transformed? That was the only way they could have figured out how to suppress, even just temporarily, the transformation! Victor tried to think as hard as he could to figure out an explanation for this. There had to have been someway they could have figured it out. It's unlikely that they could have figured it out on their own unless they took a blood sample. But then, how could they have taken a blood sample without having any clue as to what was going on? How could they have known that a possible answer could have been found in the blood?

“No...this is all wrong!” Victor muttered to himself. “They weren't supposed to find out until it was already too late!” Victor had envisioned the Dino Squad trying to figure out what was happening, but that they wouldn't be able to figure it out until Moynihan had already transformed into a Velociraptor and started attacking them. And once she reaches that stage, it was permanent, or at least that's what Veloci had been hoping. He hadn't tested this version of the chemical before. If it works, not only would it turn Moynihan savage, but it would also allow him to control her in some way. It wasn't perfect, very crude actually, but it would at least be something to give him control over her.

The only way that the Dino Squad could have figured out what was going on without it being too late was if someone had told them. Victor's eyes widened. He recalled seeing a few blips on the scanners, indicating that Michelle was in dino mode. She was in the city. He didn't know why she was there at first, but then became convinced that she was looking for Caruso, even though he wanted his assassin to get him first. He had assigned everyone to the task, but only the assassin was allowed to actively hunt down Caruso. And he knew that Michelle must have known this. So why was she actively seeking out the Dino Squad? Could it be that she was the one who spilled the beans to the Dino Squad? Could Michelle have betrayed him just as Moynihan did?

Victor shook his head. No, that didn't seem right, he thought. Michelle wouldn't betray him, especially after the nasty wound that he had given to her on her shoulder. She was probably too scared to try and turn against him again, just like all of his other men were. They were kept in line day after day. Those who tried to betray him were punished and usually after the first punishment, they didn't dare try to betray him again. Michelle, being just a teenager, probably had a weaker mind than a lot of his minions, so she shouldn't have the courage to try and disappoint him again. But then again, Caruso was around her age and he proved to be difficult to break. Perhaps Michelle still had some fight left in her.

And if that was true, then Victor would have to do something to change that. He didn't want to just walk down and hurt her without a reason, though. Unless Michelle actually did something wrong in his eyes, he had no reason to go and confront her. But then he remembered something. There was a reason he could confront her. He could ask her why she was looking for Caruso and if she denied it, he could point to the scanners. But even if she was there, looking for Caruso, that alone would not answer his most urgent question: How did the Dino Squad figure out what was going on with Moynihan?

Again, every thought he was having was leading him back to Michelle. She was in the right area, perhaps in close proximity to the Dino Squad. He wasn't sure if she actually crossed paths or not, but it was likely that they could have interrogated her. Yes, that's probably what happened. Victor sat in his chair and leaned back, scratching his chin lightly. Michelle was probably temporarily captured by the Dino Squad and forced to give a confession. If that were the case, then he didn't need to confront her about it. Either way, one thing remained certain and that was that Moynihan was not going to change as quickly as he was hoping she would. But whatever they did, all it was going to do was delay in the inevitable. The only way to stop Moynihan is with the cure, and there was only one person who would have the slightest clue on what that would be.

“Caruso...” Victor muttered under his breath. The kid was a thorn in his side the moment that he was brought into the warehouse. The way that he turned his own weapon against him, the way that he thought he could escape, the way that he got so desperate that he actually bit him! Such a pathetic creature he was, to even think that he could inflict any real damage with those flat teeth of his. “I need to silence him for good... I should have killed him off back at the warehouse.” Victor rubbed his head. Yes, that's what he should have done. If he had killed off Caruso earlier, then they would have no chance in curing Moynihan, but instead, he was foolish enough to allow the boy to live. Well he was going to correct that mistake as soon as possible. Once Caruso was dead and out of the way, then he can be certain that there'll be nothing the Dino Squad could do to get their precious mentor back...


	25. Interrogate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Two days later, Michelle was inside the local library in the same city that the Dino Squad lived in. Michelle wasn't sure why she came to the library. She wasn't on any assigned missions and she wasn't really trying to find the Dino Squad, or any one for that matter. She mostly came here to get away from Raptor Dyne, away from Victor and away from Oscura. At least, that's what she's been telling herself. She's been feeling increasingly threatened by Oscura. Victor had apparently spoken to Oscura within the past couple days. Yesterday, Oscura had confronted her when Victor told her about the scans showing that she was within the city and demanded to know what she was doing there. Michelle refused to tell her, and Oscura automatically assumed that Michelle was mingling with the Dino Squad. This view was further supported by the fact that the teens had managed to slow down Moynihan's transformation.

While Michelle was grateful that the Dino Squad figured out a way to save themselves, even it was just temporary, the fact that they had figured out how to do this after she had told them what was going on put her in a very precarious situation. So far, Victor and Oscura couldn't really pin her to the crime. Victor himself was not completely sure if she was a real traitor or if she was simply captured by them and forced to give out the information. Oscura tried to debunk this theory, insisting that Michelle must have actively sought out the Dino Squad and told them deliberately what was going on with Moynihan and that she probably told them other things as well. Oscura claimed that she was just looking out for the well-being of the company as a whole, but Michelle saw through her lies. She knew that Oscura saying these things because she was angry when Victor had suggested that Michelle was simply a prisoner and forced to give out the information. Oscura wanted to get Victor to label Michelle a traitor, not a prisoner of war.

Michelle looked up and saw a book that she was interested in looking at. It was an old classic that she read when she was younger. It was one of the few books she ever read in her life. She didn't know that the book was still in print. She thought that it went out-of-print years ago. What luck that she found it in this library! Michelle grabbed a tall, metallic ladder and began to climb up it. The ladder was a little unstable and she found herself wobbling back and forth. She gripped onto the book case tightly, using its large mass and weight to steady herself once more. The ladder soon became still and sturdy and she released one hand from the book case. But she still used the other hand to balance herself as she reached up towards the book that she wanted. She grabbed onto it and pulled it out. It was a little dusty and it caused her to sneeze. She shook her head after the sneeze and wiped her nose. She looked at the book for a few seconds and then climbed down the ladder.

“Maybe I should borrow this...” Michelle said softly to herself. The book was about the bond between a young boy and a dog. Although this was a common plot used in many literatures, including the famous Lassie books, this one touched her more than even Lassie ever did. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't really dwell on it too much. This book could probably help her get her mind off of Victor and Oscura and everything that has been happening lately. This book could also help her realize what she must do. Michelle was at a crossroads and she wasn't sure if she should remain at Victor's side or if she should leave him completely and try to join the Dino Squad or become more of a vigilante-type of person, or maybe just a hermit, living alone.

No, she didn't want that. Michelle wasn't a loner type. She didn't like living alone. One of the reasons she agreed to join Raptor Dyne was because it was probably the only place she could really socialize, even though there weren't many people here too willing to talk to her. Either they were too busy or they were doing something else, such as leaving or bringing something to someone, papers perhaps. Michelle did live with someone, an uncle since her parents were recently deceased. She never did find out exactly what happened to them, but when she found out they were dead, she didn't have much time to mourn and was quickly moved here to live with her uncle. But living with her uncle was so frustrating and, at times, terrible. He wasn't particularly aggressive towards her, but he acts like she doesn't exist most of the time, even forgetting to buy food for her at times, forcing Michelle to often fend for herself. Despite the situation, she managed to keep her sanity and retained her personality. That is, until she joined Raptor Dyne, where she was forced to act like someone else for so long, that even Michelle herself couldn't remember what she was truly like, what she truly believed in.

Michelle held the book with one arm and began walking down the hall. On both sides of her, there were rows upon rows of books, even more than what was at the school library in Kittery High. Michelle found herself looking left and right, admiring how many books there were. It was hard to imagine how a building like this could hold these many books. She could only imagine how long it must have taken to build this place, or any other libraries for that matter. She was always fond of libraries, so beautiful, so quiet, and so calm. Just being here relaxed her and she soon found herself lost in her own thoughts and not looking where she was going...

THUD!

Suddenly, Michelle felt something soft and warm slam against herself. She grunted and stumbled backwards, almost losing her balance completely. She heard a grunt in front of her and then another thud, indicating whoever she had bumped into had crashed into the ground. Michelle shook her head, her eyes closed tightly from the initial shock of slamming into someone. “I'm sorry, I didn't see where I was going..” Michelle started to say as she opened her eyes and looked over at who she had knocked down. “Are you all....” Her eyes widened as she realized who it was. “..right..?”

There, on the ground looking up at her in fear, was Caruso. Remembering the warning she had given out a few days ago, Caruso was trying to back away from her. Michelle took a step back, horrified by this turn of events. She had told Caruso that she might kill him the next time that they ran into one another. But she didn't come here looking for him; she was just looking for a good book to read. How was she to know that he was going to be here? There was an extended silence between the two. Caruso tried to back away, but he was so frozen in fear that he kept slipping back onto the ground. He didn't look hurt, but he was shaking, acting as if she was going to strike him at any second.

“H-Help me...” Caruso started to say. The voice was too soft for anyone to hear him, though, so no one came over to see what was going on. Michelle was a little relieved by this, but knew it was only a matter of time before someone realized what was going on. And if Caruso was here, it was likely that either his family or his friends were here. And after what she had told them a couple days ago, they would probably start chasing her as soon as they saw her.

Michelle tried to calm Caruso down by holding out her empty hands in front of her and backing away, trying to show Caruso that she wasn't intending to hurt him. She took another step back, her hands continued to be held out in front of her. But despite her non-aggressive posture, Caruso was still shaking in fear, opening his mouth a few times to say something, only stopped by his fear and pain. Michelle started to panic a little and she looked around the library, trying to see if she could see any of the Dino Squad. While she didn't see them anywhere, that did not mean that they weren't here. “L-Listen to me, Caruso... I'm not going to hurt you.” She said in a soft voice. She held out the book in front of her. “I only came to get this b-book...see?” She pointed towards the front of the building. “I-I'm just going to borrow this book and then I'm going to leave and you won't see me again, okay...? So please...don't be afraid...” She begged him, hoping to get through to him.

Suddenly, Caruso managed to let out a loud cry. “HELP!” Michelle winced and she took a few more steps back, looking left to right to see if anyone was coming. A second later, Caruso called out again, “GUYS! HELP ME! SHE'S HERE!”

Hearing footsteps coming rapidly in her direction, Michelle froze where she stood. “Oh no...”

Almost immediately after she had said that, a figure moved in front of Caruso so quickly that all Michelle saw was a blur until the figure stopped to attend to Caruso. All she could see was their back; they hadn't seen her yet and were too busy trying to calm Caruso down to look behind them. But even though it was just from the back, Michelle recognized who it was. It was Rodger. He was one of the most recognizable of the team, due to his dark skin and large size. Michelle gulped and started to take a few steps back. She had to get out of here before the others arrived. But her only chance of escape lay beyond Rodger and Caruso. There was no way she could get passed them without getting spotted unless she went down one of the rows of books and squeeze through the other side to get access to the main lobby.

Michelle was relieved that there was hardly anyone in the library and those who were didn't come to investigate why Caruso had cried out in fear. Although that was probably attributed to the fact that someone was already checking up on him, trying to calm him down. Michelle thought that if she could just hide in one of the rows of books, she'll be safe, for a little while. If she moved quickly enough, she could get away and out of the library before the Dino Squad had time to see her. If they spotted her, she was going to be in big trouble...

Just then, Michelle heard a shout behind her and yelped in surprise. She looked behind her and she gasped in fear as she saw Buzz on the far end of the other side of the hall. He was looking in her direction, his face contorted in a snarl. She gulped and turned around to face him. She took a few steps back, moving back towards the front, as Buzz started advancing, albeit slowly, in her direction. She was now trapped. Rodger lay on one end while Buzz was on the other end. She couldn't think of how things could possibly get any worse for her.

And then, it did get a lot worse.

Buzz stopped in his tracks briefly, lifted up a finger and pointed it in her direction, and gave a shout, “Rodger! It's Michelle! She's right behind you!”

Almost immediately, Rodger turned around. His eyes widened in shock as he saw her. “Michelle!” He shouted, voice mixed with anger and surprise.

Buzz looked over his shoulder. At first, Michelle could not think of why he would do that, but then it dawned on her. He was going to call another member of the Dino Squad. Michelle wanted to take another step back, but hesitated. Rodger was behind her now and if she took a step back, she would only be getting closer to him. Buzz shouted over his shoulder, “Max! Come over here! Michelle is back!”

Then after that, Rodger called out the remaining member. “Fiona! Come quickly! Michelle has returned!”

Michelle found herself trembling in fear as she became surrounded by the Dino Squad. Two were blocking her from one direction. She couldn't run back that way. She couldn't run up front either because there were three people blocking her path that way. She was completely trapped. All she could do was try to remain still, where she was, as they closed in on her to cut off her escape route. Michelle found herself pressing her back against one of the book cases. She had forgotten about trying to slip around behind one of them to get access to the main lobby. All she was concerned about right now was trying to get as far away from this team as possible. But she knew it was going to be like the situation back on the football field; there was not going to be a lot of room left after they've cornered her.

Like before, Caruso hung back, trying to keep himself out of Michelle's sights the best that he could. Many thoughts were running through his mind. He wondered if Michelle had brought reinforcements with her. He wondered how she could have known that he was going to be at the library. Was she spying on him? And when was she going to strike? When he was as far away from the others as possible in this library? For once, Caruso was grateful for his recent paranoia of being alone. If he had come here by himself, Michelle would not have had a hard time in grabbing him, killing him, and then running off before anyone saw her.

As Michelle was surrounded by the Dino Squad, arranged in such a fashion that she had no where to go unless she tried to squeeze past a team member or two, a silence fell upon them. There were no words coming out of anyone's mouths, no warning, no threats, no nothing. Michelle found herself simply staring at the Dino Squad. And they stared back at her. Some expressions were of anger and others simply shock that she was here and they didn't notice until now. Michelle's expression was that of fear and dread, not knowing what the Dino Squad was doing to do with her, especially if they believed she was a threat to their friend or anyone else that they cared about.

The first one to speak up was Max. He was positioned directly in front of Michelle and was, physically, the closest to her. He tried to sound calm, trying his best to hide his anger and fear. He was angry that she would dare come after them again and he was afraid of what she might do if they didn't stop her in time. In a voice as calm as he could make it, but still cracking of emotion, he said, “What are you doing here? Why have you come back?”

Before Michelle could answer, Buzz rolled his eyes and said, “Dude, do you even need to ask that? We all know what she's here for.” Buzz narrowed his eyes at Michelle. “She's come here to take Caruso away from us again! She said so herself that she might kill him the next time she sees him!”

Michelle shook her head rapidly. “No, that's not true!”

Fiona narrowed her eyes. “But isn't that what you said before? You gave Caruso a warning, that the next time we encounter, you might try to kill him...”

Michelle remembered saying that and immediately regretted it. Perhaps she should not have said anything. By doing so, she made it seem that any time she saw the boy, she would try to go after him, no matter what she was doing in the mean time. She wasn't even out here looking for trouble. All she wanted to do was borrow a book and be on her merry way! But she doubted the Dino Squad would believe that. They see the book in her hands and they probably think that she was going to use it to knock Irwin out cold and then drag him somewhere to kill him without any resistance or any witnesses. A book in her hands was a weapon.

“Well yes...” Michelle admitted, lowering her head a little and scratching her head with her free hand. “But this wasn't a mission..I-I just came here to borrow this book. See?” She held out the book in front of her, hoping it just might convince the team that she was telling the truth, despite her fears that they would interpret it as a weapon. But their expressions didn't change and she realized that it wasn't working.

“A likely story!” Buzz said sarcastically, pointing at the book with one finger. “You were going to try and kill Caruso with that book, weren't you?!”

Michelle gulped and tried to move back, but couldn't go back any further because of the book case behind her. She closed her eyes and looked away from Buzz. “Please, just let me go. I don't want to fight you guys. I just want to leave. Please..just step aside and I'll leave you alone.”

Michelle tried to move forward, but the Dino Squad continued to block her path. Her words did not persuade them to step aside to allow her to leave. Judging from the look in their eyes, they didn't believe anything she was trying to tell them. Michelle was starting to feel even more tense and she could feel her eyes starting to glow out of instinct. The Dino Squad's eyes also started glowing, not because they were angry, but because they were feeling tense as well. Both were preparing as if they were about to fight. Michelle had to use all the willpower that she had to keep herself from transforming completely.

“Why should we believe that?” Rodger asked. “You told us yourself that you would come after him again!”

Michelle blinked a few times. “No I did not! I said that...” But she stopped herself when she realized what she was about to say. If she had continued, she would have confirmed what the Dino Squad had already suspected. She would have confirmed that she was supposed to kill Caruso the next time that they were to meet. She lowered her head. “Never mind...”

Buzz shouted, “See?! You can't even come up with any kind of defense! What's the matter? You couldn't come up with any more lies?!” Michelle looked at him fearfully, somewhat hurt as well. But Buzz just glared at her coldly and said, “Don't give me that look... You brought this on yourself.”

Fiona looked over at Max, who was the calmest of the group, but she could tell that he was feeling tense, just like everyone else. She moved a little closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “So...” She glanced over at Michelle with a soft glare on her face. “...what should we do with her?” Michelle's head perked up when she heard this and she looked over at Fiona and Max. “I mean, we can't just let her go, not this time...” Michelle's eyes widened in fear. “But...I'm not sure. What do you think, Max?”

Max's eyes were narrowed as he went deep into thought. He didn't come to the library to capture anyone, let alone Michelle. And he wondered if she was telling the truth as well. It was possible that it was just a coincidence that they both ended up in the same library at the same time. But Michelle probably didn't even live in Kittery Point, so why was she even here? It does seem suspicious that she would just happen to be in the same library as they were, and at the same time as well. Even though Max did acknowledge Michelle's story as a likely scenario, it still didn't seem completely probable that this entire situation was pure coincidence. Perhaps Michelle had followed them in here, and if so, the only reason he could think of was so that she could get close to Caruso without getting spotted.

Part of him did want to let Michelle go. She hadn't actually threatened anyone yet and she did look genuinely scared. Whatever she had done to Caruso to make him scared was probably just an accident. With how paranoid the kid has been lately, it's quite likely that he was just overreacting, just like Buzz was. His hatred for Michelle has caused him to act in ways that he never seen the punk kid do before. No matter what Michelle said, he knew that Buzz was just going to twist up her words and through them back at her. He would never give her the benefit of the doubt. To him, everything she says was a lie unless she was acting in the way he had expected her to: cruel, insane, and evil. Max didn't want to be like that. He wanted to act as fair to Michelle as he possibly could without letting his emotions get in the way.

And yet, capturing Michelle might do them some good. Michelle worked for Veloci for an extended amount of time, possibly about as long as they've been the Dino Squad even. She may not know everything about Victor, but she might know enough to give them some kind of advantage. Perhaps she would even know the cure for Moynihan by now, provided that she had talked to Victor about it at all. And even if she didn't know that, she could provide other information, and she could act as a hostage. Since she could turn into a dinosaur, Victor might be more willing to do what he could to get her back on his side. They could force Victor into a checkmate if they took Michelle...

Finally Max's expression softened. He looked at Michelle, who was eyeing him fearfully. Then he looked over at each of his friends. They were waiting to hear his answer. Max looked over at Caruso, who hadn't taken his eyes off of Michelle for the past few minutes. He wanted to say something to him, anything to get him to calm down, but no words would come out of his mouth. He looked back over at Michelle and his eyes narrowed slightly once more. “Perhaps we could take her to the lighthouse for questioning...” Before anyone could say anything further, he quickly added, “Just for questioning! Nothing else!”

“Why not?” Buzz asked, sounding both confused and disappointed. He was hoping that Max was going to say that she was going to become their prisoner. She deserved it after what she had done, after all. “She wouldn't do the same for us...”

“If we act like them, we become them.” Max said sternly and looked back over to Michelle. “Just come quietly with us, and we'll get it over with as quickly as possible...” He reached out towards her, but, out of self-defense, Michelle swatted his hand away. Max rubbed his hand, which stung a little from the strike. “What did you do that for? I wasn't going to hurt you!”

Michelle was trembling in fear and her eye glow had gotten more intense. She tried to take a step back, but she hit her ankle against the side of the book case and she almost fall onto the ground. Max tried to reach out towards her again, aiming to seize her arm so she couldn't get away. But Michelle swatted his hand back yet again and bared her teeth at him defensively. “Don't you dare touch me!” She said in a voice slightly darker than normal. She finally couldn't take the fear inside of her anymore and she found herself transforming out of instinct. Luckily no one was around to witness the blue glow surrounding her and her body shape-shifting into that of a Guanlong Wucaii.

Max took a step back as he stared up at Michelle, who was now a little taller than he was. Michelle glared down at him for a few seconds, and then gripped him by the shirt with her jaws. She lifted him straight up into the air. He looked at her in shock and she just simply narrowed her eyes. 'I won't let you take me!' Michelle then lowered her head slightly and thrusted her neck in one direction and released her jaws. Max found himself being thrown into the ground a couple feet from the Dino Squad. The Dino Squad looked at Max in horror of what had happened to him and then looked back at Michelle. 'Get out of my way!' Michelle leaped forward, sailing over the kids' heads and then made a mad dash towards the exist, not caring that so many people were going to see her in dino mode.

As Fiona helped Max back up to his feet, Rodger and Buzz were already about to chase down Michelle. They held back though, waiting for word from Max. The jock brushed himself off and looked over to where Michelle was. She had already made it towards the main lobby. But instead of going through the door, she leaped through the window. The sound of shattering glass filled the library, causing some people from the outside to come over to investigate. This wasn't good, Max thought. Michelle was in dino mode out in the city. Who knows what kind of damage she could do unless they stopped her?

Max pointed towards the front of the library and shouted, “After her!”

That was all Rodger and Buzz needed to hear and then they quickly took off, being a few feet ahead of the others. Max quickly followed suit, following Rodger and Buzz as they chased after Michelle. Even though she was in dino mode, she still couldn't be faster than their bicycles, which they had brought along with them. As they opened up the library doors and headed out to get their bikes before Michelle could get too far out of site, Fiona had to grab Caruso and pull him towards the exit. He was eyeing the main lobby with a look of fear on his face and he clearly did not want to go. But Fiona wasn't about to leave him alone in the library.

“Come on, Caruso! We have to go! Now!” Fiona said to him.

“I-I..I don't want to go... She..She might...” Caruso started to say, his body trembling in terror.

“Caruso, we promise that we won't let her do anything to do!” Fiona said. She looked out of the library and could see that Max, Buzz, and Rodger, and already sped past the library in pursuit of Michelle. “Look, let's just go before we get left behind.” She managed to pull Caruso towards the door. There were a few onlookers, but she paid them no mind. She pulled Caruso out towards the door and headed towards their bikes. She managed to convince Caruso to get on his Stego-Cycle and follow her. Fiona got on her Spino-Cycle and she and Caruso quickly sped forward towards the others as they continued their chase.

* * *

Michelle did her best to ignore the screams of terror as she continued to run down the streets. People took notice of her and screamed in horror, many of them running away before she could reach them. Michelle wasn't sure if the Dino Squad was following her or not, but she was too scared to look behind her. She dashed between people, jumped over cars, knocked over equipment of construction workers, and accidentally broke a few windows as her tail swished from side to side, striking a few things because she wasn't being careful enough. Michelle nearly ran into a few people, letting out a roar of surprise. A few people tried to strike at her in self defense, but she managed to get away before they could do anything. Finally Michelle had to stop to take a short break. She still had plenty of energy left, but she needed to catch her breath. She then scented something familiar and looked over. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw the Dino Squad coming after them on their dinosaur-like motorcycles. Shrieking, she took off again.

She could hear them shouting something, but she couldn't figure out what they were saying. It didn't matter anyway. Judging just from the emotion and the fact that they were still chasing her told her enough. They were either telling her to stop or telling the others to hurry up, or that she was spotted. Michelle regretted transforming into a dinosaur to get away. Sure, the black coloration could help her disappear into shadows, and it did provide her with more stamina upon which to use to escape. But it also made her an easier target to spot. How difficult could it be to identity her in dino mode? There was no one else in Raptor Dyne, or no one at all for that matter, who looks like her Guanlong Wucaii form. But it was too late to change back now. What was she going to do?

Michelle continued to dodge the humans that were in her way. A few times, she didn't stop and purposely knocked down a few people just to get them out of her way so she could get through. A few cars skidded to a stop in front of her as she jumped on top of them, her weight dealing minimal damage to the cars, and jumped over them. A few cars skidded across the road and nearly crashed into one another as the drivers looked in awe and shock at the dinosaur that was running through the city. Michelle worked up the courage to look behind her. The Dino Squad were still following her, avoiding all the obstacles in their path. Unlike her, however, the Dino Squad were being careful not to cause further damage and were sticking to only paths that were clear enough for them to go through. Michelle looked ahead of her and saw that there was a raised section of concrete with some kind of bush or vegetation that was planted there for decoration. Michelle's foot got caught and she fell forward, but quickly got up. She started to panic. That fall would have taken precious time away from her. She had to do something quickly to give her an edge.

Just then, Michelle saw something that just might give her an advantage perhaps. Out in front of her, she spotted a large building. It didn't take her long to realize it was the mall. She looked behind her. The Dino Squad were fast closing in on her. Michelle looked back towards the building. She pondered if she should be in dino mode running through the mall or if she turn back into human form and keep running. She quickly decided to change back to human. The Dino Squad couldn't possibly take their bikes with them through here. They would have to leave them behind and that would slow them down, giving her a chance to get away from them. Michelle bolted towards the mall, a swift glow appearing on herself as she shifted back into her human self. As she put her hand on the door knob, she looked over her shoulder. The Dino Squad were now on the mall's parking lot. She quickly ran inside the mall.

* * *

Max quickly stopped his Tyranno-Cycle, tilting it towards the side and supporting it with one leg on the ground. He pulled off his helmet and frowned as he stared at the mall. Michelle was pretty clever, he had to admit it. She must have known that going in here would slow them down enough to make them lose her. “Oh no. She went into the mall!” He said, sounding a bit frustrated. “I don't know if we can catch up to her now.”

Buzz had already put his Pterano-Cycle against the side of the building and was heading towards the door. He looked over his shoulder. “If we stay out here and don't go in after her, she will get away!” Despite the odds now being against the team, Buzz wasn't about to give up hope. He believe that they could do this if they simply try hard enough. Michelle couldn't simply disappear and he would recognize her anywhere, even in a crowd. And if all else failed, they could simply scent her out with their dinosaur powers.

Rodger set down his Styraco-Cycle against the side of the building and followed Buzz towards the door. He looked over at Max briefly and said, “Buzz is right, yo. We have to keep going! Look, we already wasted enough time! But if we hurry up, we can catch up to her!” Max, Fiona, and Caruso hesitated for a few seconds, and then put their motorcycles against the building as well and made their way inside.

The mall was pretty busy that day, as if they couldn't tell already from all the cars that were out in the parking lot. The Dino Squad looked around, seeing multiple faces, some looking at them, some ignoring them, others looking away. There was enough room to maneuver around though, and there weren't too many crowds. Bu Michelle could easily hide somewhere in this mall, or easily leave. And since she wasn't in dino mode anymore, they couldn't track her down as easily. The team moved in further into the mall, looking left to right, trying to find any sign of Michelle. They could see a few stands of people trying to sell things like shampoo, computers, and jewelry. They could see some stores that were so busy, people were lining up outside the store. They could even take notice that almost all the benches located in the mall were occupied by at least one person. But they couldn't see Michelle anywhere.

“Darn...I think we waited too long...” Rodger said softly. “There's so many people here, and too many stores. What's the likelihood of us spotting Michelle in all of this?”

Buzz glared at Max. “This is your fault!”

“What? How is this my fault?” Max asked, sounding offended.

“If you had just gone inside the mall right away instead of stopping there, staring at the mall, and giving Michelle enough time to get away, we could have gotten to her faster and she would not have gotten away!” Buzz snapped, jabbing his finger in Max's direction.

“How was I supposed to know she was going to go in here?” Max said, defending himself. “And what was I supposed to do anyway? Just ride the motorcycle into the building? Is that what you wanted?!” He felt someone tap on his shoulder. Growling, he looked over to see who it was. It was Fiona. “What do you want?”

“I don't think it's a good idea to discuss these things here, guys.” Fiona said in a low voice. She pointed her thumb in the direction of a few bystanders, who were looking over at the group of teens curiously. Max and Buzz gulped, trying to hide their nervousness. They wondered how much the group had overheard and if they were suspicious of them. They might think that they're a group of criminals out to kidnap someone and they might call the police on them, or mall security. And that was the last thing that they needed. Fortunately, Fiona thought of a good cover up. “Yeah, that was great acting guys! Practice a little more, and you'd be perfect for the roles!”

Max was confused at first, but quickly caught on to what Fiona was doing. He backed her up. “Yes..yes. Thanks. I was up practicing all night.” He glanced over towards the bystanders. They were looking each other and nodding their heads. Then they turned and walked away. Max smiled. It seemd Fiona's plan had worked. But it might not work every time and if they continue discussing Michelle, it's likely someone would catch on to what they were going to do and call security. They would need to be more careful. “Okay, from now one, less talking, more searching.” He ordered the others and they continued on with their search for Michelle.

But where were they going to find her in this huge mall? It wasn't like they were going to bump into her like they had at the library. That was simply dumb luck. Michelle was probably watching them right now, taking every precaution to ensure that they would not see her. She might be hiding in one of the clothing stores, which were among the largest stores in this kind of mall. She might be over at a beauty parlor, getting a facial done. While the team could not imagine her doing that, they didn't think it would be above Michelle do that out of desperation, since only paying customers could be in the back room where Michelle was likely to be.

Buzz looked straight up. He thought he caught a dark shadow moving across the level just above the team, the second floor to the mall. He started backing away, putting a hand over his eyes and tried to get a better look. Whatever he had seen, it had vanished relatively quickly. He continued to back up as the team continued to move forward. He was certain that whatever he saw up there was probably Michelle and she couldn't have gone too far. But as he backed away, he wasn't looking where he was going. Suddenly he felt himself hit against something soft and warm. The person he had bumped into let out a yelp and Buzz's eyes widened, then narrowed in anger. He knew that voice! He looked around and spotted Michelle. Apparently, she had been backing away, probably trying to find where they were, and accidentally bumped into him. She was looking over at him, frozen in fear.

“Michelle!” Buzz said, loud enough for the team to hear. The team looked over and quickly spotted Michelle. They moved over as fast as they could to try and grab Michelle before she got away. Buzz spread out his arms and lunged forward, trying to grab onto Michelle. But he missed her completely; she had turned around and bolted back towards the front of the mall. A few onlookers were watching, curious to know what was going on. The Dino Squad forgot about the people watching them and simply focused on Michelle, who had now bolted out of the mall and was back on the parking lot. The Dino Squad quickly followed suit, exiting the building and seeing Michelle almost halfway across the parking lot already.

Fiona and Caruso stopped in their tracks as their friends ran out ahead of them. Fiona looked over at the motorcycles, still leaning against the side of the building. Shouldn't they be grabbing those to chase after Michelle? And what if someone tried to steal them? Well stealing them wouldn't be a problem; Rodger and Fiona had devised a way to ensure that they wouldn't be stolen. The bikes each had a tracker in them so that if someone managed to steal one, they could easily track its location and get it back. Realizing that Fiona and Caruso weren't following them, Max stopped, along with Rodger and, eventually, Buzz. They looked back at them, wondering what they were doing, and looked over at Michelle, who was getting further away with each second that had passed.

Max asked, “What are you doing? Come on!” Max motioned with his hand to get Fiona and Caruso to move forward. They didn't have much time to waste. “She's going to get away!”

“But..shouldn't we take the motorcycles?” Fiona asked, gesturing towards the motorcycles. “Wouldn't that be faster?”

Buzz looked out ahead. Since he was the furthest up front, he had a clearer view of Michelle than the others did. He squinted his eyes, holding his hand flat above his eyes to try and get a better look. Michelle had ran between a couple of trees, and Buzz's eyes widened. He knew that area. He quickly looked back towards Fiona and shook his head. “No can do, Fiona. She just went into the forested area past the mall! There's no way we could bring the cycles with us!”

“But that's good news.” Rodger said, raising up a finger. “That means the forest is densely populated with plants, which means it will be harder for Michelle to maneuver in there, even in dino mode. Which means...”

“She'll be easier to catch!” Max said as he realized what Rodger was trying to say.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!” Buzz didn't wait for the others to respond. He immediately bolted forward, heading towards the forest where Michelle had dashed off into. The others looked at each other, but immediately started following Buzz. Even if Michelle couldn't go through the forest very well due to all the plants, if they let her continue to gain more distance from them, they wouldn't be able to catch her. She would get away from them.

* * *

Michelle was afraid to look back. She couldn't hear anything, though, other than her own heavy breathing and her feet pounding the floor as she ran. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, beating so fast that she thought it would tear open. She couldn't afford to look back anyway; the forest she had ran into to try to get away was so dense that, even if she were to go dino, it would be hard to navigate. But she chose to run into here because she thought it would be the best place to go to try to get away from the Dino Squad. She wondered if they were foolish enough to follow her in here with their bikes. She hoped that they did do that; that meant that it would be harder for them to catch up to her. They would be continuously trying to avoid trees and bushes and roots to keep an eye on her.

Michelle shifted her body to dodge another tree. She winced as she felt her skin scrape against its bark. But she didn't have time to tend to it. Even though she couldn't hear anyone following her, she had to keep running. She wasn't out of danger yet. The Dino Squad could still catch up to her if she slowed down for too long. The sound of twigs snapping filled her eyes as she accidentally pounded her foot onto a few fragile pieces of bark on the ground. She could also hear grass crumpling as she ran across it and she constantly had to fight through low branches. A few smacked her in the face, but she simply pushed them out of the way and continued to run forward. She nearly tripped over a few rocks, but she managed to stop herself just in time and jump over them. But when she jumped over one, she fell forward onto her knees. She grunted in pain, but quickly got up and continued on her mad dash to get away.

Up ahead, she saw that the forest was doing a dip downward. Michelle was now running down a hill and her footing was becoming more and more precarious. It was going to be easier for her to slip if she wasn't careful. She could have ran back and chose another path, but it was too late for that now. She had nowhere else to run, so she just continued down the hill despite the dangers. She still managed to jump over the roots and the rocks and she zipped between multiple wild pushes and closely grown trees. She tripped a few times and fell down, but she managed to get up and still continued to run, ignoring the pain in her legs, which were now a little bruised up from banging them too many times whenever she tripped on rocks or roots. If she continued down this path, she could potentially reach safety. Surely the Dino Squad would not be stupid enough to follow her down here.

Suddenly Michelle heard a cry from Buzz. “GOTCHA!” Before she could react, Michelle felt something grab onto her. She knew it was Buzz; there was no mistaking that voice. She let out a cry of surprise. The sudden impact of Buzz's body against hers caused her to lose her footing. She and Buzz both fell forward and started tumbling down the hill. Buzz kept a grip on Michelle's arms, trying to wrestle her to the ground despite rolling down the hill. Once they hit the ground, they were knocked from each other, Buzz going one way and Michelle going off in the other. They lay there for several seconds, dazed and confused by what had happened.

Michelle recovered first. She quickly climbed up to her feet. She didn't have time to look behind her. She had to get out of here! She looked at Buzz, backing away slowly. Then she tried to turn and run away. But she didn't get very far. She could sense someone was behind her, already so close that she wouldn't even have time to get a running start to get away. Suddenly, two large, strong arms grabbed onto her. One pressed against her upper chest, at the base of her throat while the other went across her stomach. Michelle felt herself being pressed against something large and warm. She tried to squirm to get away, but whoever had her had a strong grip on her.

“You're not going anywhere!” Rodger said. He was the one who had grabbed Michelle. He had followed Buzz close behind and when he saw his friend rolling down the hill, he quickly followed suit, moving as fast as he could move without falling down. When they hit the ground, he expected Michelle to get up and run, but when she just lay there, that bought him enough time to get down there before she recovered enough to get away. “Make it easier on yourself and just give up!”

Michelle struggled frantically. “No!” She managed to free one arm. Once she did, she elbowed Rodger as hard as she could in his stomach. He winced in pain and released her, but recovered quickly enough to grab onto one of her legs. Michelle screamed as she fell onto the ground face first. She tried to get back up but she suddenly felt herself being pushed into the ground by someone else. She looked up to see Buzz, who had recovered from his fall.

“You're not getting away this time!” Buzz said. He had placed both hands on her back and was pushing her as hard as he could into the ground to subdue her. Michelle frantically kicked at the dirt beneath her feet, but something stopped her and she realized Rodger was helping as well. He had a grip on her legs and was holding them as still as he could. A few times one of the legs got free and struck out at him, but he managed to grab it and pin it back down.

“Let me go!” Michelle started clawing at the ground with her hands, trying to pull herself away from these two boys. Just then, she felt someone grab her right arm and pin it onto the ground. She looked over to see Fiona glaring down at her with a determined look on her face. Then she felt another person grab her other arm and pin it down. She looked over to see Caruso. She was shocked. Despite his fear, he had worked up the courage to approach her. Although, that was not going to help her situation. She was now being pinned down practically from all sides.

Max was the last person to arrive onto the scene. He saw Michelle pinned to the ground. Buzz was holding down her body. Rodger was holding down her legs. Caruso was holding down one arm while Fiona was holding down the other. Yet despite this, Michelle continued to struggle, trying to buck a little to push Buzz off of her so she'd have somewhat of a chance of getting away. Max quickly rushed forward to offer some assistance. Once he reached Michelle, he went over to the opposite side that Buzz was on. He pressed one hand against Michelle's back and pushed her down as hard as he could. With the other hand, he grabbed her head and twisted it onto one side. He then pressed his hand against the side of her face and pushed down, pinning her head, on its side, on the ground.

Michelle panicked even more. Usually, she could easily knock someone off of her, but there was now five people holding her down. The combined strength was more than she could handle and she felt herself becoming weaker as she tried in vain to get out. She was too frightened at this point to think of going dino, which gave the Dino Squad the upper hand; they could more easily control her in human form. Yet despite her being pinned down by five people, she was still putting up a good fight, almost freeing a limb from one of the teenagers. And the Dino Squad were starting to get a little exhausted from trying to hold her down. If they were going to take her for interrogation, they would need to restrain her in some way.

Suddenly, Rodger had an idea, recalling what Buzz had picked up at the lighthouse earlier on. “Bind her arms!” He barked the order and immediately Buzz and Max both released Michelle to pull out the rope that they had brought with them for no apparent reason. Michelle took this chance to try to get free, but Buzz and Max quickly pressed her feet onto her back to secure her long enough for them to prepare the rope. “Bind her arms behind her back!” Rodger shouted again, digging his nails into Michelle's legs as he gripped her tighter to ensure that she would not escape.

“No!” Michelle objected, trying to get her arms free from Fiona and Caruso's grasp. As she felt her arms being pulled roughly behind her back, she tried in vain to pull them away. “Let me go!” But it was useless.

The Dino Squad refused to listen to her. Caruso and Fiona continued to pull her arms back behind her. They pulled them as far as they could go, making sure that the arms overlapped one another almost like a cross. They held the arms there as Max and Buzz knelt down, careful not to apply too much pressure to Michelle's back as they were not trying to kill her. Despite Michelle's wild struggles and constant attempts, all in vain, to get away, they managed to wrap the rope around her arms, binding them behind her back. Then they released her to see if the bonds were tight enough. Michelle tried to get her hands free, even trying to transform her arms at one point. But she winced in pain and immediately changed then back. Her dino arms can't bend like that and if she transformed her arms, she could break them. That was why Rodger thought of tying them behind her back.

Rodger released her legs and then grabbed onto Michelle again. The others released her, believing that Rodger was strong enough to hold her long enough to finish tying her up. Max and Buzz then grabbed the remaining rope that they still had. They wrapped it around her body as tightly as they could without cutting off blood supply. Soon, Michelle's arms were pinned at her sides, securing her arms behind her back even more. Michelle growled angrily and in a frightened manner. Her eyes started to glow a little, regaining some of her senses to transform. Baring sharp fangs, she tried to lash out at Rodger and anyone who was close enough to her. She snapped her jaws several times, trying in vain to seize someone in her jaws in an attempt to defend herself, but everyone managed to steer clear of her teeth. Suddenly, someone struck at her with an open palm. Her cheek stinging in pain, Michelle looked over to see who had struck her and noticed that it was Fiona who had done so. Michelle's eyes widened in shock.

“Stop that!” Fiona growled, her hand still raised in the air. “You're just going to make the situation worse for yourself if you do that again!” She raised her hand even higher to prove her point. Michelle's eyes widened in fear and she quickly shut her mouth and lowered her head. Happy to see that Michelle understood her, Fiona lowered her hand slowly, putting it back on her side. “I'm glad to see that we understand each other.”

Suddenly, Michelle attempted to struggle again. She jerked her body left and right, trying to free herself from Rodger's grasp. She eventually managed to get him to let go of her with one arm, although he still had a hold of her. Before she could jerk another time to get free, she felt someone grab one of her bound arms and pulled her back into position. She looked over to see Caruso. Then someone else grabbed her other arm. She looked over to see Buzz, who was glaring at her angrily. She quickly looked away. She tried to struggle again, but her efforts were becoming less and less intense, less frequent, and less forceful. She was expending a lot of energy just trying to get away and she was running out of energy fast. Her arms were getting exhausted from trying to free them and her legs were also getting tired from the constant struggling. Finally, she couldn't struggle any longer and nearly became limp on the Dino Squad's arms. If it weren't for the fact that they were holding her up, she would have fallen onto the ground.

Seeing that Michelle was completely subdued, Max stepped towards her. He positioned himself directly in front of her. He continued to move towards her until he was only about a foot away from her. He waited until she looked up at him before he did anything. Once her eyes locked onto his, Max lowered himself so he could be eye level with her. He then spoke in a calm yet assertive voice. “Listen carefully, Michelle. We are just going to take you to the lighthouse for questioning. I suggest you give us your full cooperation and we'll let you go after we're through. If you don't cooperate...” Although it was not necessary, Max flashed his claws in front of her face, close enough so that she could see the sharp tips. “...you could get hurt. Do you understand me?”

Michelle nodded her head slowly, her widened eyes fixated on the claws. “Yes, I do...”

Max straightened up. “That's good that you do understand. But mark my words...” His voice got a little deeper and before he could stop himself, he found himself saying, “..hurt one of my friends, and I'll be sure you won't live to hurt them again...” He quickly shut his mouth after saying that. He didn't know why he had said it. He wasn't trying to hurt Michelle or anything, but he had just now threatened her life. Michelle gasped and cringed away from him when he looked back at her, and Max couldn't help but feel guilty about what he had just said.

But Buzz wasn't as sympathetic as Max was. He seemed a little happy to see Michelle in a frightened state, but he couldn't help but feel that she was just faking it to try and make them feel sorry for her. “Quit your acting, you spy!” He jerked on her arm roughly. “We all know you're just faking it!”

Max grabbed Buzz's arm tightly, trying to assert his authority as leader. “Buzz, don't do that!”

“Why not? She deserves it!” Buzz shouted.

Max let out a long sigh. Then he said, “Look, are we going to take her to the lighthouse or what?”

“How are we going to get there?” Fiona asked. “We don't exactly have a vehicle..and people are going to notice that we are taking a bound girl hostage. We could get reported, and, even worse, cops could come after us!”

Buzz gestured his head in one direction. “We could just walk there. I know a path to the lighthouse from here. We can just call Moynihan and tell her to pick up our vehicles.”

“Good idea.” Max nodded at Buzz. Then he glanced over at Michelle, and delivered a command directed at those holding her. “Okay, let's head to the lighthouse.” All Michelle could do was hang her head in submission as she was forced to walk with the Dino Squad towards the lighthouse. She couldn't help but wonder what they had in store for her there and if she would ever get out...

* * *

“Hmm....” Victor's eyes narrowed as he looked at the scans yet again. They had picked up signs that Michelle was not only at Kittery Point again, but was in dino mode and running in so many directions that it looked almost like she was being chased. She had apparently gone back to human form after she had reached what appeared to be a mall, and after that, no signals appeared on the scanners, nothing of interest anyway. Victor could only guess that Michelle got away, but even that was not a given. If she was after the Dino Squad, and he would be upset with her if she was, she could have been captured because she was outnumbered.

Victor pondered what he should do. He could simply ignore it and move onto other things of more immediate concern. Michelle had dinosaur form, after all, and she could very well take care of herself. If she was captured by the Dino Squad, then she could get herself free from them and get away. She was more capable than many of his other workers and was no pushover once she sets her mind on things. But he couldn't help but feel something was wrong with what he had seen on the scanners. If Michelle had truly gotten away, wouldn't she have gone done afterwards to gain an advantage? That never showed up on the scanners, indicating that it never happened. And what if she couldn't get away? And what kind of things would they question Michelle on?

Well that really wasn't much of a mystery. Victor knew that they were going to try to get her to reveal anything she knew about Raptor Dyne. Anything she was forced to tell them, whether or not it was stuff they probably knew already or did not know, Victor couldn't be sure. There was a lot about Raptor Dyne that the kids probably did not know, but Victor himself wasn't completely sure on everything that they did know about Raptor Dyne. One thing that was definitely a given was that they knew that he had plans to bring back the dinosaurs to replace the humans as the dominant species. And he also knew that they are aware that he often uses Latin as the primary language he uses on his equipment and sometimes even his journals. He chose Latin because he knew of very little humans who could read it and if anyone did stumble upon Raptor Dyne, they wouldn't know what was going on.

But that's not going to stop the Dino Squad from discovering anything if they were to invade Raptor Dyne again in the near future. It was apparent that they had at least a small grasp on Latin and could probably decipher many of his writings, albeit more slowly than a more fluent person like himself could. Yet despite the obvious fact that Latin wouldn't deter the students, Victor had not considered changing the language. It was the rarest language that he could speak; nothing he spoke was more obscure than Latin. At least, as a written language. He had pondered using Velociraptor language at one point, but he found it difficult to make up human words that matched the Velociraptor language precisely. There were sounds that a Velociraptor could make that a human was simply unable to mimic, which was one of the reasons that it would have been impossible to create a Velociraptor language using human words.

Victor's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of the elevator door opening. He knew who it was going to be. He swiveled his chair over and saw Oscura walking into the room. He had called her in not too long ago because of his concerns about Michelle's possible capture. He knew that Oscura was not going to be willing to go rescue Michelle. He knew how very poorly those two got along. So he had thought of a different task for her. And she would probably take some interest in it, as well...

Oscura looked up at the scanners. Since she had just arrived in, she didn't see the blip that was Michelle in dino mode. All she saw was a large, green map showing no activity that was dinosaur-related. Oscura placed her hands on her hips and shook her head slowly. “Nothing exciting today. You'd think that we could do at least one more mutant experiment...”

“The Dino Squad would jeopardize it, like they always have.” Victor said, feeling a little angry. “It's been like that ever since they first showed up in that harbor, when that mutant Megalodon had made its first..and only appearance.” Victor turned his head up to look at the scans. “They've been a thorn in my side for far too long...”

“Then why don't you just kill them now?” Oscura suggested, shrugging her shoulders. “I mean, if you want them out of your way, why not just deal with them now?”

Victor nodded his head. “In due time, Oscura..In due time... But not now.”

“Why not?” Oscura asked, as if she really didn't know the reason.

“You know the reason as well as I do.” Victor narrowed his eyes. “I need them alive to obtain blood samples from them first.”

Oscura nodded her head. “Oh of course. My bad.” She said in an insincere way. Then something else came to her mind. “Did you ever figure out what makes their dinosaur genes so perfect?” She didn't know why she asked that. It just came out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying. “I mean...”

Victor shook his head. “No, I have not. At least, not completely.” Victor looked over at Oscura. “I still haven't figured out how you and Michelle got perfect dinosaur modes.” Then he leaned in a little closer. “Although perhaps I should also take blood samples from you and Michelle.”

“Why?” Oscura questioned.

“You were both contaminated by the same primordial ooze that infected the Dino Squad and their precious canine mutt unless I am mistaken...” Victor said. “Hopefully, after analyzing all the blood samples, I can finally figure out what made the genes so perfect. And once I figure out what it is, a more advanced, perfected primordial ooze will be unleashed, transforming all animal life into dinosaurs!”

“And then what?” Oscura suddenly asked, catching Victor off guard.

“What are you talking about?” Victor asked.

“I mean what do you plan to do after you transform all life? Are you going to destroy cities? Burn down buildings?” Oscura asked, raising up her arms. “I mean, how is this going to work? Surely you thought of this before!”

Victor opened up his mouth to reply, but then paused and lowered his gaze. He honestly hadn't really thought about it. All this time, he was simply focused on trying to figure out how to bring back not only the dinosaurs, but other prehistoric life from sixty-five million years ago. He was focusing on trying to bring back these endangered species and how he was going to succeed in reintroducing them. But it hadn't crossed his mind on what he was going to do after all of that. What was he going to do with all his equipment and his base? Was he going to just destroy it since it would not longer be of use to him? And since he had gotten used to transforming into a human for so long, could he really abandon this power immediately? He shook his head slowly. Of course he could learn to live without it. He was a dinosaur!

Victor snarled at Oscura. “Of course I had thought of it before! But it's really none of your business what I do!” He was lying through his teeth, but Oscura probably didn't know that. “Humans are too curious for their own good! Curiosity killed the cat, as some would say.” Victor shook his head as he said that, slightly confused.

Oscura shook her head. She didn't know why she was asking these questions. It was probably just simply curiosity, as Victor suspected, that had gotten the better of her. “Still, it doesn't hurt to ask. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to go through with any plan unless you know how it's going to turn out, or have a backup.” Oscura smirked a little as she said that. She could have used this advice earlier when she was trying to get rid of Michelle. She then looked back up at Victor, who was scowling at her. She couldn't help but smile happily. She found herself saying, “You're cute.”

Victor's eyes widened a little. “What did you just say?”

Realizing what she just said, Oscura looked away, feeling a little embarrassed. “Oh nothing! I said nothing.” She said quickly. But she knew that, even if he didn't question her further on it, Victor was aware that she was slightly attracted to him. Oscura was not too interested in becoming his 'mate' or anything. But she did enjoy his presence. And she was being honest when she said that she thought he looked cute.

Victor decided to return to the matters at hand. He looked back at the scanners. “Do you know why I called you here, Oscura?” He asked her in a soft voice. But he knew what the answer was going to be. She was not going to have any clue, or perhaps she would have an idea, but it would be completely wrong. He looked over at her and awaited for her answer.

Oscura scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Are you going to have me go find Michelle? I know she's been gone for a little while now..” She looked up at the scanners. “And judging from the way you are looking at that thing, you probably spotted her in dino mode shortly before I came in, didn't you?” Oscura asked.

Victor narrowed his eyes and nodded his head. “Yes, but that is not why I called you in.” Oscura cocked an eyebrow. “Do you think I am fool in sending you after her? I'm not going to risk letting you two get into a fight again. I do not want to lose either of you because you two are of great value to me...”

Oscura chuckled. “Don't flatter us! You only wanted us here because of our dinosaur forms.” Oscura ran her fingers through her black hair. “If it weren't for that, you would have sent us on our merry way and you would never have hired us to be in Raptor Dyne.”

Victor ignored Oscura's statement and got right on with what he had wanted her to do. Although it was going to create a drastic change in plans, the reason he decided to make the change was because he did not trust Kista to perform her tasks at the right moment. She was supposed to go get the weapons before she tried to kill Caruso, but knowing her and her love of a challenge, she would likely try to kill Caruso first, thus blowing her cover. So he thought that perhaps he should give the invasion plan to Oscura. She was rather sneaky and could probably pull it off more efficiently than Kista even.

“I was going to send you to the lighthouse.” Victor simply said.

Oscura looked confused. She tilted her head and asked, “But, sir, didn't you give that assignment to Kista? I thought she was in charge of that...”

Victor narrowed his eyes. “Do you really expect someone like Kista to perform her jobs as asked? She would probably go after Caruso first and once she does so much as lay a claw on him, the team is going to become wary of her and not allow her to get anywhere near the lighthouse!”

“Not like they are going to trust me any more than her.” Oscura said, shaking her head with a small smile on her face. “After what I did to them, it's not likely they are going to let me anywhere near the lighthouse either. So how could sending me be any better?”

“Because I trust you.” Victor replied. He looked back over at the scanners on the computer to get the location of the area where Michelle was last spotted. “With how sneaky you can be, you might be able to pull it off. After all, Michelle was able to get into the lighthouse and performed her job as expected.” Things might be a little easier than he thought because if the Dino Squad had indeed engaged Michelle, it was miles away from the lighthouse. If Oscura hurried up, she could get into the lighthouse, grab the weapons, and leave before the Dino Squad could return and see what was going on.

Oscura blinked a few times and then a creepy smile came onto her face. That pretty much would make Michelle eat her own words. Victor did still have some trust left in her. And if that is the case, then not only would she win back more of his favor by pulling off this task, but she would also use whatever trust he had left for her to convince him that Michelle was nothing but a useless traitor. Oscura tried her best not to laugh at this. Perhaps soon, very soon, she will finally be rid of Michelle once and for all. “Okay sir. I'll go to the lighthouse, and I promise you, I will not fail...”

“I'm sure you won't...” Victor said, smiling as he watched Oscura take her leave.

* * *

“Oof!” Michelle groaned as she was shoved backwards. She felt herself hit something soft, knowing that it was the couch. The team had brought her into the living room. They weren't very gentle as they kept shoving her to keep up or pushing her back to make sure she did not pass them. And getting into the lighthouse was terrible. She thought she was going to fall down every time she was shoved to and fro to make sure that she stayed in between them. She managed to keep her balance until they got her into the living room, where one of them, Buzz, proceeded to shove her into the couch.

Michelle slowly moved her head up. At first, she eyed the team warily. But she found her eyes wandering, looking around the familiar surroundings. She remembered this place. Even though she was only in here once, the whole place seemed very familiar to her. Her memory was foggy, but she was certain that she was sitting roughly in the same spot as she was when she was being treated. Back then, the team didn't know that she worked for Victor and they seemed so willing to help her. But now things were different. She was not going to get any special treatment this time. She knew that. And when she looked back at them, their expressions almost confirmed her suspicions. There was no sympathy in any of the eyes staring back at her. Only fear and anger.

Michelle wanted to look away. She could not stand staring into those eyes filled with rage and terror. Every time she stared into them, she could feel a cold chill go down her spine and she couldn't help but trembled. She was starting to feel like how she would if she were being interrogated by Victor. Memories of when she endured the war bridle came back to her. She had gotten so terrified back then. She thought she would never have to endure that kind of fear again, but she was quickly proven wrong. If she had only known that Caruso was going to be subjected to that kind of torture, maybe she could have stopped it. She found herself giving a sideways glance to Caruso. Although she could not see very clearly, she could see faint images that she knew were his scars. She gulped, not able to imagine the pain he must have endured.

Michelle's thoughts were interrupted when she felt a shadow being casted on her. She looked up, expecting to see Buzz. But instead it was Max who was looming over her. At first, she didn't know why because it was Buzz who seemed the most eager to question her. Then she realized why he was the one doing the questioning, just as he had before at the football field. He was the leader and he probably took it upon himself to do certain things such as ask questions. She moved a little back into the couch to try and give some distance between her and the jock, who was staring down at her with narrowed eyes. She wondered what he was going to do.

“Here's how it's going to work, Michelle. We ask you questions and you are to answer as quickly as you can. No back sassing, no back talking, just answers. You understand me?” Max asked. Michelle didn't say a word, but she did nod her head. Satisfied, Max leaned a little closer to her and said, “My first question is this. Just what were you doing at the library?”

Buzz growled and rolled his eyes. “Please! We already know why she was there!”

“Shhh! I want to hear her side of the story!” Max growled at Buzz before turning back to Michelle.

Michelle answered Max's question, but she was so frightened that, as she spoke, her voice was tremulous and shaky. “I-I was just th-th-there borrowing a book! That's all! I..I was n-not out looking for C-Caruso.. I didn't even know you g-g-guys were there! I swear!” She insisted, hoping that she could convince one of them that she spoke the truth. She looked over at Caruso. “I-I didn't mean to knock you down, Caruso. I-I-It was an accident! I wasn't l-looking where I was g-going...” She lowered her head a little. “I'm sorry.”

Buzz scoffed. “Yeah right! Why do you bother trying to lie to us?!” Buzz moved forward and grabbed Max and pushed him out of the way. Max looked at Buzz, in shock, but he wasn't able to get a word in edgewise when Buzz started yelling at Michelle, unable to hide his anger anymore. “You were the one who told us that you might kill him the next time you saw him! You were the one who said that practically everyone in Raptor Dyne was going to kill Caruso! You were the one who even helped in his capture! You planted that device on him! You lead Victor to the lighthouse!” Michelle cringed at every word. “This is all your fault that this had happened! If it weren't for you, Caruso never would have been kidnapped!”

Michelle opened her mouth to speak, but then Fiona interrupted. “Don't even bother to try to lie about that! We all saw it with our own eyes! Buzz is right. If it weren't for you, none of this ever would have happened! Everything was just fine until you showed up! Ever since you appeared, everything has been going downhill for us!” Fiona tried her best to hide her tears as she thought of what happened to Caruso and to the team when he was captured. “We almost lost someone we held dear... We were torn apart emotionally... And it was all because of you!” She pointed an accusing finger at Michelle, who cringed back even further into the couch, looking up at Fiona and Buzz in horror.

When Michelle didn't answer, Rodger spoke up. He narrowed his eyes at the girl, but didn't move any closer to her, seeing that she was already subdued by both Buzz and Fiona. “Do you deny it...?” He asked in a low voice. He and the others were expecting her to lie, but what she did eventually say took them by surprise.

Michelle's expression slowly went from horror to pained and shame. She closed her eyes and lowered her head. She thought for a few seconds and then slowly shook her head. “..no..I don't deny it. You are all right about that...what you said.” She slowly looked up at them, looking at them with eyes filled with guilt and shame about what she had done. “I was the one who put the tracker on Caruso..I was the one who hurt your teacher and destroyed most of your tracking-based equipment... I was the one who helped lead Victor to the lighthouse.. I helped in capturing Caruso...” She let out a deep sigh, closing her eyes again and bowing her head again. “It's true..it's all true...”

The room became silent almost immediately. The Dino Squad couldn't believe what they were hearing. This challenged what they thought they knew about Michelle. Not even Buzz had anything to say to that. He and the others could not accuse her of lying; what she had said was the truth and she was acknowledging it. She didn't try to come up with some kind of excuse to squeeze her way out of the situation she found herself stuck in. She didn't try to give off some witty remark to make them angry at her or frighten them or anything. The Dino Squad had expected her to lie. They thought she would try anything in her power to make them believe that she truly was never involved in any of those activities. But she did not and, to the shock of some of them, she actually looked as if she was a little guilty about what she had done.

Fiona and Max's expressions softened up. They abandoned their somewhat hostile postures and started to move a little bit away from Michelle. They both started feeling a little guilty about how they treated her, but not by much. They were still furious with her about what she did. But the fact that she had admitted her wrong doings instead of trying to lie about them had impressed them a bit. It must have taken a lot of courage for Michelle to admit what she did in front of them. Perhaps Michelle was not as deceiving as they thought and perhaps she wasn't just a liar out to destroy anyone she came across. Perhaps there was a chance that they had misjudged her, even just slightly.

But Rodger and Buzz remained unconvinced. They had to admit that it was a bit impressive that Michelle had confessed her crimes. But they did not see it as her actually feeling guilty about what she did. They believed she couldn't feel guilty about it at all; feeling no pity or sympathy for anyone. They believed that she only confessed her wrong doings so that they would trust her a little more and then she could spring yet another trap. After the way that she had tricked them a few weeks ago, they were not about to take any more chances with her. They just couldn't afford it. Anything and everything Michelle said could very well be a lie.

“Okay..so you admitted to that...” Buzz said, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “But that still doesn't' mean that we should trust anything else that you say! The last time that we bothered listening to you....” He closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to think about what had happened weeks ago. He closed a fist tightly, shaking in anger. “You won't get away with something like that ever again! I promise you that!” Michelle looked up at him horror. But Buzz and Rodger only glared down at her unsympathetically.

Max noticed Michelle's discomfort and quickly moved forward. He placed his hand on both Buzz and Rodger and gently pushed them away. “Come on, you guys. That's enough.” He said before looking down at Michelle. Michelle looked a little surprised that Max wasn't glaring at her this time and she thought that maybe she was finally getting through to someone. Then Max did something that the others were not expecting. He knelt down in front of Michelle until he was eye level with her, rather than looming over her like he and the others were before. Then he spoke in a voice that was nonthreatening and calming, and lacking any anger that it had earlier. “From how you told us those things....it sounded like you didn't want to do them...”

Michelle's eyes widened a little. How did Max know that? Perhaps the way she had spoken, yes, that probably could have given herself away, somehow. Or maybe it was the way she had acted. But that would have only revealed she was feeling guilty right that second. Nonetheless, Michelle took in a deep breath and slowly nodded her head. “Yes, you are correct...Max.” She felt a little bad that she had nearly forgotten Max's name. “I do feel bad about what I had done. I never wanted to do it. If I ever had a choice, I would never have done the things that I did...”

“Then why did you do it?” Fiona asked softly.

Michelle closed her eyes. “Because I..I didn't have a choice. I was forced to do it. If I didn't do it, I would have been...” She stopped herself and took in a deep breath again. “...do any of you know what it is like working for a Velociraptor?” Then her expression hardened slightly. “Oh but of course you know what it is like. You all work for one...” She shook her head. “Victor Veloci is just...cruel and insane... He is nothing but a monster...”

“Then why do you still work for him?” Max asked, cocking an eyebrow. “If you don't like working for him, why not just quit?”

“Do you know what he even does to traitors and people who turn their back on him?” Michelle asked in a frightened voice. “It's obvious that you do not. Well let me go ahead and sum it up for you. Those who leave him are threatened with death and those who betray him are killed. It's as simple as that. That's how Victor keeps his company's true intentions so secret. That's why you don't see anyone try to protest against Raptor Dyne. Those who try to are...taken care of as quickly as possible...”

“Well you could have still tried to get out out of there.” Max said, tilting his head slightly in one direction. “From what you said, people who quit do seem to survive; it is just those who outright betray him that are killed. Am I correct?”

Michelle nodded her head. “Partly. I've only ever known him to kill traitors. But I have heard rumors that some people that failed him, or quit on him, were also killed to ensure the secrecy of his company.”

“Then why not just take the chance and quit?” Max leaned a little closer to her. His eyes narrowed slightly, but not in anger. “I am being serious about this Michelle. You could have taken the chance and just quit. Chances are, Victor would not have pursued you if he believed you wouldn't talk about Raptor Dyne to anyone. You could have gotten out of the mess you claim you are currently in. You could have prevented much of this from happening if you had just quit when you started having doubts.”

Michelle flinched slightly. Max was correct. She could have quit much earlier on. She could have went back to a normal life, albeit in fear of running into Victor again. She could have saved herself from having to endure all of this nowadays. But she had remained at Raptor Dyne. It wasn't that she had never thought about getting out of this situation. It was that she was still afraid of trying to quit. And it was not only the consequences that she was worried about. There was something else in the mixture that made quitting even more difficult. “The fact that I can turn into a dinosaur makes quitting even harder.” She explained. “Victor sees my dinosaur transforming abilities as an asset and considers me and Oscura too valuable to allow either of us to simply leave. If I tried to quit, considering what I am capable of, I don't know how Victor will react. He could be enraged...” Michelle bowed her head. “That's another reason why I never quit.”

“I highly doubt that...” Rodger said. He was clearly angry, but his voice was surprisingly well controlled. “If you claim that Victor puts value in you and Oscura, then why did he treat Caruso the way that he had? Why did he torment him? Treat him like some..some wild animal? Why did he almost kill him?” Rodger wasn't sure if he could believe Michelle's claim. If Victor truly did put value in those who can transform, then wouldn't he have treated Caruso a little better? And if that kind of treatment was what Victor called 'gentle', then he would hate to see what his idea of 'harsh' was.

“Caruso was...is part of the Dino Squad.” Michelle said, raising her head up a little higher. “Since he is the enemy, Victor didn't think that he could...” Her voice trailed off. She didn't know what she was talking about all of a sudden and lost her train of thought. She shook her head. “Never mind it now.”

But that only made Rodger more suspicious. He wondered if Michelle was lying, which would not have surprised him in the least. Perhaps she was just trying to cover something up, and if this was true, what was she trying to hide from them? “I still don't believe you. You aren't making any sense...”

Michelle narrowed her eyes at him. “Let me try to answer your questions with one of my own. Let's say you had some kind of..I dunno company. Let's say you put value in a certain trait, and want to especially keep those kind of people on your team. Now let's say you had an arch enemy who had the same kind of traits that you wanted, and you capture this arch enemy.” She tilted her head to one side. “Now, would you treat that person like you would the other workers because of what they can do? Or would you treat them like the enemy? You and I both know what the answer to that is going to be...”

Rodger opened up his mouth to speak. But he could only mutter indistinct words that sounded more like grumbles than words. He hated to admit it, but Michelle was right. Being an enemy or a friend did make a huge difference. That was probably what she was talking about earlier. Victor knew Caruso was an enemy and that was why he had treated him differently from his dino-morphing workers. But that was still no excuse to treat Caruso so cruelly and so inhumane. In fact, there was no excuse at all for doing such things to a kid, or to anyone for that matter.

Then Rodger asked something that took Michelle off guard. “If you did not want to do those things.. If you did not want to help Victor put Caruso through all that pain.. then why did you never put your foot down and do something? I hate to admit it, but you have proven yourself to be clever at times. You could have devised a way to free Caruso...”

“Well that's obvious. She didn't bother trying to help him because she wanted him to go through that pain!” Buzz hissed.

“I...” But Michelle couldn't come up with anything to say. Rodger was right; she did have every opportunity to help Caruso. She could have figured out a way to get him out of there, if she truly wanted to. She made no protest against what Buzz said. For once, she wondered if he was right after all. She did recall being so frustrated about Caruso's behavior. Perhaps she did want to see him hurt. Perhaps she wanted to see him suffer just so that she wouldn't have to listen to his annoying remarks again. But she did warn him however. And if only the boy had listened to her, his pain would have been more limited. Yet he chose to disregard her advice and look what happened!

“See?! She can't even deny it!” Buzz shouted. He was about to continue, but Rodger stopped him, a hand lifted up in the air.

“Stop it, Buzz. Let's just get this interrogation over with.” Rodger closed his eyes. He was more interested in helping Caruso than he was in getting even with Michelle. If Michelle had any more information that they could use, they are not going to get it if they continue yelling at her or do any physical harm to her. “So you have no explanation for that, Michelle? You don't know why you had failed in helping him?”

“Well..I did try...” Michelle started to say slowly, her eyes downcast. “I really did...”

“Oh really? And what did you do?” Buzz folded up his arms. “Open up his cage door and then close it right off the bat so he could not escape? Just to tease him?”

Michelle flinched at that remark, but quickly shook her head. “No, that is not what I did.” She glanced over at Caruso, who had remained silent most of the time. “You know very well what I did, don't you, kid? You know I did try to help you, but you shot down my advice.” Her voice grew a little more stern with each passing second. Caruso looked at her, tilting his head in confusion. But the fear was still in his eyes. “I can see it in your eyes..you know that it's true don't you?” Her voice was sounding a little darker at this point, and there was a hint of anger in her voice. Her teeth baring slightly, she said, “You should have listened to me...”

Narrowing her eyes, Fiona moved herself in front of Caruso. “Don't you dare talk to him like that!”

“What gives you the right to say those things to him?!” Buzz snapped. He had also moved in front of Caruso, hoping to keep Michelle from looking at him in the manner that she was, cold and dark. “He's been through enough already!”

Max joined in, feeling angry with how Michelle was suddenly acting. She was doing so well earlier, but now she had just made everyone, including him, angry with her. How could she act in such a way towards him after what he had suffered through? If she truly didn't want to hurt him, why would she act in this way? “Hasn't he suffered enough already, Michelle? He had gone through..horrible..horrible torture... He was almost killed..! How could you...?”

Michelle growled under her breath. She was starting to feel so angry and frustrated that she found it almost impossible to control herself. These students were starting to remind her of how Caruso was acting when he was a prisoner of Veloci. She understood why they were upset with her, however. She was acting a little unfairly towards Caruso. But she couldn't help but seethe in anger that Caruso had disregarded her advice and it took the war bridle to make him stop. She glared at Max straight in the eyes. Unable to hold back her anger any further, she found herself saying something that she would regret the moment she was finished shouting it.

“And he deserved it! I had warned him what might happen to him if he continued on with his attitude! But no! He chooses to disregard my warnings and continue acting like the selfish jerk that he is! That scoundrel! That pathetic weakling! He brought it all on himself! If he had just listened to my warning, maybe he would have been better off! It's his fault this happened to him! He was asking for it..!” Michelle's better judgment was trying to tell her to stop, but she continued on her rant. “He deserved all of it! The bridle! The torture! The pain! He deserved it after the way he had been acting! It was all his fault!”

Michelle finally managed to stop herself, her eyes wide with shock with what she had just said. Her breaths came in short, sharp gasps. If her hands were free, she would have been covering her mouth in shock. The Dino Squad were glaring at her. Some were shaking in rage. She could tell that some of them wanted to lung at her, tear out her throat if at all possible. But they held back, yet for how long that was going to last, Michelle was not sure. Their rage-filled eyes bore through her own, causing her to feel a cold shudder down her spine. She immediately pressed herself as far back into the couch as she could, her lower jaw trembling visibly as she tried to apologize for her harsh words. “I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean anything I said! I...”

But it was already too late. The Dino Squad were no longer in a listening mood. Michelle realized that she had gone way too far with what she had said and an apology was not going to work. As they suddenly advanced on her, Michelle heard one last thing before she was suddenly in pain. “It's too late for an apology! You just blew your chance! So why should we listen to you now?!” The voice came from Buzz. Then Michelle felt something crash into her, pinning her down on the couch. And then pain erupted from different parts of her body and she let out a loud scream of pain.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

* * * 

Peter was sitting down in the lunch room. Victor was not very pleased that he had come back with an arm that was still broken. He didn't think Peter would be of much use to him in that condition. But, seeing how eager Peter was to return to work after a few weeks stuck in a hospital bed, Victor decided to allow him to stay. But he was to be restricted in only a few areas of Raptor Dyne that required the least amount of physical labor. At first, one would think that Victor cared about Peter's well-being. But the truth was Victor only cared about preventing further injury to Peter's dinosaur form. There weren't many dinosaurs in Raptor Dyne and Victor felt value in those who did have dinosaur forms, with the exception of the Dino Squad of course.

It was very difficult for Peter to obtain his food with just one arm. Luckily, another member of Raptor Dyne was kind enough to grab his food for him, as well as the silverware that he needed. Peter thanked the man as he sat down to eat his meal. The member simply turned and walked away without saying a word. Peter narrowed his eyes in the man's direction. How rude, he thought. Oh well, at least he was kind enough to help him get his meal. Peter held the fork in his hand and began scooping up a dish of seasoned white rice that was on the plate. Peter was not much of a fan of rice, but after eating nothing but hospital food for a while, any food was welcoming to him.

As Peter ate his food, he let his mind wander to Victor. When he had first arrived back at Raptor Dyne, the man seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry. He was pacing back and forth, his mind on something, as if he was worried. But when he tried to ask Victor what was wrong, Victor would simply glare at him and tell him it was not of his concern. Although tempted to keep urging Victor until he told the truth, Peter decided it was best to listen to the guy and stopped pressing him for information. He knew what might happen if he continued to upset him with repeated, constant questions. But Peter was still interested to know what was wrong and wondered if it had anything to do with Oscura, or even Kista. If not those two, then likely something to do with the Dino Squad.

His mind then went to Kista. Oh how he hated that woman. She had driven him insane several times in the past. And the way that she showed up in his hospital room uninvited, that really angered him. When he first met Kista, he thought she was all right. But as time went on, as she revealed more and more of herself and her personality, Peter slowly began to dislike her. Kista would often say big words that were irrelevant to the conversation and when questions about it, she would go off boasting her intelligence and say how whoever she was talking to is too stupid to understand her superior intellect. She was such a show-off and she was too stubborn to realize her own mistakes. The only thing that he liked about her was that she was not as crazy as Oscura was.

But still, Peter couldn't help but wonder how Victor came across Kista in the first place. She was not like the other members of Raptor Dyne. She shared a lot with Victor. In fact, they had a lot in common, more than what other people might think at first glance. Kista might be annoying, but she did bring a lot to Raptor Dyne and she was very loyal to Victor, much to Victor's delight. Kista took no time to 'tame' as some other people at Raptor Dyne did. She had joined up willingly and almost immediately looked upon Victor as the leader. There were very few times Peter recalls Kista ever questioning Victor, and each time it never seemed to escalate enough for her to get hurt. He wondered if that was because Kista was careful with what she said or if it was because Victor was, somehow, afraid of her. It was probably a combination of both, and knowing how Kista is, Peter couldn't really blame Victor for possibly fearing her, even though fear was not something he normally saw the raptor express.

The one he was most concerned about, however, was Oscura. Just like Kista, she didn't really need any 'taming' or discipline. She was eager to join Raptor Dyne as well, but for a different reason than Kista. While Kista joined simply to try to find a challenge in her life, Oscura joined simply for the power that a dinosaur form would give her. She was always a pretty violent person from what he remembered, but not long after she joined Raptor Dyne, something happened that took Peter off guard. Oscura became even more violent. This was evident in the way that she treated Michelle, the way they would sometimes break into fights. Although Victor had tried to enforce a rule to prevent them from fighting, every so often, they would go at it with one another. But it would usually end in a stalemate or an interruption. Peter can't recall a time when one of them actually did win. But knowing how the two are with each other, he was happy that neither of them would win.

Peter was glad at Oscura would never become leader of Raptor Dyne. He knew that Victor would never allow this to happen, although he was not sure what Victor had in mind if the time came when he was killed. Raptor Dyne might fall out of order or someone, perhaps Kista, would take over his position. But Victor had said, at least once, to Peter that he was not going to allow Oscura to take over Raptor Dyne. While his violence sometimes impressed her, it also concerned him. Oscura didn't have as much control over her aggression as Victor himself did. And if she couldn't control it, she was more liable to lash out at someone, which could cause her to lose many of Raptor Dyne's members. And if she were to take charge, she would probably unleash a full scale attack on cities, revealing the true intentions of the company and jeopardizing the whole mission of bringing back the dinosaurs.

Peter was interrupted by his thoughts with the sound of footsteps. He quickly turned around and looked at the door to the kitchen. He couldn't see any shadow, but he heard the footsteps coming closer and closer to the door. After a few moments, he could see a shadow being casted on the door. Peter narrowed his eyes. He wondered if it might be Oscura. If it was, he would just have to look away and continue eating, hoping that she wouldn't try talking to him. Or maybe it was Kista...no, it couldn't be. Kista was out somewhere, probably just hanging out or looking for something. But either way, she hadn't reported back to Raptor Dyne yet and her car wasn't outside either. And it couldn't be Michelle either; Victor had been wondering why she wasn't back yet although he didn't sound too concerned. But then, who could it be?

The door opened up, and the person stepped inside. Peter's eyes widened slightly and he felt a smile tug at his face. It was just Zoom, his old friend. Zoom looked surprised to see Peter at the lunch table and smiled back. He made his way over to the table, forgetting about grabbing his own food, and sat down next to Peter. “Hey, Peter! I wasn't expecting to see you here.” He looked at his arm, eyes narrowed in concern. “They let you go with a broken arm?”

Peter placed his hand on his cast. “Well no..I just left. I couldn't stand it there, you know, cooped up for weeks with nothing to do...”

“You should have stayed there, though. What if something were to happen..?” Zoom asked.

Peter narrowed his eyes. “You're starting to sound like that nurse who tried to stop me from leaving. Look, I'm fine! I can take care of myself!”

Zoom grimaced and pulled back, his arms out in front of him defensively. “Sheesh! Calm down! I was just worried about you. Is that a crime?”

Peter's expression softened. “No..I suppose it isn't.” He turned back to his plate and scooped up another pile of rice and put in his mouth and started to chew.

“So..how long do you think it will be until you can transform again?” Zoom asked absentmindedly. Peter shot him a glare and Zoom flinched again. “What's with the attitude?”

Peter closed his eyes and looked away. “I'm sorry, Zoom. I'm just..worried that's all. I don't know what's going to happen.” He reopened his eyes and his voice grew dark. “And I want to get my hands on that kid who tricked me...”

Zoom's head perked up in curiosity. “What do you mean? What happened?”

“The Dino Squad.” Peter said. Immediately, Zoom understood what Peter was talking about. He did recall that the Dino Squad had a confrontation with Peter and they were the ones who caused him to break his leg. “One of them tricked me into revealing information. He tricked me into thinking those..Chillers and Spillers were deadly. But I was recently informed that they're as harmless as water!”

Zoom's eyes narrowed angrily. “Why those little...” He shook his head. Then he told Peter something that he wanted to keep a secret from Victor. “If it makes you feel any better, O'Ryan and I are plotting a way to get back at those kids. He and I also have a bone to pick with them.”

Peter looked at Zoom. “I appreciate you trying to cheer me up. But..” Peter looked at the food on his plate. “There is a problem. Victor... You know he's not going to want you going off killing the youngsters. At least..not until he gets that blasted DNA from them.”

Zoom nodded his head. “Yes, yes, I am quite aware of that Peter. That's why I'm hoping to convince O'Ryan to delay his..vengeance act a little longer.” Then he realized what Peter had said. “And who said that we were going to kill them?”

“It just sounded like...” Peter started to say.

“I thought that was Victor's job.” Zoom said, narrowing his eyes slightly. “I thought he was the one who wanted to kill them. Then again..I never heard him say that he actually wanted to kill them...”

Peter leaned back in his chair, dropping the fork onto the plate. He moved a leg over the other, crossing them as he looked over his shoulder at Zoom. “I am pretty sure he wants to get their DNA first. He does have interest in duplicating the results of the experiment they were subjected to. The only way to do that is to get the DNA from them and study it.” He took in a deep sigh. “Somehow, I think their perfected DNA has something to do with my nanomachines that I had developed for Victor before. He thought they were a failure, but it seems now he realized they just might be linked to the 'perfect dinosaurs'.”

“Oh really? I didn't know you developed nanomachines.” Zoom said, slightly curious. “How do they work?”

“They simply rebuild the DNA from the molecular level.” Peter explained. “It was designed so that Victor would be one step closer to perfecting his experimental DNA.”

Zoom nodded his head, understanding what Peter was saying. “Ah, I see. But regardless of the nanomachines, it's evident that the ooze that they were in was the one that created the 'perfect dinosaurs', isn't it?” Peter nodded his head slowly and then held his fork up again and took another bite of the rice. “So why haven't you gone after them yet? Why did you people wait until now to go capture those students? I mean, you found out not too long ago that they were human...” Zoom held up his arms in confusion. “Why didn't you just go after them right away? Surely you would have been able to...”

Peter shook his head. “No, we could not have. Just because we knew that they were human does not mean that we would've been able to track them down so quickly.”

“But what of Caruso? I hear that you captured him only about..what..a day after you found out the truth?” Zoom said, scratching the back of his head. “If you could figure out who he was so quickly, then why didn't you just...?”

Peter interrupted him. “That boy was different!” He pointed his fork in Zoom's direction, jabbing so violently that Zoom thought it was going to break free from the man's good arm and strike him in the shoulder. “Victor had gone to the school and had talked to someone about him. You see, Victor suspected that one of the 'perfect dinosaurs' went to Kittery High, and he spoke with one of the football players to see if he can confirm this. The football player gave enough information, including a name, and that's how Victor was able to find him and his friends. But he does not yet know the identities of all of them.”

Zoom looked to the table. “Oh...I see...” He started to feel stupid. How could he have been so foolish? He gazed over at the food that was laid out to whoever wanted it. Zoom decided to go get himself something to eat. He hadn't eaten in several hours, not since he had left O'Ryan for the day. He made his way towards the food, grabbed a plate, and got some chicken, vegetables, and mashed potatoes. It didn't look too appetizing, and they were slightly cool, but he was hungry enough to eat it anyway. He sat back down next to Peter. As he grabbed a drumstick and began to munch on it, he glanced over at Peter. “So...do you think you'll be able to get revenge on whoever had tricked you like that?”

Peter picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. “That, I'm not too sure of, I admit.” He looked over at Zoom. “But it wouldn't hurt to try, don't you think? And it's not just me those pesky brats had angered. Victor himself had once stated that he was tired of them getting in the way of his plans. Once those kids have had their DNA extracted and then killed themselves, there'll be nothing to stop Raptor Dyne from succeeding!” He grinned darkly.

“Well..doesn't it seem..kind of harsh?” Zoom said as he picked up his spoon to eat some of the mashed potatoes. Peter eyed him with a weird, confused expression. “I mean, think about it. Do we really want to condemn all of humanity to death?”

Peter was shocked and said, “Where did you hear that? That's not what Victor told us. He said that some humans will be...”

Zoom interrupted him. “I heard what he said as well. And from I heard, he wants to wipe out all humans and replace them with dinosaurs.” He twirled his spoon slowly in the mashed potatoes, starting to lose his appetite slightly. “He probably doesn't even think humans are worthy of being dinosaurs, especially after all we have done to the planet...”

“Well if that's true, why did he turn me into a dinosaur?” Peter said, his eyes narrowed dangerously. “And why would anyone here work for Victor Veloci if he was just going to wipe them out in the end?”

Zoom paused for a moment to think and then replied, “Hmm..perhaps you do have a good point there, Peter. But still...I can't help but worry about that guy sometimes.” He shook his head slowly. “Maybe I'm just being paranoid.. especially after... what Kista did.” He shuddered at the memory.

Peter seemed to understand. “Ah..so she did that with you, did she?” He let out a frustrated sigh. “That woman will never learn, now will she? Even Victor doesn't want her going around doing that to the workers of Raptor Dyne. Victor knows that when humans are frightened too much, they don't work as well as they usually would. So he had tried to keep Kista from doing that, and yet she still continued anyway. That was proven by you.”

“I thought she was going to eat me.” Zoom shuddered.

Peter let out a long, humor-filled laugh. He was laughing so hard that he almost dropped the silverware from his hand. “My, my, Zoom, aren't you such a worrywart! Dr. Veloci would never allow that to happen. Not even he would touch human meat that often. And trust me, you'd have to do something pretty bad in order to make Victor even think about eating you!” Zoom's eyes were still wide with fear, and Peter's laugh slowed to a soft chuckle. “Trust me, Zoom. You're in no danger. If Kista tried to eat you, I can assure you that Victor will see to it that she's punished. She knows her place her in Raptor Dyne.”

Zoom closed his eyes and reopened them. “I can still see those teeth...” He said absentmindedly, his voice a little shaky as he spoke. “I-I can't get them out of my m-mind...”

“Come on, Zoom... This doesn't sound like you at all.” Peter wanted to try and comfort his friend. He didn't like seeing Zoom like this. Zoom wasn't the type of person to get frightened this easily, to give into his fears this easily. Had what Kista done to him been that bad? The next time he saw Kista, Peter made a promise to himself that he would have a talk with her and set things straight with her. But for now, he decided to change the subject a little, to try and get the blond man's mind off of Kista. “So..how are things going in with O'Ryan? You two figure out a plan or something?”

Zoom slowly set down his spoon and turned to face Peter. “Well, yes we did. Well sort of..it's not fully planned out yet. But it involves trying to find those kids and record footage of them.”

Peter said, “That sounds...sort of lame. No offense. How is that going to help you get revenge?”

Zoom smiled softly. “Yes, yes. I had a feeling you'd say that. But what we decided on ultimately was this: We record the footage of them transforming, perhaps even causing public damage even if it was an accident, and make it look like it was done on purpose. Through some editing we could do that... And once it's been posted on the internet and television, everyone would know that they are dinosaurs! They will be shunned from society and hunted down like the animals they truly are!” Zoom's evil smile spread across his face. “There would be no place they could go and no place to hide. They'd have no choice but to surrender to Raptor Dyne.”

Peter was shocked by this plan. “That's sounds so...so...”

“Brilliant? Genius?” Zoom said, smirking proudly at the plan that he and O'Ryan both developed together. “I'm telling ya, it took us a while to come up with that plan!”

“..dangerous.” Peter finished his sentence.

Zoom fell silent. “..what?”

“Don't get me wrong. It is a nice plan and all..” Peter couldn't help but feel a little doubtful about the plan. What if something were to go horribly wrong? “But wouldn't that jeopardize our plans instead of enhancing them? What if the police and military go after the kids? They'd be killed before we can capture them to extract their DNA!”

Zoom felt stupid again. He had forgotten about that. Then his eyes widened slightly as another idea he recalled being mentioned before came back to him. “Well, everyone looks up to Dr. Veloci, do they not?”

Peter scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Well yes...almost everyone, anyway. But what does that got to do with...”

“What if Victor poses as some kind of hero? What if he says that he'll rid the city of these monsters? He could capture them and tow them away and the city would think he was hero. It would up his public image and make people trust him even more!” Zoom explained. He hoped that he was finally getting through to Peter, to make him understand where he was coming from. “Don't you think that could work, Peter? Victor could convince the authorities that he could catch the 'perfect dinosaurs'... Or just as good, he could allow the authorities to try and capture the dinosaurs, but to bring them to him as soon as possible.”

Peter scratched the back of his head, still feeling slightly doubtful. But Zoom's idea did sound like it could work if executed properly. “Well yeah..I suppose it could work.. But what if something were to go wrong? What if someone accidentally killed the 'perfect dinosaurs' before they could be transported to Victor? What then?”

Zoom slowly shook his head. “Hey, look. Will you stop worrying? O'Ryan and I are working out all the kinks in the plan. Hopefully, it will be perfected by tomorrow.”

Peter asked, “So when will you put the plan into effect? When will you start following those kids around and get footage of them transforming?” He couldn't help but chuckle a little. “It's not like they are going to just show up on your doorstep tomorrow and willingly transform right in front of you. Oh no...they'd know it was a trap.” He leaned a little closer to Zoom. “So tell me..how do you plan on pulling it off?”

“Oh don't worry about that...” Zoom said softly. “We have also figured out a plan to get them to transform where we want them to...”

“And what plan would that be?” Peter asked, sounding quite interested in the idea.

“Simple.” Zoom grinned. “We just need the right kind of..bait...”

* * *

Moynihan was so startled by the sudden scream that she almost lost her balance and fell to the ground. Rump looked up at her, his ears folded back nervously. He gave a few uneasy barks at her, his head tilted as if he wasn't sure what was going on. Moynihan adjusted the glasses her face and looked towards the door. She couldn't recognize whose scream that was. It was feminine-sounding, but she wasn't sure if it was Fiona or not. It didn't sound entirely like her. But she was the only other female in the lighthouse, so it was likely her. Moynihan wondered what could have happened. She made her way towards the door and opened it up. Rump followed suit, keeping close to her feet.

As Moynihan walked down the stairs, she caught a strange scent in the air. She took in a few sniffs. No, this wasn't a strange, unknown odor. She had scented it before, weeks ago. It was similar to the smell she detected when she was treating Michelle's blood. In fact, this scent smelled exactly like her blood. But why was it here in the lighthouse? Shouldn't the scent of dissipated by now? The only way to get it back was either if Michelle was back or if the kids had gotten into a fight with her. Realizing the situation might be more serious than she thought, Moynihan quickened her pace down the spiral stairs as fast as she could. She wasn't sure what to expect when she got down there. But the matter was too urgent for her to just brush it off.

When she finally got down the steps and was able to see the living room, Moynihan froze in her tracks, horrified at the site. It was nothing like she had imagined was going on. For a second, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but after rubbing her eyes as hard as she could and looking again, the site remained the same. Moynihan was in total disbelief in what she was seeing. She could see Michelle, but to her surprise, it was Michelle who was in trouble. She was pinned down by the Dino Squad. They were either gripping her arms so tightly that they would bleed, or striking her or scratching her with their dinosaur claws. Blood was streaming down her body from many locations but it didn't look like she had lost too much blood. Moynihan looked at Michelle and could see a look of fear and pain on her face as she struggled to get away, her legs kicking at the ground. At first Moynihan wondered why she wasn't using her arms, but then it dawned on her. Her arms had been bound behind her back...


	26. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Furious with the Dino Squad's behavior, Moynihan suddenly pounded her can into the ground several times as hard as she could. “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” It wasn't like her to yell at this level, but she was so angry with the teenagers for what they were doing that she couldn't help it. The combination of her cane hitting the ground and Moynihan's rage-filled voice was enough to make the Dino Squad freeze with what they were doing. They looked over and spotted Moynihan. Michelle also saw her and just looked away, trembling, though Moynihan wasn't sure if it was from the pain she was in or from the terror she was probably feeling. Moynihan returned her gaze on her students, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

Still digging his claws into Michelle's arm, Buzz worked up the courage to speak. The others were so startled by Moynihan's sudden appearance to say anything. “Ms..Ms. Moynihan..” He said softly, sounding like he didn't know what he was doing wrong. “What are you doing here?”

Moynihan didn't respond except with a soft growl. At first, the team thought that she was doing to go feral again and prepared for an attack. But Moynihan's eyes never glowed and her claws and teeth were never extended. Moynihan gripped her cane so tightly that she thought it would burst in her grasp. Rump was scared of Moynihan's change in demeanor and ran a distance away from her. Moynihan walked towards the team where they had Michelle pinned down. With each step she took, she slammed the cane as hard as she could into the ground, a way of letting the team know that she was very angry with them, as if her yelling and glaring at them wasn't evidence enough. Once she reached them, she lifted up her cane. She then shoved the sharp tip normally on the ground in their direction. She spoke again, but this time she kept her voice more under control. “Get off of her! Now!”

“But...Moynihan...” Buzz said. “She...” He looked back down at her, but immediately flinched when Moynihan slammed her cane into the ground again.

“NOW!” Moynihan demanded, her voice loud enough so they would know she was being serious. Although they didn't know what was going on, one by one, the team got off of Michelle, releasing her from their grip. Once they were off, Michelle still remained on the ground, groaning in pain, moving her legs a little. But she had used up so much energy she could barely manage that. She finally managed to get up to her feet, but she stumbled back, luckily landing in the couch. Moynihan's expression softened as she looked at Michelle. Even though Michelle had caused them a lot of trouble, she did still took a risk in helping them find Caruso, not to mention Moynihan didn't like to see anyone in pain. Perhaps that was part the reason she couldn't bring herself to kill Veloci.

As Michelle leaned back on the couch, Moynihan turned her attention on the Dino Squad. She couldn't understand why they would do this to someone, even if they were the enemy. She spoke again, this time keeping her voice low, and as controlled as possible. “What were you kids doing to her..?” She looked over at Michelle. “Why did you tie her up and bring her here...?”

“Well..we were just going to interrogate her...” Max said, feeling guilty about letting his anger get the better of him.

“By hurting her?” Moynihan's eyes narrowed. “And why did you bring her here in the first place? I never told you kids to go out capturing our enemies!” She shook her head. “You kids should have come to me before doing something as cruel as this.”

“Cruel?!” Buzz growled, sounding offended. “She's the one who helped capture Caruso! She's the one who tricked us into letting her in the lighthouse before! She's the one who tossed you down the stairs! And you're saying that we're the ones who are being cruel?!”

Moynihan made eye contact with Buzz. “Did Michelle tie your arms behind your back? Did she drag you off somewhere even though you had not done anything to her for weeks? The last I checked, Michelle hadn't actually caused any problems recently.” She adjusted her glasses. “And further more, did she have some of her fellow workers pin you down and continuously attack you, giving you no chance to defend yourselves?” Buzz's eyes softened and then widened. “You don't call that cruelty?”

Buzz let out a soft sigh and lowered his head. “I'm sorry, Ms. Moynihan. I thought..I thought we were doing the right thing..by teaching her a lesson...”

Moynihan looked over at the battered Michelle. “That was not necessary, Buzz. Michelle already feared you kids before. She had already felt what would happen if she crossed you kids. There was no reason to beat her up like this.” She glared at all of them, except for Caruso who had hung back and watched the whole thing. “All four of you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

The Dino Squad lowered their heads. They knew Moynihan was right. Why did they act in such a childish manner? Why had they gone through with capturing Michelle and bringing her here? Why did they lose their temper and attack her like that, when she had no way of defending herself? They thought they were doing the right thing. They thought that they were just doing what they thought was justice, but now they realize that it was not justice, but just cruelty. They were supposed to be the Dino Squad, not some torture team bent on simply causing pain to others for no reason. They glanced over at Michelle. They were still angry with her, but now they looked at her in a slightly new light. She no longer looked like a threatening transformer, but a frightened, defenseless girl. She couldn't even transform with her arms bound like that.

Michelle looked up and saw everyone staring at her. She glanced up at Moynihan. She didn't know why the woman had forced the Dino Squad off of her. After all, they were enemies, weren't they? But regardless of the reason, Michelle was grateful that Moynihan did that for her. The brunette glanced down at her body. Particularly on her arms there were little trinkles of blood. She saw a lot of scratch marks as well and many areas were red and sore. Memories of Victor came flooding back to her. This is the kind of thing he would expect from Victor, but not from the Dino Squad. Perhaps she had misjudged them, been wrong about them. Perhaps there really was no difference between the two sides. Perhaps she had wasted her time in trying to help them. Look at how they repaid her...

Breathing heavily, Michelle said, “I..I thought you guys were different. I thought you weren't like Veloci...” She lowered her head. “But I was wrong...” She looked up again, a harsh glare on her face. “You ARE like Veloci! Just like him!” Buzz tried to get at her, but Rodger was able to stop him. He didn't want to further anger Moynihan. Michelle continued on and said, “You go off, thinking that you're doing the right thing! But let me tell you something, you vigilantes! Going out, capturing someone who wasn't even causing trouble at that time, tying them up, dragging them off somewhere, and then beating them up just because they made one mistake is something Victor Veloci would do!”

“How dare you compare us to him...!” Rodger said, but was careful to hold back. “We're nothing like him!”

“Yeah! We only did what we thought was right! How is that so wrong?” Buzz joined in. He would have done more, but Rodger kept him in line.

“Nothing like him, huh?” Michelle said in a somewhat mocking tone of voice. She glanced down at the rope that was strapped across her chest and she could feel the rope entangled around her arms behind her back. “You don't think this is something Victor would do? And attacking me when I couldn't even defend myself, you don't think that isn't something Victor would do?”

Fiona stepped up. “But you're the one who told us that Caruso deserved everything that he went through! Didn't you not think that...”

Moynihan interrupted her. “Hold on...” Moynihan glanced over at Michelle. Her eyes weren't filled with anger, but rather shock and curiosity. After what Michelle had gone through to help them get Caruso back, she was having a hard time believing that Michelle would just condemn Caruso like that. Something else must have happened. She moved in a little closer to Michelle, who instinctively moved back as far as she could go. Moynihan said, “Relax..I'm not going to harm you. I just want to ask you a question.” Michelle looked up at Moynihan. “Tell me..what happened?”

Michelle blinked a few times and glanced towards the ground. She wasn't sure if telling Moynihan anything would change anything. But there was no harm in telling her, she supposed. “Well, ma'am..I was just at the library, checking out a book. I swear that's all I was doing, checking out a book and then I was going to leave.. Then I accidentally collided with Caruso. I didn't know he was there! I tried to calm him down. I didn't get any closer to him and I didn't threaten him. But he overreacted..then I found myself surrounded by the other teens. I tried to explain the situation to them, but they wouldn't believe me..especially that one...” She pointed to Buzz. “I got so scared..that I transformed and threw Max out of the way. I..I didn't mean to hurt him. But I was so scared, I...” She stopped herself.

Moynihan urged her on. “Please continue.”

“Well I ran away. I just wanted to get away from them. I didn't want any trouble... really I didn't. I just wanted to be left alone. I didn't go to the library deliberately looking for trouble.” Michelle explained. “They chased me through the streets, a mall..and then finally knocked me down in a patch of woods... They pushed me into the ground and tied me up. Then they..threatened me... Max showed his teeth to me as a warning of what would happen if I didn't cooperate...” That made Moynihan's eyes go wide with shock. “Then they took me here and started asking me questions... But some refused to believe what I said..and I eventually lost my temper.. I said some..things about Caruso..how he deserved what he got..” She closed her eyes, letting a few tears escape. “But..but I swear I didn't mean a word of it! I just..lost it, you know? But I didn't mean anything I said about him! I tried to apologize to them..but they said I had my chance and blew it..and then they attacked me...”

Moynihan was in shock from what Michelle had told her. She looked over at her team and asked, “Is this true?”

“Well..yes...” Max said, lowering his head in shame.

“But you can't believe her, Moynihan! She's a liar!” Buzz declared. “She just told you a bunch of lies!”

Moynihan's eyes narrowed angrily. “Judging from I'm seeing, Buzz, the way she's bound up, cut up, beaten up, and frightened, she's been telling the truth. The way that she acted, it was out of self defense. After what you kids were doing to her, cornering her, not allowing her to get away, tying her up then continue to press her like that...” Moynihan shook her head. “Did you not expect her to react in such a way to defend herself?” The Dino Squad tried to answer, but they couldn't think of anything to say and they immediately fell silent again. “I didn't think so.” Moynihan said, her eyes narrowed. She then looked back at Michelle.

“What..what are you doing to do to me..?” Michelle asked, sounding very frightened as she looked up at Moynihan. The old woman didn't know why the girl sounded so scared of her. She hadn't tried to hurt her and she hadn't yelled at her. Moynihan tried to get a little closer, but Michelle quickly moved away. She struggled to get her arms free, but they were tied up too tightly behind her back. “No..leave me alone!” Michelle cried as Moynihan just got closer, lifting up an arm and reaching out towards her. Thoughts of Victor ran through Michelle's mind and she found herself saying, “Please...don't hurt me again, Veloci...”

That statement made the others look at her in shock, their eyes widened. Moynihan was so surprised that she almost tripped, almost fell forward. The Dino Squad looked at Michelle, trembling in fear from Moynihan, and suddenly felt very guilty for how they acted. It seems Michelle truly was afraid of Victor, truly was as frightened as she looked. Perhaps she wasn't lying to them after all. Even though she was their enemy, they couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She sounded more scared of Victor than any of them were, save for Caruso, who was tortured by the man. Caruso looked at Michelle, probably feeling the most sympathy for her. He knew what it was like living in fear of Victor. He had suffered under the madman's cruelty before and he could tell that Michelle suffered just like he had, just from the way she was acting. He lowered his head, wishing that he hadn't called out his friends when he saw Michelle in that library.

Max felt horrible for how he treated Michelle. How could he have let them do this? How could he have done it? They had chased Michelle down, even though it was clear that she hadn't meant any harm to them. He had even threatened to hurt her if she didn't cooperate with them. That wasn't how a leader should have acted. He should have kept his cool and he should have assessed the situation much better than he had. His own fear for Caruso's safety and his own anger had caused him to act irrationally along with the others. They were supposed to be the good guys, after all. Max glanced over at the others. Fiona and Caruso both looked very guilty, their heads lowered in shame. He then glanced over at Rodger. The computer geek looked a little guilty, but not to the same degree as the others. He still looked angry with Michelle. Buzz's face, on the other hand, showed little sympathy, mostly anger. Max glared at him. Even after all this, Buzz still couldn't bring himself to give Michelle a chance. The same applied for Rodger.

Moynihan couldn't believe that Michelle had just called her Veloci. Why had she done that? Was Michelle so frightened of Victor that she had hallucinated, thinking that she was Victor? Moynihan was a Velociraptor, just like Victor was. Did that have something to do with it? Did Michelle think that all Velociraptors were the same? Moynihan moved in a little closer to Michelle. She reached her hand towards her again. The girl cringed back, baring her teeth in self defense. But Moynihan ignored the warning and said, “Relax..I'm not going to hurt you...” With that, she gently placed her hand on the girl's head. In an attempt to calm her down, she gently stroked her hair.

Although still frightened, the gentle touch did help Michelle calm herself down a little. After a few seconds, she looked at Moynihan, looking confused and almost frightened by this foreign touch. She hadn't experienced anything like it before. Why wasn't Moynihan trying to hurt her? That's what Victor would have done. “Why...why aren't you biting my shoulder? That's how Victor punished me when I nearly ruined his plans a few weeks ago...”

Horrified by what Michelle said, Moynihan gasped and said, “Dear..I'm not like Veloci...” How could Michelle even think that she would do such a thing to her? Why would she rip into her shoulder for doing something that she didn't see as wrong?

“But..but you're a Velociraptor...” Michelle said, trembling. “..just like he was. He said..he said that all Velociraptors punish their pack members like that...”

Moynihan narrowed her eyes slightly. “I can assure you that I'm nothing like that. I would never do anything like that to my team, even if they did misbehave. I care about them..I love them.. Why would I subject them to horrible pain for no reason?”

Michelle bit her lip. “I..I don't know...” She lowered her gaze.

Still stroking her hair, Moynihan said, “I can tell you are frightened of Victor...” Michelle looked up at her, a little surprised. “The way you're acting, what you just said earlier, it's evident that you are afraid of him. And it's okay to be afraid, but please don't compare me to Victor. I'm nothing like him, I can assure you that.”

Michelle managed a weak smile. “I..I can see that now...” Moynihan smiled back at her. Then Michelle lowered her gaze. She remembered how she had thrown Moynihan down the stairs. She could have killed her back then..but despite that, the old woman was right here, comforting her, even saving her from her own team. Michelle felt guilty for what she had done. “I'm..I'm sorry...”

“Sorry? For what?” Moynihan asked.

“For throwing you down the stairs a few weeks ago..” Michelle said, her head lowered in shame. “I..I shouldn't have done it. I'm so sorry...so very sorry..”

Moynihan was a little surprised by this apology. But she smiled at Michelle. She moved her hand from her head to her shoulder, the one that Victor hadn't injured, and gently squeezed it to comfort Michelle. “It's okay.. I forgive you.”

Michelle looked shocked. “You..you do..?” Moynihan simply smiled and nodded her head. Michelle was speechless and wasn't sure what to say. She didn't expect Moynihan to forgive her so quickly, if at all.

Max watched the scene unfold in front of him. He was surprised that Michelle had actually apologized for what she did to Moynihan. She sounded so sincere too, and apologizing wasn't an easy thing to do. And she wasn't trying to hide anything from them; she did acknowledge earlier what she had done. She didn't try to deny it. Max had to respect her for her courage in not only admitting she was wrong, but apologizing for what she did. Perhaps they all had misjudged her. Moynihan seemed to trust her well enough at this point. And seeing Moynihan willing to forgive Michelle did make him feel more relaxed. He could sense that both Fiona and Caruso were starting to feel more relaxed now. But he wasn't sure about Buzz or Rodger. They still seemed a little tense, particularly Buzz.

Rolf felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. He looked over. Much to his surprise, Irwin had walked up to him and had a devious smile on his face. That was a good sign. That meant that some of Caruso's personality was starting to show through again. He was starting to get back to his old self again. Caruso whispered to Max, “I know why she doesn't want to hurt me.”

“Why?” Max whispered hoarsely.

“She thinks I'm cute!” Caruso whispered, stifling a giggle. Max just looked at him, but didn't say anything. Michelle had overheard what Caruso said and was giving him a shocked expression. Caruso just smirked at her and said, “You're not denying it.” Michelle slowly shook her head and rolled her eyes. That was Caruso, all right.

After Caruso was done laughing, Max walked up to Michelle. He gestured for Moynihan to move out of the way. Moynihan was a little confused at first, but one look from Max suggested to her what he was about to do. She immediately moved back and Max stood in front of Michelle. The brunette didn't know what he was going to do with her. He didn't have a hostile look on his face, but he also didn't have a happy expression either. She didn't know what to expect. Then Max reached into his pocket. Michelle, Moynihan, and the others watched intently as Max pulled out a knife. Michelle's eyes widened and she looked away. But the knife blow never came. Instead, Max gripped the rope that went across her chest, pulled it a little, and slipped the knife underneath. With a little more effort, the knife sliced through the rope and it fell to the ground.

Buzz looked alarmed by this. “What do you think you're doing?!”

“I'm freeing her. She already showed us that she meant no harm.” Max said, his eyes narrowed. “You have a problem with that, Buzz?”

“Well yeah! What if she turns on us as soon as you cut her free?” Buzz said quickly. “She's probably just acting nice just so that one of us would cut her free, and as soon as she is, she'll go dino and attack!”

Max slowly shook his head. “I'm willing to take that chance.” Max gently moved Michelle over so he could see her back. As he moved in with the knife, Rodger and Buzz braced themselves for another fight. They were certain that Michelle was going to try to escape once her arms were free. Max placed the knife against the rope. Being very careful not to cut her skin, he managed to saw through the rope. As soon as her arms were free, Michelle pulled them loose and brought her hands forward. The relief of the pressure and the pain felt wonderful to her. She looked down at her hands, seeing the red marks on her skin where the rope was. Max saw them and flinched. Had they really tied her arms up that tightly? Michelle started to rub her hands, but she made no attempt to get up and walk away.

Buzz and Rodger, upon seeing that Michelle wasn't trying to get away, let themselves relax a little. But they still felt tense. They couldn't completely relax, thinking that Michelle could just bolt at any time. Perhaps she was just biding her time, waiting for the right moment where she can make a mad dash towards the exit. Michelle looked over at them and could sense their hostility. She quickly averted her gaze from them, not wanting to agitate them further. The two did see her look at them and they would have said something, but they stopped themselves quickly. They didn't want to start a confrontation with Max or Moynihan, especially Moynihan. They had seen how angry she had gotten earlier. It was best not to do something to provoke her again.

Michelle glanced over at Caruso, careful not to make direct eye contact as to not frighten him again. She did notice something strange about him, the way that he was acting. He would sometimes move his mouth in an odd way, and he would sometimes do the same thing with his neck. He looked as if he was in pain, but whatever was causing it, either he didn't know or he was trying to ignore it the best that he could. Recalling the time when she had to wear a bridle, she had an idea of what was wrong with Caruso. She immediately got up out of her seat. The others watched her intently to see what she was going to do. Caruso noticed her looking at him and took a step back, unsure what to expect from her.

Michelle said, “..don't move. I'm not going to hurt you.” With that, she closed her eyes, her body glowed, and she transformed into a Guanlong Wucaii. She reopened her eyes and stared over at Caruso, who was shocked by this transformation. The Dino Squad were also shocked, as well as Moynihan. They immediately thought the worst. Perhaps this was indeed all a trick and she had been just luring them into a false sense of security. Max started feeling regrets in letting her go, wondering if he had incorrectly judged her yet again, given her too much credit. Michelle made her way towards Caruso, keeping her head low and softened up her expression as best as she could. She was trying to make herself appear as least intimidating as possible.

Caruso took another step back, trying not to allow himself to become afraid again. “What are you going to do?” He asked.

Michelle's eyes narrowed slightly. 'Help you.' She was now about a foot away from the kid. She lowered her head a little so she could sniff him a few times, as if she were trying to detect something. After a couple whiffs, she lifted up a dinosaur hand and moved it forward. She did the est she could to maneuver it behind his neck without accidentally cutting anything. She closed her claw tips around something very small, but solid. 'This might hurt a little...' She warned him. Caruso closed his eyes tightly and waited. With a swift flick of the hand, Michelle pulled out something very thin and very sharp from his neck. Caruso winced in pain, but didn't cry out. Michelle held the small piece of metallic material. It came from the war bridle. She could see that it was almost completely covered in blood.

Max walked up to her. “What is that?” He pointed at the object in Michelle's claws.

Michelle looked at him. 'It's a piece from the bridle your friend was wearing. A small shard must've dislodged somehow and gotten stuck in his neck.' She glanced back at him. 'I believe there's still one more piece that's left, but it'll be a little..tricky for me to get out.' She dropped the shard in Max's hand so he could look at it and made her way towards Caruso again. She gently pressed a claw tip against his lips. 'Open as wide as you can.'

“...why?” Caruso asked.

'There's one more shard in your mouth. Now please, open up.' Michelle said. Although reluctant to allow Michelle, or anyone, reach their razor sharp claws inside his still painful mouth, Caruso obliged and opened his mouth as wide as he could without causing himself too much pain. Michelle looked inside. A human would not be able to see inside a mouth cavity without a flashlight, but a dinosaur could see perfectly fine. It didn't take her long to see something glinting in his mouth. She memorized its location the best that she could and put two claws into his mouth. Within a few moments, she yanked something out, causing Caruso to yelp in pain. Michelle brought her hand out and held another shard, slightly larger than the other one. 'This was stuck near the back of your mouth. You were lucky it didn't break loose and get anywhere else to cause further damage.'

Caruso glanced at the shard that Michelle just pulled out. “That..what was inside of my mouth..?” His eyes grew wide with fear.

'I'm afraid so.' Michelle said, lowering her head a little.

“So..how did you know those pieces would be there?” Fiona asked as she walked up to Michelle. “We've looked and we never saw them there.”

Michelle looked at her and shifted back into human form. “I know..because I was subjected to the war bridle as well.” Everyone looked at her in shock. “Yes..it's true. I wasn't subjected to the bridle as long as Caruso was, but I had given in too easily. I don't know if it was because I was smart enough to give up, or I was too weak to keep on trying.” She looked over at Caruso. “That's what impresses Victor about you, Caruso. You withstood the bridle longer than anyone else did.” She narrowed her eyes a little. “That's also what makes him..a little afraid of you. You're tougher than you look.” She looked at every member of the Dino Squad, Moynihan and Rump included, and said, “You all are. You just have to believe that...”

“Well we believe that...” Rodger said. He and Buzz were walking towards Michelle. She quickly turned to face them.

“And we also believe that you should watch your back...” Buzz hissed. He leaned in closely and whispered in a low voice that only Michelle could hear. “You may have fooled the others, but you haven't fooled us.” Rodger nodded his head and Michelle's eyes widened.

Rodger whispered, “We won't do anything...yet... But we can see right through you, Michelle. So if I were you, I'd be careful...”

Before they could say anything else, Max, noticing that Michelle was getting uncomfortable, stormed over towards the two. He placed a hand on both of their shoulders and said, “Knock it off, you guys. Why must you keep antagonizing her?” Before they could respond, he interrupted them. “Look, I don't want to hear it. Not anymore. Just..just give her a chance, okay? We've already suffered enough. How could taking a chance with Michelle possibly be any worse than what we, as a team, experienced?” Rodger and Buzz were unable to answer and Max just nodded his head. “I didn't think so.” He turned back to Michelle. “Okay..you're free to go.”

* * *

“I wonder what they could be doing...” Kista said to herself. She had come over to the cafeteria room of Raptor Dyne to get something to eat. But she had stopped in front of the door, hearing familiar voices on the other side. Since the door lacked mirrors on it, she couldn't see who was in the large room. But two voices, oh so familiar, filled her ears. She'd recognize them anywhere. Peter and Zoom were talking about something. She couldn't discern what they were saying from out here; the door was obscuring some of the woods that they were saying. But she picked up a few words, including Dino Squad, her own name, Victor, and something about revenge. She had an idea what they were saying, but it was simply an educated guess. She could be completely wrong.

She carefully pushed the door open, softly enough so it didn't make a loud sound, and peered inside. She could see Peter sitting right beside Zoom. It looked like they were both eating something, but they were either done with it or had been so busy talking that they had forgotten there was food on their plate. She shook her head. Some humans were so wasteful. But that didn't concern her right now. Kista stepped into the room. So far, Peter nor Zoom had spotted her. Their eyes were away from her direction, facing towards each other instead. Kista took a few steps in and folded up her arms. The words were coming in more clear now that she didn't have any obstructions in her way. It seemed that Zoom was going to go against protocol after all, going to seek vengeance on the kids even though Victor didn't want them to be killed...yet.

And it also seemed that Zoom was going to have Peter allow him access to areas that are still restricted to Zoom himself. What he wants in those areas, Kista was not entirely sure. Her eyes still narrowed. All the same, he was still going to disobey the rules. She would have to find some way to make sure that she doesn't. And what of Peter? He was not supposed to be back until his arm had completely healed. Kista smirked. Perhaps she should relieve him of it, rip it from his body so he didn't have to worry about the long healing process. And it would serve as a good punishment in her eyes. She was certain he was warned not to leave the hospital yet, but he still did anyway. He should have realized the consequences of such an act.

No, she couldn't do that. If she did, Victor would be after her for unauthorized punishment. It was usually Victor himself who would carry out the punishments and those who carried them out without his permission were punished as well. Kista was not all that afraid of Victor, but she decided it was best not to provoke the raptor. Right now, she had more urgent matters at hand. She had to stop Zoom from going through with his plans. She started to wonder if other people were involved with this. She knew Peter wanted revenge as well. She had told him about how he was apparently tricked by one of the kids and she saw how angry he got as a result. But could there be someone else that she was missing? Oscura? Michelle? Victor? No, she already knew those three might want revenge. But for some reason, she thinks there might be one other person, but she can't quite put her finger on it...

“Kista?” Zoom asked, sounding stunned, and snapping Kista from her thoughts. “How long have you been standing there?”

Peter added in, “And how much have you heard?” He was sounding a little more angry than shocked. He didn't like people spying on him.

Kista's arms were still folded up. A dark smile spread across her face and she chuckled. She walked over to them, positioning herself between the two men. She looked at Peter first and then at Zoom. Then she moved her head back and closed her eyes, her face facing the table. “I haven't been here long. Don't worry, you two...” She raised her head up, her eyes open now, facing the ceiling. “But I have a question for you two. What do you two think you're doing? Do you want to provoke Victor, eh? Give up on your pathetic vengeance trip!”

“You can't tell us what we can do!” Peter said, standing up quickly despite his broken arm. Kista looked over at him and continued to smile. “Don't smirk at me like that! You know as well as I do that I do not need to take orders from you! You're not the boss of this place!” Kista only laughed at him, her eyes locking onto his arm. Peter felt a little insecure about his arm being stared at and he instinctively moved it away. 'Why are you looking at my cast like that?”

“It will be..such a shame if something happened to your arm, now wouldn't it..?” Kista said slyly, baring razor sharp teeth.

Zoom gasped and almost fell onto the ground, but Peter remained calm as if nothing was going on. He simply shook his head. He was surprised that Zoom had reacted in such a way to Kista. She did this to himself a few times and he learned to pretty much ignore it. Kista liked to boast her dinosaur side once in a while, but, at least to her, it was usually just harmless fun. Kista's comment about his arm, on the other hand, did anger him. It sounded like an outright threat and the way she was baring her teeth at him suggested that she wanted to rip his arm off. Well she wasn't going to go through with it, that's for sure. He would make sure of that. “If that was a threat, Kista...” He pulled his arm away from her. “..you'll have to do better than that. If Victor found out what you did, he'd...”

Kista chuckled. “Who said anything about Victor finding out? He doesn't need to know about this..” She pointed at his arm. “I could pull off ripping it away and Victor will never know I'm the one who did it. I could just tell him one of the Dino Squad kids did it. He'd believe that, now wouldn't he?” She placed a hand on her chest and said, “But he would never suspect me of doing such a thing. After all...” Her claws extended. “..we have a lot in common...”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Oh please! The only thing you two have in common is you two have a dinosaur form, and so do I and those darn kids and I think their mentor too!”

Kista put her hand on her hip and slowly shook her head. “Peter, Peter... you have forgotten already, didn't you?” She said, a dark smile on her face.

“Forgotten what?” Zoom asked, who had finally worked up the courage to say something to Kista since she had started showing some of her dinosaur features to him again. It wasn't as bad as what she had done to him before, but it was still a very scary sight, at least for him, someone who wasn't accustomed to such a thing.

Kista slowly turned her head over to Zoom. “Well, of course you wouldn't have known this, Zoomie boy..” Zoom winced at the pet name and, despite his anger, made Peter chuckle a little. “..since you're just a recent member of Raptor Dyne. But I'm surprised Peter seems to have forgotten.” She eyed him. “He, out of the two of you..humans, should have known.”

“Why don't you just tell us already?” Peter said, rolling his eyes. “Why do you go on like this? You've done this before. You say you know something, and when someone asks you what it is, you go off on a little rant like this.” He narrowed his eyes. “Why don't you just spit it out already?”

“Oh and miss out on messing with you two?” Kista grinned. “You're no fun!”

Peter bared his teeth. “That's something I would usually expect Oscura to say...”

Zoom looked over at Peter. “Oscura? Isn't she that other teen that works here?”

Peter nodded his head. “Yes. She can turn into a Troodon. She's..such a nuisance that girl. If you have not met her, consider yourself lucky. If she doesn't drive you insane first, she might try to attack you.” Zoom's eyes widened in fear.

Kista chuckled. “Well she isn't all that bad...” She glanced over at Zoom. “But yes, if I scared you, she'd definitely scare you. She does not exercise as much...restrain.” As she said 'restrain', her claws extended further for a few seconds and then completely retracted. She then gave a sneer to the two men and decided to tell them what Peter must have forgotten or was choosing to ignore. “What Victor and I both have in common..is that he and I are both from the Cretaceous Period. We're both dinosaur survivors, and so is that old woman..what was her name..Moynihan? Yes, that was it.”

Zoom's eyes went wide. “So you're, like...a real dinosaur? I thought you were like the Dino Squad, having obtained a form from the ooze.” He gulped. Maybe this was why she and Victor scared him more easily than the kids did.

Kista said, “No, I've always had my dinosaur form. This was why Victor wanted me on the team so badly. To have another dinosaur by his side was probably a dream come true for him.” Kista shrugged her shoulders. “I'm not as keen on this plan of his as he is, but I don't really care..so long as I can get a challenge...” She smirked. “Life has been so boring. Working at Raptor Dyne has always been so..tedious for me. Victor would often have me track down former members of Raptor Dyne, such as Donald and Michael.”

“Donald and Michael?” Zoom asked.

“Yes.” Kista nodded her head once. “They used to work at Raptor Dyne, but their idiocy and incompetence caused them to get fired. After hearing what they did, I can't blame Victor for firing them. The two idiots not only failed to contaminate more than five pets, a very simple task, but they also didn't recognize Victor, thinking he was a 'perfect dinosaur'!”

Zoom was shocked. How could anyone not recognize Victor in dino mode? It wasn't like there were a lot of other Velociraptors out there. And none of the Dino Squad could turn into a Velociraptor, at least not from what he could remember. “So..why were you spying on them?”

“Oh, Victor didn't want them spilling the secret of Raptor Dyne.” Kista ran her fingers through her blond hair. “I can't imagine why they would even think of doing such a thing though. No one will listen to them. They will just get laughed at. Humans are such ignorant creatures sometimes..and yet also so gullible too.” Then her eyes started to glow. “And yet, sometimes they can be..unpredictable and uncontrollable. Sometimes they will do things that they will soon..regret.” She looked over at Zoom and Peter as her voice started getting a little more dino-like in sound. “Isn't that right, my two little deluges?”

Zoom was taken aback by that comment. “..excuse me?”

Peter shook his head. “I hate it when you do that, Kista. Stop using words that are irrelevant to the conversation! What you said makes absolutely no sense at all! And that wasn't the only thing you've said over the years that doesn't make sense!”

Kista smirked. “You're just jealous because of my superior intellect!” She said aloud, sounding proud of herself. “No humans can match my vocabulary! I deserve to be able to show it off once in a while.”

“But when it's actually relevant to the conversation and makes sense!” Peter snapped. “Even Victor can't understand you at times!”

Now it was Kista's turn to get a little annoyed. How dare this pathetic human challenge her intelligence?! How dare he?! In anger, she raised up one of her hands, light-colored sharp-tipped claws fully extended, and put them in front of Peter's face, only inches away. “One more crack like that, and I will tear off that arm of yours...” A silence fell onto the room.

* * *

Michelle and Max stood outside of the lighthouse. Max was standing right in front of the closed door. Michelle was standing a little further away from him. They were looking at each other, but they weren't saying anything. Both were wondering if they could trust the other. Max had told Michelle that he'll make sure that his friends, particularly Buzz and Rodger, don't come after her again. And Michelle had promised not to get in their way again. But would they really hold up to their promises? They both still weren't completely sure if they could trust the other, but they were willing to give each other a chance.

Max had convinced the others to let her go. It wasn't easy to convince them, however. Rodger and Buzz put up a good argument. They stated that if they let Michelle go, even if she meant them no harm, Victor could get her to talk or perhaps force her to fight them again. If she was as afraid of Victor as she claimed she was, it wouldn't be too hard for Victor to force her into fighting them again in the future. They also claim that if they kept Michelle as a hostage, if Victor did put some value in her just because she can transform into a dinosaur, they could force Victor into some kind of surrendering. But Moynihan had opposed to the idea, claiming that one hostage, or any number of hostages, wouldn't be enough to convince Victor to just give up. He wasn't the type of guy who can be reasoned with in such a manner. She also didn't like the idea of having a hostage in general. She didn't want to stoop down to Victor's level.

Even Caruso and Fiona were a bit apprehensive about letting Michelle go, but they agreed to it faster than Rodger and Buzz did. They took a little more convincing, but they eventually agreed to let her go as well, provided that she keeps to her word and stays away from them, especially Caruso. Michelle said that she'd try the best that she could, but she knew something could still happen, such as the accidental run-in at the library. But she was now more concerned about what to tell to Victor than she was with what the Dino Squad could do to her. What was Victor going to say? He would surely smell all these scents on her body and know she was around the Dino Squad, or at least Caruso. And when he doesn't smell any blood on her, he'd know something was wrong, at least in his eyes.

Michelle looked out into the forested region close to the lighthouse. She started to make her way towards it, but stopped herself. She looked back over at Max, who was still staring at her. The look in his eyes told her that there was something he probably wanted to say to her, but she couldn't think of what it could be other than for her to hurry up and leave already. Michelle took a few steps towards him. “Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something that you wanted to say to me or something?”

Max bit his lip a little and started to look a little nervous. “Well..yes..there was something I wanted to say..but I don't know how to put it...”

“You don't?” Michelle asked, sounding a little curious. “Is it really that difficult to say?”

Max thought for a moment, and then said, “Yes.” He was feeling guilty about what he had put Michelle through within the past few hours. He had let himself give into his anger and had actually threatened her. He had helped with everything that happened, her capture, bringing her to the lighthouse, binding her, everything. And after the way he saw her react when Moynihan started getting close, Max realized the true gravity of the situation, learning just how much Michelle truly feared Victor. And Moynihan didn't make them feel any better. Even Buzz and Rodger were ultimately feeling at least a little guilty for how they treated Michelle and how similar it was to how Victor would have acted.

Moynihan herself had stated that they were acting like Victor Veloci himself. That did hurt the Dino Squad a little, but Moynihan went on to say that she didn't want to scold them or make them feel bad. But she was disappointed that they would act in such a way. After that, Michelle did apologize for what she said, claiming that she was so angry with them for beating her up that she lost control of herself. At this point, Max couldn't really blame her. He would have done the same thing if he were in that same situation. Thinking back on it, Max couldn't believe that he and his friends had acted so cruelly to someone. Even if it were an enemy, he knew they shouldn't have acted like that. Moynihan still gave him some praise, though, claiming that he did try to stop the others beforehand and he had the marks of a true leader.

But he still couldn't shake off these feelings of guilt. Every time Max looked at Michelle, he could feel the memories of what happened to her flood through his mind. Would she even have the heart to forgive him for what he had done? “I..I just wanted to wish you..good luck..” Max finally said. It wasn't what he wanted to say, but he was still telling the truth.

Michelle was slightly surprised. “Oh, well..thank you..” She responded, although it was slightly delayed. She wasn't sure what to make of what Max said. She didn't know for sure whether or not he truly meant it. “So...I suppose I should wish you guys luck too. Good luck.”

“Thanks.” Max said. He was a little surprised himself that Michelle wished him luck. Perhaps she was just returning the favor.

A silence fell onto them again for a few moments. Then Michelle finally decided it was time for her to leave. The others were probably waiting for Max to come back inside, alone, and for her to be on her way. She knew Buzz and Rodger definitely wanted her away from the lighthouse and so did she, at least for now. She wasn't sure if there would come a time when she could come back, either by her own will or by some other reason, perhaps by force. “Well...I better get going.” She gestured behind her with a thumb. “If I stay here too long, Victor is going to wonder where I am. He's already curious about my..disappearances lately.”

Max tiled his head in confusion. “..disappearances? You've been running off?”

“I've been..coming to Kittery Point a lot..” Michelle smiled weakly. “I guess the urge to make up for what I did was..a little strong.”

“Yeah, I'll say..” Max said. He agreed that coming to this town multiple times was going to look suspicious. But he was still grateful that she came anyway. At least she was nice enough and brave enough to tell them what was actually going on. If it weren't for her, they would probably have never been able to come up with something to help Moynihan regain control of herself, even if it were just for a short time.

“Well...see ya around..I think.” Michelle said. She then turned and walked away.

As Michelle made her way towards the forest, Max finally worked up the courage to say what he wanted to earlier. “I'm..I'm sorry..about what happened. I'm truly..very sorry...”

Upon hearing that, Michelle stopped her tracks, wondering if she heard right. Without turning around all the way, she looked back at Max. He smiled at her, indicating that he really did just say that. Michelle wondered if she should turn back and abandon Raptor Dyne. But her better judgment told her to go back; now wasn't the time to switch sides completely. She simply nodded her head at Max and then transformed into a Gualong Wucaii and ran off into the distance.

Seeing Michelle look back at him like that did give Max a sense of hope. Perhaps there was still good inside of Michelle and maybe it was enough to turn her around. Maybe she could even become a new ally. She's already done something to help them out. “I'll see you soon, hopefully, Michelle. Bye.” He said, even though he knew that she couldn't hear him now. He turned and walked back into the lighthouse.

* * *

“So, is she gone?” Buzz said. It was the first thing Max heard when he walked into the living room. Buzz didn't sound all too happy about letting her go.

“Yes, Buzz.” Max said, sounding a little annoyed. “She is gone.”

Buzz didn't like the way Max was talking to him. “What are you so upset about? I'm the one who should be upset. You just let a potential killer loose!”

“Hey, you agreed to it!” Max said angrily.

“Only because you forced me to!” Buzz said.

“If I were in charge, I would have went with Buzz's idea and kept her here.” Rodger said, though in a less hostile way than Buzz was talking. “We probably could have gotten something from it...”

Moynihan, who was still in the room, shook her head. “No, you would not have, Rodg. There was nothing to gain from having her as a hostage. The only thing that would have come out of it was that Victor may have come over to the lighthouse and destroyed it so he could have her back on his side.”

“Yeah, you guys.” Fiona said in a calm voice. “I believe Max did the right thing in letting her go. She did seem really sorry for what she did. The least we can do is give her another chance.”

“We already gave her a chance!” Rodger said.

“And look what happened!” Buzz joined in.

“If you continue to blame her for something that's already happened...” Fiona started to say, but stopped herself when Moynihan put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

“Please don't argue, you kids.” Moynihan said softly. She adjusted her glasses with her other hand. “There has been enough fighting for one day. You kids should be relaxing now, not getting so worked up over this.” She then focused her attention on Rodger and Buzz. Out of the kids, she was the most disappointed in these two, particularly Buzz. “And as for you two, if you don't learn to give Michelle a break, you'll only make yourselves feel worse. After all, forgiveness is the first step to recovery.”

“Forgiveness?” Buzz said, sounding shocked. “You expect us to forgive Michelle for what she did?”

Moynihan nodded her head. “Not now anyway. But in the future, I would like to see that happen. Judging from what I've seen here, I predict that she might not work for Victor for much longer. It seems she really wants out of that company. And another reason I want you to forgive her is for your own sake. If you continue on with how you are, talking of revenge, you'll only bring yourself down further. You'll only hurt yourself.” She put her hand on Buzz's shoulder. “Even if you don't want to forgive her, at least do it for yourself.” Her other hand when on Rodger. “It's not good for your health to think of such things for very long.”

“But..I just don't think we can forgive her so easily..” Rodger said slowly. “I mean..after all she did..It's hard to bring myself to totally forgive her for all of this. She almost killed you...”

“I know, Rodg. Forgiveness doesn't come easily. But I know that, one day, you two will find it in your hearts to forgive her. Even though she almost killed me, I found the courage to forgive her.” Moynihan said, hoping to set an example out of herself. She figured that if she, who was almost killed by Michelle, could find the courage to forgive this girl, so should Rodger and Buzz.

“I'm still shocked that you could forgive her.” Buzz muttered softly.

“And I'm still shocked that you still want to go after her.” Max said as he walked over towards them. “What do you want out of this, Buzz? Michelle won't do us much good as a hostage. You don't like it when she's around, and yet when I tried to let her go, you attempted to stop me. What's the big deal? What do you want us to do with her? Kill her?”

Buzz narrowed his eyes. He opened up his mouth to respond, but suddenly lost his voice, not knowing what to say. He almost said 'yes', but realized if he did say that, he would have sounded cold-hearted. When he tried to search his mind for what he wanted, he realized that he didn't have a reason for why he didn't want her to go. He didn't even know what he wanted to do with Michelle other than capture her. “I...I don't know...”

Max wasn't finished. This time, he addressed Rodger. “What did you think we should do with Michelle? Did you think we should torture her? Kill her?” Like Buzz, Rodger was not able to make a response. Max then addressed both teens. “And on top of that, why did you two continue to insist that Michelle was lying? What did you want her to say that you thought was truthful? If you continue to believe that everything she says is a lie, then why even bother trying to get information from her? What would you have wanted her to say?”

“Well...I...” Rodger started to say, but he couldn't think of anything. Max had a good point. Why were they interrogating her if they thought everything she said was a lie? What was the point of it?

Buzz tried to say something, but he only managed to say, “It's because...” Then his voice trailed off. He couldn't think of a good comeback, or a good explanation for why he interrogated Michelle despite believing that she did nothing but lie. Perhaps he was taking this a little too far. Perhaps he should have given Michelle more of a chance.

Moynihan looked over at Buzz. She recalled him, once, trying to explain something to her, but she had wanted to put it off. Well perhaps now was a good time for him to tell her. “Buzz..why is it that you have this undying hatred for Michelle? Is there a reason why you continue to rant on her, wanting revenge, even when it is not necessary? Even when she seems to understand what she did wrong and even apologized for it? You even accused her of lying when she was risking her own life trying to help us find Caruso.” Buzz opened up his mouth, but didn't say anything. Moynihan urged him on. “Go on. Just tell me how you feel.” She looked over at Rodger. “You too, Rodger.”

Buzz hesitated. Moynihan was giving him a chance to explain himself like he tried to before but never got to finish. But now he wasn't so sure if he wanted to tell her everything. Maybe she already knew about it. But if she did, why would she even be asking him these questions? Maybe just for confirmation? No, that wouldn't make sense. Maybe she really didn't know. Buzz looked over at Rodger. He looked just as uncomfortable and unsure as he did. They've been ranting on about Michelle lately and they had already given their reasons for distrusting her. But now they had to explain on a deeper level why they were acting like this. They had to explain how they felt, not what they think should be done with Michelle.

“Well...how should I explain this...?” Buzz rubbed the back of his head. He still wasn't sure how to explain, but what other choice did he have? If he refused to answer, Moynihan was just going to keep on urging him until he said something. “I guess when I look at Michelle..I see Victor. I see what happened to myself when Victor had tricked me.. It feels like the past had repeated itself. Victor had tricked me using that online game that Rodger made...and I believed him..and he led me into a trap.” Buzz sighed. “So when I might this person.. PreGuan20 I think was her username, turned out to be Michelle, I had believed her. I thought she could have been a potential friend, but it turned out to be yet another trap... I can't help but associate Michelle with Victor because of that..That's why I can't trust her. I had already learned my lesson on that...”

Moynihan nodded her head, understanding what he was saying. It did make sense now. Moynihan felt a little stupid that she had forgotten about it. Buzz was captured by Victor for a short time because he had been foolish enough to believe Victor's lies through the internet. It was a good thing that they had gotten back from the dinosaur hockey game when they did, otherwise it might have been too late to save Neil from Victor. Michelle had been introduced to him in a similar fashion, and not long afterwards, a trap had been set and they fell for it. It would make sense for Buzz to react the way he had. But there was still one thing that didn't quite make sense, one thing that he said that didn't add up completely.

“If you had learned your lesson because of Victor...” Joanne said, one eyebrow cocked curiously. “..then why did you, at first, believe Michelle when you met her online and then first met her at the school? And when she was being 'attacked' by her partner?” Buzz opened up his mouth, but no words came out. “It seems to me, Buzz, that you had not really learned your lesson. You had fallen for the same trap as you had before..” She turned her head to Rodger this time. “And what's your reasoning behind your hatred for Michelle?”

Rodger gulped. He wasn't sure what to say. He didn't know how to explain himself. He didn't have a reason like Buzz did. He was just following along with him, wanting to be cautious. After what Michelle had done to them, he didn't want to take any chances. He cared too much about this team to let anything bad happen to them. Moynihan understood that, he was sure. But from the way she was looking at him, it seemed like she was expecting him to say something else, as if she thought there was another driving force behind his actions.

Noticing how silent Rodger had gotten, Moynihan spoke up. “Rodger, I asked you a question. Are you having a difficult time answering me?”

Rodger shook his head. “No...” That was, of course, a lie. But how would she know that?

“Then..please, answer the question.” Moynihan said gently. “I'm not trying to be mean to you two. I just want to help.”

“Well..I guess...I guess it is because of Buzz..” Rodger finally said. Moynihan nodded her head, but Buzz and the others looked at him in surprise. Buzz couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He was the reason Rodger had also been acting like this? “I mean..just seeing him like that..so distressed over this...this..Michelle person... I can't help but feel anger towards her... I..I'm angry at Michelle for making Buzz feel the way he had been over the past few weeks. It hurts me seeing him like this.” Rodger looked over at Buzz, and then back at Moynihan. “I guess I was being a little..overprotective..”

Fiona felt the faintest of a smile tug at her mouth. “If that was his idea of being a little overprotective, I'd hate to see his idea of being too overprotective...” She whispered to Max.

“Yeah..” Max whispered back. He didn't like talking about Rodger behind his back, but he couldn't help but be concerned about him, and Buzz too.

Moynihan said to Rodger, “You need to learn some self control there, Rodg. It's okay if you feel protective about someone, even a little overprotective. But you shouldn't be acting the way they are. That won't help solve the problem. It will actually make it worse.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed it. “If you really wanted to help Buzz, you should have talked to him and help him settle down. If you were feeling troubled about this situation and you didn't feel comfortable talking to Buzz, then you should have come to me.”

Rodger bowed his head, feeling ashamed. “Yes..I know that.”

Moynihan frowned slightly, concerned. “Don't feel bad, Rodger.” She gently lifted up his head. “We all make mistakes now and then. There's no need to get upset over them once you understand what you did wrong.” She smiled. “And now that you do, it's time to move on. Don't dwell on your mistakes too much. You do remember the last time you did, right?”

Rodger gulped. “Yes..I do...” Rodger had made so many mistakes one time that he had lost confidence in himself and almost gave up. But his friends managed to help him get his confidence back. He was grateful for that, and it was just in time for him to rescue Buzz from Victor. Buzz was trapped on a train, a mutant snake on one side, Victor on the other. With his genius, they managed to cure the snake and saved Buzz from Victor.

* * *

Several hours later, Michelle was panting heavily as she reached the Raptor Dyne building. She took a few moments to catch her breath, then turned the knob and walked inside. Though it was starting to get dark outside, she still had to write in her journal. Surely, Victor would be expecting her to do that. She quickly made her way down the halls, the stairs, and more halls until she finally reached the room she was looking for. She looked inside the room to make sure no one was in there. She then reached for the door, but before she could grab it, she suddenly felt the presence of someone behind her. Her eyes widened and she gulped as she heard a soft growl, although it didn't sound too menacing. She turned around and spotted Victor, walking towards her with his hands behind his back. Was he trying to hide something from her?

Victor's eyes narrowed slightly as he got closer to her. When he finally reached her, he relaxed one arm against his side and raised the other. He pointed at her and asked, “Where have you been? Do you have any idea what time it is?” He didn't sound too happy with her. “You should have been back hours ago!” He had a feeling he knew what had went on, but he wanted to get her to confess it herself. And it shouldn't take much persuasion to get her to confess what had happened to slow her down.

Michelle fumbled with her fingers. Her eyes darted around the room as she tried to find an explanation to give him. She couldn't tell him the truth. If she did, he was going to wonder why she hadn't tried to kill Caruso; she was free part of the time there and had every opportunity to try. “I was..no where, sir. I was just..looking around..and I lost track of time. I apologize...”

But Victor wasn't buying it. “Don't give me that!” Michelle took a step back in fear. “I know you better than that, Michelle. You've never done something like that before! You, losing track of time? You'll have to think of a better excuse than that!” Victor folded up his arms and waited for her to give the real explanation.

Michelle swallowed hard. Victor was able to see right through her lying. What was she going to do now? Should she just confess the truth and hope he won't take action? No, the Dino Squad, specifically Max, were willing to give her another chance. She didn't want to blow it. “I was..just shopping...?” She smiled nervously at him and raised her arms as if she doesn't know what the right answer was. Victor growled at her, this time with more force, and she flinched, moving away from him.

“Stop lying to me!” Victor said. Finally, he decided to show her that he knew where she was. He took another step towards her. “I caught a whiff of you when you walked in here. I could smell that you were with the Dino Squad.” Michelle's eyes widened in shock. “Why are you so surprised? You didn't notice that their horrible stench is all over you?” He smirked slightly, a little amused by the fact that Michelle was probably in too much of a hurry to get back to realize that the smell was still, indeed, still there. He and Michelle heard footsteps coming towards them. They turned to see Oscura coming towards them.

Oscura smirked evilly at Michelle, looking as if she found a new opportunity to get rid of her once and for all. Oscura had overheard part of the conversation and was able to catch the bit about the scent of the Dino Squad being all over her. If Oscura could convince Victor that Michelle was hanging out with the Dino Squad on purpose, maybe then Victor will do something about her. “If you want to know what I think, Dr. Veloci...” Oscura eyed Michelle evilly before looking back at Victor. “..I think she had deliberately went to the Dino Squad and spent some..time with them for a while. She probably told them everything.”

Victor's eyes narrowed further. “And what proof do you have to back up your claim, Oscura?”

Oscura's expression changed from happiness to a look of confusion. “Come again?”

“I'm not going to accuse Michelle of treachery unless you can provide me some evidence to back up your claims.” Victor said. “I'm not going to punish her just because you think she did something wrong.” He paused, and then added in, “And I definitely won't do it just because you don't like her. I don't like most of the humans working for me, but you don't see me running around trying to kill them, do you? Show some self control, Oscura!”

Oscura frowned a little. She overheard Michelle laughing at her. Oscura glared in her direction. “Oh shut up, you!”

Victor was going to say something to Oscura but decided to let it go for now. Right now, he was still talking with Michelle. He still wanted to know for sure where she was and what she was doing there to begin with. “Okay, Michelle. What were you doing near the Dino Squad? And don't try to tell me you weren't with them. Remember...” He pointed to his nose. “I can smell them. And my nose is never wrong.”

Michelle gulped and said, “Okay..I didn't want to tell you..but I was captured by the Dino Squad.” At least that part she knew was correct. “They had ambushed me and managed to subdue me long enough to tie me up. If you want to know why I didn't go dino, it happened too fast... They bound my arms behind my back so if I tried to transform, it would only break them, well if I transformed completely though. I had no choice but to go with them to the lighthouse.”

Victor cocked an eyebrow. “You were at the lighthouse? How did you manage to escape?” Maybe she had managed to kill Caruso while she had gotten herself free. But then he realized something. There was a scent missing from her if this were the case. “And why didn't you try to kill Caruso?”

Michelle froze at that question. That was the very question that she was hoping she would be able to avoid. She was hoping that he wouldn't ask her that, hoping that she wouldn't need to answer it. But now she had to. “W-Well, sir...I...” But she couldn't think of anything to say to that. What lie could she tell him that would be convincing enough for him to believe her?

Oscura chuckled. “You see? She can't even come up with a clever lie for that one! She must have been plotting with them or something!”

“Oscura, keep your mouth shut.” Michelle said, getting aggravated that Oscura was hanging around here. She didn't know why Victor permitted her to stay here, in this hallway, as she tried to talk to him. She was just going to try and come up with ways to twist her story every chance that she got.

“You can't tell me what to do!” Oscura retorted.

“But I can.” Victor said, sounding annoyed. He glared at her. “Will you please be quiet so Michelle can tell her side of the story?” Although he was trying to sound as polite as he could despite his anger, Oscura and Michelle could tell from the tone of his voice that he was really stressing himself trying to sound polite. The words might have been polite, but his tone was that of anger and frustration.

Before Michelle tried again to explain herself, she realized there was something else she had forgotten about. Victor had likely taken notice to it, but decided not to say anything. She still had some dried blood on her body from the attacks she got from the Dino Squad. Even though it wasn't a lot of blood, it was likely enough for Victor to pick up if he were in raptor mode. And even if he didn't smell it, he was likely to have seen it on her skin. Red shows up very well on light-colored skin. She gingerly pressed a hand against several lacerations she got on one arm and said, “Well..I did try, sir..I really did. But they..they outnumbered me..and I was beaten. As much as I hate to admit it, I was defeated by them.”

Victor stared at her for several seconds, taking in this information. He wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not. He had seen the way she handled the Dino Squad before. They didn't stand much of a chance against her speed and agility. Then again, she had Oscura to back her up. Combined as a team, they were able to outmaneuver the Dino Squad and had defeated them pretty easily. But in this confrontation, apparently she had been alone this time. So it would make sense that some of the tricks she used before wouldn't work this time around. The wounds that covered part of her body seem to support her claim. It did look like she was in quite a struggle. Still, something didn't seem right about what she said. It was starting to feel as if she was hiding something. Victor was determined to find out what it was.

Eyes narrowing a little further, Victor said, “How come those wounds look like they came from humans?” He pointed at some of the cuts on her body. They weren't very deep and looked more like a nail had gone across them. There were areas that were deeper, but that was only because, at some point, the Dino Squad started slashing her with their dinosaur claws. “Some do look like they came from dinosaurs, yes. But the others look like they came from humans...” Then he realized what it had meant. It was impossible for a human to inflict damage on a dinosaur, but they could inflict damage on a human. “You claim that they ambushed you, but those wounds suggest that you did have enough time to go dino. And yet you didn't...” His eyes glowed slightly. “Is there something that you are hiding from me?”

Michelle quickly shook her head. “No sir! I'm not trying to hide anything from you!”

“Then what really happened?” Victor asked, lifting his head up slightly as he stared down at her. “And don't try telling me that they ambushed you. Your wounds already give away that you are lying about that...”

Michelle gulped. She wasn't sure what she should do now. She wished she could just turn around and walk away, but Victor would see to it that she stays put until she explains everything to him. Michelle could see Oscura smiling at her. She was enjoying this, she could tell. Michelle looked back at Victor, whose glowing eyes stared down at her with an expression that told her that lying wasn't an option. Michelle could only think of one more lie and she prayed that it would work. “Okay, sir...Here's what happened...” And she began to tell him her story.

* * *

The next day, later into the afternoon, Fiona stood outside the door to Caruso's house, her arm raised up, hand readied to knock on the door. But she hesitated. She had come here only on Moynihan's encouragement. She had consulted with her again and Moynihan encouraged her yet again to go talk to Caruso. For added privacy, she had suggested that she talk to Caruso at his own home, perhaps up in his bedroom. Fiona wasn't sure if his parents would like that, but Moynihan assured her that Caruso's parents knew who she was and would trust her in his room alone. But that wasn't what was concerning Fiona. She already knew that Caruso's parents trusted her. But after what happened before, she wondered if some of that trust had been broken...

Finally, Fiona worked up the courage to knock on the door. After a couple thumps onto the door, she saw the knob turning, opening up the door. Fiona found herself looking at Caruso's father, Jack. He didn't seem particularly happy, but she wasn't sure if it was because of her presence or if something else was going on. Either way, Fiona offered her best smile despite the circumstances. “Hello, Mr. Caruso...” She lowered her head slightly. “I-Is Irwin there..?”

Upon the mention of Irwin, Jack narrowed his eyes slightly. But he didn't look angry; surprisingly, he looked sad. “Well..yes he is..But he...” He seemed nervous and unsure of what he was going to say. He looked away from Fiona, who was staring to look worried, rubbing the back of his head nervously. “..I'm not sure if he's in a talkative mood right now.” He said at last.

That only made Fiona feel even more worried about the boy. “What's..what's wrong with him? Did something happen to him?”

“Sort of..” Jack said, lowering his gaze. “You see...I'm not sure if he's been telling you this.. But he's been having nightmares recently.” Jack looked back into the house to see if Irwin was nearby. When he was able to confirm that he wasn't, he continued, “He would thrash in his sleep, crying out as if he were in pain.. Often I'd see him claw at his mouth as if that..that thing was still on him.. He would sometimes mistake me and his mother for Veloci.” Fiona's eyes widened in horror. “We didn't say anything to you or your friends before because we thought that he had told you. But I suppose that he hadn't...”

Fiona slowly shook her head. “No, sir.. He hadn't said a word about this to any of us. I wonder why...” The only thing that she could think of is that maybe Irwin was worried that she'd think less of him if he told her about these nightmares, and the same applied for the others. Caruso had probably wanted to make the team believe that he was being strong, and feared what would happen if they saw him acting so weak. Fiona felt a little hurt that Caruso didn't trust her enough to tell her about these horrible dreams. She could have helped him.

“He didn't tell us straight away.” Jack said. Fiona looked up at him in surprise. “We noticed, in the mornings, he'd look like a mess. We would try to get him to talk about what happened, but he refused, stating that nothing was wrong. We finally found out about the dreams when he was screaming in his sleep. After we managed to wake him up, he finally broke down and told us that he's been having nightmares about Veloci and what had happened to him at that warehouse you kids found him at.”

Fiona swallowed hard. Caruso's stay must have been far more horrific than she thought if he's having such vivid nightmares about it. But then again, she wasn't too surprised. She had seen that device on his head and she had seen how it had cut into his body. That was likely enough to give even the strongest person nightmares. “Where is he now? C-Can I talk to him...?” Fiona asked softly. “Maybe I can help him feel better.”

Jack hesitated, staring at Fiona and considered her offer. On one hand, he didn't want her with Irwin specifically because he was worried that Irwin might mistake her for Veloci and attack her. But on the other hand, she might be able to help calm him down. Jack didn't want his son to continue acting like this. It was hurting both him and his wife, and it seems to be having an impact on his friends as well. He wondered how Moynihan was taking this. “All right then...” He stepped back and allowed Fiona to come into the house. Once he shut the door, he pointed towards where Caruso's bedroom was. “He's in his bedroom. You may go talk to him.”

“Can I talk to him alone?” Fiona requested, a faint blush appearing on her face. Although she tried to hide it from Jack, he still spotted it and smiled.

“Why of course you can.” Jack said, chuckling lightly. It seems that this girl has a crush on Caruso, he thought.

Fiona smiled back. “Thanks, Mr. Caruso!” With that, she took off towards Irwin's room. It wasn't too hard to find. It was the only one that was completely closed. The others were partway open. Why, Fiona wasn't too sure. But that was none of her concern, especially at this time. She grabbed the door and slowly opened it. She didn't hear anything inside, but she was certain Caruso was in here. She peered inside. The room was dark, although still lit because of the light from outside. She couldn't see Caruso anywhere, but still stepped into the room. “Caruso..? Caruso, are you in here?” She asked.

“G-Go away...” A voice said from what sounded like on the other side of the bed. Fiona knew what it was Caruso. There was no mistaking that voice. “Leave me alone...”

“Caruso..I just want to help you...” Fiona said as she walked towards the bed, towards the source of the voice. “I'm not leaving you. Please..just let me help you..” She reached the other side of the bed. Caruso was sitting down, his arms wrapped around his legs and pulled tightly to his chest. She gasped. Jack wasn't kidding when he said that the boy was a mess. Caruso's hair was all messed up and spiky-looking. His eyes were puffy red as if he were crying. His clothes were a little torn up. When Fiona looked hard enough, she could see some tiny red lines along his arms as legs. It was like Caruso was scratching himself to get away from whatever he thought he was seeing, as if he thought there was rope around his legs and harms and he was trying to get free. “Caruso...”

Irwin looked up at Fiona. There were still tears streaming down his face. His mouth was part-way open, his lips trembling in fear. His eyes widened slightly as he saw Fiona. For a brief moment, he thought he saw Victor staring down at him again. But he realized a little when he realized it was only Fiona. But then his face contorted into mild anger. Fiona gasped and took a step back, preparing for the boy to attack her in a blind panic. But the attack never came. “What..what are you doing here, Fiona? I-It's not safe...I-I could...” Fiona ignored him and gently grabbed one of his arms. She pulled him up to his feet and motioned for him to sit on the bed. Caruso did so and Fiona sat down next to him. She remained as close as she could to him without making the boy feel uncomfortable.

After a couple minutes of silence, Fiona said in a small voice, “Your..dad told me what has been happening.”

Caruso looked over at her. “H-He did...?”

Fiona nodded her head. She then looked over at him, her face filled with hurt. “Caruso..why didn't you tell us you were having these nightmares?”

“I-I thought I did...” Caruso said softly.

“Maybe you did..” Fiona said, looking away. “I..I can't remember. But still, you could have talked to us if these dreams were still bothering you. We're your friends, Caruso. We would have helped you if you gave us the chance..”

“I-I know...” Caruso felt more tears streaming down his face. He lifted up his arm and wiped away his tears as best as he could. But more tears just appeared, making his face constantly wet and moist despite his best efforts. He took in a shaky breath, stifling a sob. “I-I was just so..so s-s-scared..and f-frightened.. I-I didn't want you g-guys to worry about me..” Caruso was doing his best to ignore the pain inside his mouth as he spoke. “I-I thought you guys would..g-give up on me...”

Shocked by this statement, Fiona put one arm around Caruso and pulled him closer to her. “Caruso, we would never do something like that.. We..We care about you too much to just give up on you. You can tell us anything. You've got to believe that...” Caruso turned around and wrapped his arms around Fiona, catching her by surprise, and hugged her tightly. Fiona was shocked at first, but put her other arm around him and hugged him back. Caruso trembled and cried as he continued to hug Fiona, resting his head on her shoulder.

“I-It was h-horrible..V-Victor would just..stand over me..laughing.. I'd have that horrible bridle b-back on me..and the p-pain was far worse than before...” Caruso said through his sobs. “H-He said he k-killed you guys and..n-no one would h-help me... I would..try to fight back, but he-he was too s-strong for me... He a-almost kills me too, but-but that is when I'd..w-wake up...” He couldn't bring himself to say anymore. His words slowly broke into short, sharp gasps and whimpers.

“Shhh...” Fiona whispered to him, trying to gently shush him. She gently rubbed his back with one hand and pulled him as close as she could with the other. “It's all right...everything will be okay, you'll see...” She wasn't sure if that was true or not, but for his sake, she hoped it would be. She didn't want to see Caruso remain like this for the rest of his life. “Victor will never harm you again..me and the others..we'll see to it that he never gets near you again...I promise...”

Caruso just kept on crying. He was gripping Fiona as tightly as he could without causing her pain. He was afraid to let go, afraid to speak, afraid to look at her. All he wanted to do was hug her and cry. He wanted to let out all the emotion that he had tried to keep backed up all this time. His body convulsed almost violently as he continued to sob and whimper. Although he was still frightened, Fiona's gentle touch and words helped soothe him a little and he started to calm down a little. But he still refused to let go. He was afraid that if he did, she would get up and leave him, and break her promise to him. Although he knew that she would never do that to him, he couldn't help but be paranoid that it might happen. He was terrified to just let her go now. He finally managed to say, “Th-Thank you...”

“You're welcome...Caruso...” Fiona whispered gently, smiling softly. She was glad that Caruso was sounding like he was starting to calm down a little. His body wasn't shaking as much and his sobs and whimpers were coming less and less frequent. But he still clung onto her tightly as if he was afraid of letting her go. Fiona didn't mind, of course. She continued to hug him, letting him calm down further. Then she pulled her head away from him, but still hugged him. Caruso looked up at her for a few seconds before lowering his head, still crying. She wasn't sure if it was from happiness or sadness. “Shhhhhh...it's okay...” Then Fiona found herself doing something she hadn't meant to before.

Fiona leaned forward, moving her head towards Caruso's. Without hesitating much, she pressed her lips against his and kissed him.

Caruso's eyes widened in shock and he quickly pulled away. He stared at Fiona, a bewildered expression on his face. Fiona looked up at him, at first a little hurt that he had reacted in such a way. And then her gaze lowered as she felt a slight blush spread onto her face. Caruso didn't know what to say. He was left completely shocked by the kiss. He had never expected her to do that. He had already accepted that he had a crush on her, kept secret all this time, but he didn't think she had a crush on him. Maybe this kiss was proof of that...

Caruso found himself asking an awkward question, despite his better judgment. “Why...why did you do that...?” He then flinched slightly. He wondered if he had offended her. She might have kissed him to try and help him feel better. Then again, that didn't seem to make much sense. But still, he couldn't wrap his head around the idea that Fiona had fallen for him.

Fiona smiled weakly. She knew that it was going to come to this sooner or later. There was no way she could simply hide the truth now. She had to admit how she truly felt about him. If she ran away now, she didn't want to think how Caruso would think of her after that. He might not even want to speak to her again for a while. “I..I did it because I...” She trailed off for a few seconds, leaving Caruso in a curious silence as he leaned in a little bit to try to understand what she was saying. She was speaking in a voice so soft that it was a little hard to hear, even when he leaned in. “...I love you...” Fiona finally said, her smile becoming a little stronger and more sincere.

Caruso straightened up, shocked by this confession. He felt a wave of emotion come over him. Many emotions played with his mind. Happiness, shock, confusion, and others clouded his mind. He felt his body shake a little, not from fear, but from excitement. After all this time of wanting to hear Fiona say those words to him, it finally came true. But he never thought he'd feel like this. He narrowed his eyes slightly. He had to be sure he had heard right. “You...love me..?” He asked in a curious tone of voice. Fiona looked up at him, her blush now a deep shade of red. She slowly nodded her head and a smile came onto Caruso's face. “I love you, too...” He whispered softly.

Now it was Fiona's turn to be shocked. She hadn't expected Caruso to offer a confession. But while it did surprise her, it also filled her with joy. It seemed that she was not the only one hiding a little secret from someone else. But while she could easily think of how this might effect future missions, she knew they could think of that later. “Really...?” She asked him.

Caruso continued to smile as he moved one arm back and then gently cupped Fiona's chin and tilted it upwards slightly. “Yes, I do..”

Fiona's smile broadened and she and Caruso hugged each other again, this time more affectionately rather than simply trying to comfort the other. Fiona rested her head on Caruso's shoulder, gently rubbing her cheek against his. Caruso reached up and gently stroked Fiona's long, red hair, running his fingers through it. They remained in each other's arms for a few minutes, taking comfort in the warmth and affection of the other. They were afraid to let each other go, almost afraid that if they did, they would lose one another, like they had when Victor captured Caruso. Finally, they pulled apart and stared into each other's eyes. They didn't say anything. Instead, they started to lean towards each other, their minds completely blank on everything except what was happening right now.

Then, they closed their eyes and moved in even closer. They hesitated for only a second, and then gently kissed each other on the lips. And it felt like all their worries, their fears, everything around them completely left their minds in that moment. All they could think about was each other. They broke apart for only a second and found themselves kissing each other again, passionately.

* * *

About two hours later, Caruso was going through his dressers, trying to find something nice to wear. Fiona had left about an hour ago to go get ready herself. She had asked him if he wanted to go on a date with her and Caruso had accepted. They agreed to go to a diner that was in town. They had been able to get their motorcycles to their house so they would have a mode of transportation without having to rely on family. Caruso had already cleaned up earlier today so he didn't have to worry about jumping in the shower. But he still wanted to look nice for the occasion. He had a lot of nice suits in his closet, but for some reason he couldn't pick out one he thought would be the best. He wanted to look perfect for tonight.

“No..not this one..” Caruso whispered softly to himself, holding a dark red suit he found in his closet. He tossed it away and it landed on the floor next to his bed. The floor had a couple other outfits just laying on the floor as well, making his room look like a mess. This wasn't like him. Caruso would usually make sure his room looked as clean as possible and as neat as possible. But he was so worried about looking so perfect for Fiona that he wasn't paying attention to what his room was looking like. He rummaged through his dresser a little longer, but he still couldn't find anything that satisfied him. “I don't want Fiona to think I'm a slob..” He said to himself as he looked down at his shirt. While it looked pretty much clean, Caruso thought the shirt was very dirty and had too many wrinkles. He wanted to wear something special, something eye-catching.

But where was he going to find such an outfit in this house? He knew he had a bunch of new clothes that he could try to wear. He had done a little shopping several weeks ago before he was captured. Surely, there was something there that he could wear. Caruso went over to his closet where he kept some of his nicest clothes and began looking through there. He found a couple things that he thought he might like to wear, but he wasn't sure if Fiona would want to see him dressed up in them. One particular outfit that caught his attention looked like his usual outfit, but it was black in color and a space where one could put a flower. The pants weren't black, but instead a dark shade of gray. Perhaps he could wear this outfit. Caruso took a closer look and noticed that there was a hole on one of the sleeves. He frowned and immediately put it away. Even though the hole was tiny, it looked too noticeable to him and he wanted the outfit to be perfect, no holes.

Caruso found another outfit that looked a little more promising. He looked it over to ensure that there was no holes in it. When he found none, he took a look at the outfit itself. It looked sort of like the shirt he had on now, but was a slightly darker color and had much longer sleeves. The shirt itself looked like it was also made of thinner material than the shirt he had on now. The outfit had a button-up black-colored suit to go with it. Despite owning it for months, there didn't seem to be much faded areas and it still looked relatively new. Along with the suit and shirt, it also had a pair of relatively thin black paints that slightly flared at the bottom. Caruso wasn't sure if this outfit would due the trick and he considered looking further into his closet. But he glanced at the outfit again. It did look the most professional of the outfits he looked through so far and he was going on a date. Fiona would probably like this outfit as well.

“I guess this will due...” Caruso grabbed the outfit and pulled it out of his closet. He removed the hanger and made his way towards the bathroom. While he didn't need to take a shower, he still needed to clean up a bit before Fiona returned. His hair was still a mess, he needed to clean up his face, his teeth needed to be brushed, and of course, he needed to change his clothes. He hoped that he wouldn't mess up their first date.

After about fifteen minutes in the bathroom, Caruso had managed to get his teeth brushed and had changed his clothes. He straighted and brushed the outfit with his hands, trying to get as much of the wrinkles out of it as possible. As he reached for his brush, he heard his mom calling out to him from the living room.

“Caruso! Your date is here!” Amanda shouted.

“She's here already..?” Caruso said, his eyes widening slightly, still gripping the brush in his now shaky hand. He wasn't even ready yet! He couldn't go down there looking like this! Despite his pain, Caruso managed to shout, “Tell her I'll be down there in a couple minutes!” Caruso wasn't sure if he'd be ready in a few minutes, but it would at least buy him some time. Caruso quickly began brushing his hair, trying to get out all the knots that had tangled his hair. Originally he was going to have his hair the way he normally liked it, pointing upward. It was unusual and unique and he liked it that way. But tonight was a special occasion, so he decided to go for a new look.

Caruso liked the way his hair was when he had to help the others trick Veloci with the Trojan Dinosaur plan that they came up with to save Moynihan. Originally, Caruso had only taken on the look to make sure he wouldn't be easily recognized by Victor. But now thinking about it, he did look kinda cool with his hair down like that. Trying to remember exactly how the hairdo looked, Caruso flattened his hair against his head and moved his hand back. When he was finished, his hair looked just like it did when he had to wear that disguise. He smiled, loving how it looked on him. He then grabbed a cloth and drenched it with warm water and wrung it tightly with both hands. He took a few moments to carefully wash his face with the cloth, trying his best not to hurt himself.

When he was finished, he took a moment to look at himself. He thought he looked handsome, attractive, even professional almost. But something ruined the image. There were several cuts still visible on his face. He narrowed his eyes. He couldn't go out in public with this kind of appearance, especially with Fiona. What would she think of him if he allowed himself in public with these ugly scars? Caruso opened up a drawer and found some make-up he thought might help. His mom would probably wonder why he was going through her make-up, but he felt that she'd understand since this was an emergency. Well at least to him it was.

Caruso quickly applied the make up to his scars, trying to make them as less noticeable as possible. Once he was finished, it was still a little noticeable, but only if one would look very closely. Caruso reached over and grab some breath freshener and sprayed the inside of his mouth so his breath wouldn't stink. He took a moment to brush his hair a few more times and brushed himself off a little more before he felt he looked fine. After quickly applying some deodorant, he quickly got out of the bathroom and went into the living room where Fiona was probably waiting for him. He hoped she wasn't' too upset with him for making her wait.

When he got into the living room, he immediately froze in his tracks. Fiona was sitting down on the couch, looking his direction. He couldn't believe how beautiful Fiona looked. He almost never seen Fiona wear anything very feminine before, considering that she was a tomboy. But since they were going on a date, she probably figured she should wear something nice instead of her usual clothing. Instead of jeans, she wear a relatively long skirt that went down to her knees, the thin cloth colored a light shade of red although not quite pink. To match with it, she wore a pink button-up blouse, which surprised Caruso because he had never thought Fiona would actually wear pink. Her hair had been pulled back behind her, her bangs out of her face and off her shoulders. She had put on bright red lipstick and, though it was a little hard to tell, it looked like she also had mascara on. Caruso just stood there, stunned.

Fiona looked equally surprised at how well dressed Caruso was. She knew that he could dress up for the occasion, but she didn't realize that he could clean up this well. She loved the outfit that he was wearing. It made him look very handsome. And she loved what he had done with his hair. She immediately recognized it because it was the hairdo he had take on in order to fool Victor. She hadn't realized it back then, but he looked really good with that kind of hairstyle. Maybe she should convince him to use that hairstyle more often. She quickly noticed his scars were not very visible and realized that he must have put on make-up to try to hide them. She wondered if it was because he was worried how she would feel about him if he didn't put on the make-up to hide the scars while they were out in public together.

Deciding to break the silence, Caruso adjusted his shirt a little and walked towards Fiona. “W-Well..are you ready?” He said, almost choking on the words due to his nervousness about today's evening. He reached out one arm towards her to take her hand.

Fiona giggled and reached out and put her hand in his. As he helped her off the couch even though she didn't really need it, she said, “Sure I am. And are you ready..Irwin..?” She said in a slightly teasing tone of voice. She knew it irritated Caruso to have someone other than his parents call him Irwin. When he looked at her in slight surprise and blushed in embarrassment, she giggled playfully again.

“W-Well of course..” Caruso responded, still very nervous about tonight. Why wouldn't he be nervous? This was his first date. He can't screw this up!

Fiona moved towards him and put on arm around him and pulled him close. “Don't be so nervous, Irwin... This evening will go fine! And why are you acting nervous around me? I'm not going to bite.” She grinned almost seductively, making Caruso grin nervously at her, moving his head away as she leaned in closer to him.

As the two made their way towards the door, Amanda called out to them, “Make sure to stay away from strangers and try to be back before dark!” Caruso smiled and shook his head. Typical mom wanting to make sure he came home safe and sound.

“Have a great time, you two!” Jack called out, putting an arm around his wife as he watched their son and his girlfriend walk out the door together. Jack couldn't believe how much his son had grown. It seemed like yesterday, he was just a toddler running around the house. Now he was going on his first date. Where did the years go?

“Don't worry. We'll be back soon!” Caruso said as he and Fiona waved them goodbye. Then they got onto their motorbikes and made their way towards the restaurant they had both agreed to go to on their first date.

* * *

As they road off, they were unaware of a pair of eyes watching them from the shadows. A pair of glowing yellow eyes glared at them as they sped off into the distance. The eyes belonged to Kista, who had been around this house, listening in on their conversations. She had originally come over to sneak into the house and kill off Caruso. But perhaps this would be a better time than any other to make her move. She could go over to the restaurant and wait for the right moment to strike. She didn't recognize Fiona, but there was something about her that told her to be cautious. She had a feeling that the girl would become a problem with this mission.

But Kista didn't feel she had to worry. It wouldn't take long to finish off Caruso anyway. He wouldn't even have enough time to react once she had her claws on him. She looked down at her hands and they slowly changed. White scales speckled all over the fingers as they merged into two strong digits. Long, sharp claws stretched from them, the tip so sharp it could easily slice through the boy's throat. She shifted her hand back and laughed. This was going to be a piece of cake, a very easy mission. She frowned at that thought. Perhaps it was going to be too easy...

“No sense in worrying about that now..” Kista told herself, shaking her head. She had to start moving if she wanted to catch up to the teenagers and get into the restaurant for an opportunity to kill Caruso, just as Victor had ordered her and everyone else to do. Kista hoped that the boy would try to put up some sort of fight to defend himself. It would be no fun if he completely surrendered right away. But then thoughts of that girl came back to her. What was she going to do with her? Victor never mentioned this girl to her before. On top of that, he didn't tell her what to do if Caruso wasn't alone; what to do with his friends or family that might be with him at the time. Kista narrowed her eyes. “I guess I have to kill her too...”

* * *

About an hour later, Fiona and Caruso were sitting at one of the tables at the restaurant. They had ordered their food about half an hour ago and it had just arrived. Caruso had gotten a steak with garlic mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley. Fiona decided to go with one of the pasta meals; spaghetti with meatballs. It also came with a couple of bread sticks, which she would dip in the sauce and proceed to eat it. For drinks, they both got the fancy wine glasses, but instead of wine, they had soda. Not very special, but they didn't want to spend too much money on this place.

“This is a beautiful evening..isn't it?” Fiona managed to say after swallowing another small meatball. She sighed contently, feeling pleased with how the evening was turning out so far.

“Yes..” Caruso said, a little cautious for fear he would say something stupid and ruin the date. “It sure is...” He then looked into Fiona's eyes and smiled. “But not as beautiful as you are..” Fiona giggled lightly, a deep blush spreading onto her face.

They didn't talk too much while they ate. It wasn't because they found this place to be boring and it wasn't because they didn't have anything interesting to talk about. It was because they were too distracted by how handsome or beautiful the other person looked and they didn't want to say anything for fear of ruining the moment. Despite the restaurant being relatively packed, it wasn't very noisy. Oh sure, they did hear the occasional child's cry or some comments from other people who were talking to one another. But for the most part, all they could hear was the faint sound of music in the background. It was so peaceful and tranquil here. It almost felt as if talking would completely ruin this beautiful moment together. But while they ate and made a few quick small talks, they didn't notice that they were being watched by someone on the other end of the room. The figure was a waiter, the same one who had brought over their food. But underneath the disguise was a hidden danger: Kista Bakar.

Kista narrowed her eyes as she watched the two eating and talking to each other. She also looked at all the people that were around. How was she going to execute this plan flawlessly? She couldn't simply walk up to the boy and kill him; someone was going to see her and report her to the police. She had to come up with some kind of plan to get near the boy without raising suspicion upon herself. But how was she going to pull this off? She didn't even have much time to plan. Because she had disguised herself as a waiter, she had to take orders from so many people here in order to fool everyone in this restaurant. She found herself constantly moving around, only able to glance over at Caruso and his girlfriend for only a few seconds before someone called out for her.

Then an evil smile spread onto her face as she went to take someone else's order. Perhaps there was something she could do to get rid of Caruso and not have anyone be suspicious of her. It was still risky, but she could try going dino. She could sneak off into the bathroom and transform unnoticed. There were no cameras there anyway and what are the odds of anyone being in the bathroom at this time? From what she could see, everyone was at their tables or leaving; she hadn't seen anyone go into the bathroom for a while. Then after transforming, she could rush out and target Caruso. Upon seeing a dinosaur, the pathetic humans would scream and run away. They wouldn't even think to try and figure out what was going on. They'd just run. And, alone except for his girlfriend, that would leave Caruso more vulnerable and easier to kill.

Kista chuckled darkly. “You will be mine, kid. You will be mine...”

* * *

A few minutes later, perhaps thirty minutes; they weren't sure, Caruso and Fiona were finished with their meal. Their plates weren't completely empty, but they had eaten their fill. They placed their silverware down and leaned back in their seats. They could just get up and walk away, but they found themselves remaining where they were. They continued to stare at one another, smiling, but not able to come up with anything for small talk. They had ideas on what they wanted to talk about, but they couldn't think of how to say it. They wanted to tell each other how beautiful or handsome they looked, but they stopped themselves, worried that they would make a fool out of themselves. They didn't want to look or sound foolish to the other, especially since this is their first date.

But then dark thoughts started to invade Caruso's mind. He tried his best to keep his smile up, but it slowly disintegrated into a concerned frown. He started wondering about Victor and what he would do if he ever found him. Caruso hoped he was doing as best as he could to hide from the raptor, to make sure that he never got the chance to kill him off. But he was still worried about him. He knew he would continue to have these nightmares about Veloci until something was done soon. He kept replaying Michelle's warning in his head over and over again. She had warned him to watch his back and to never let his guard down. And Caruso could not get over the feeling that he was being watched. He looked over his shoulder, trying to see if anyone was watching him intently. Not seeing anyone, he looked back at Fiona.

Noticing the change in his demeanor, Fiona frowned slightly and leaned forward a little. “Caruso...what's wrong?” She sensed something was wrong. He had looked behind him as if he was worried someone was nearby. Instinctively, Fiona looked around as well, trying to find any potential danger. But she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. All she saw were people coming and going, eating, sitting at their tables talking, or waiters going around taking orders or bringing people their food.

Caruso lowered his gaze. “It's Veloci...” He said softly, fumbling around with a fork for no apparent reason.

Fiona leaned back into her seat. “Veloci? Caruso, you shouldn't be constantly thinking about that...monster. It's not going to make you feel any better.”

“I know..but...” Caruso started to say.

Fiona leaned forward and gently pressed a finger against his lips to silence him. “But nothing.” She said a little sternly. She then spoke in a softer voice and said, “Caruso, you've got to relax, please... This is supposed to be a special night for the two of us..” She gently caressed his cheek with her hand. “Please don't ruin it by getting worried and worked up about all this.. I promised you..we won't let Victor hurt you again. You have nothing to worry about. You have us to back you up.” She offered him a small smile, hoping to lighten up his mood a little.

Caruso averted his gaze from her for several seconds, thinking about what she had said. He did feel a little guilty about almost ruining their evening together. But at the same time, he knew that she was right. He couldn't help but remain worried and fearful, but he did acknowledge that he had his friend and family to keep him safe. They'd never let anything bad happen to him if they could help it. He knew he could rely on them for protection. He looked back at Fiona and smiled back at her. He gently gripped her hand and held it in his own, squeezing it gently. “Thanks, Fiona...” He said to her, unable to hide his tears. He wiped them away. But then he suddenly frowned again. He started to sense something wasn't quite right.

Fiona noticed his concern and asked, “What's wrong? It's not Victor, is it?”

Caruso slowly shook his head. “No, no..it's not him.” He looked around the restaurant, but again couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. He frowned slightly and leaned towards Fiona so he could whisper something to her. She moved in closer and turned her ear towards him so she'd have a better time understanding what he was saying. “Do you have the feeling that we are being watched..?”

Fiona looked a little surprised. But she couldn't deny it; she had also sensed that someone was constantly watching them. But she hadn't said anything earlier because she didn't want to ruin the evening. And she didn't want to frighten Caruso either. But now it didn't matter; he had sensed the strange presence as well. “Well yeah I do... Strange isn't it? I look around and I see no one. But that feeling doesn't go away...” She let out a soft sigh. “I would have said something to you earlier, but I..I didn't want to upset you.”

Caruso looked cautiously from his left and then looked over at his right. Even though he couldn't see anyone, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he should be prepared for an attack. “Do you..think that we're in danger..?”

“I don't know, Caruso..” Fiona said, unable to come up with anything to cheer the boy up. “I don't know...”

Just then, something answered their question for them. There was a loud bang. Suddenly, people were screaming. Tables were being pushed onto the floor. Silverware crashed into the ground, glass broke as it hit the hard floor. Caruso and Fiona immediately stood up as chaos began engulfing the restaurant. They couldn't see what was causing it at first, but they could see people running out the doors and the mess made as people struggled to get away. Then they heard loud thumps. The floor was shaking with each thump, and they knew it had to be footsteps. Something was in the restaurant and whatever it was, it was huge. They quickly turned over to where people were running from and they could see a shadow casted on the ground. The figure was almost as tall as the ceiling of the restaurant, of not even taller. They gulped and moved back. They wanted to transform, but they had to wait until there was no one left in the restaurant.

Then the figure came into view. Their eyes widened in shock at what they were looking at. It looked a lot like Max, but the coloration and design was very different. The dinosaur's head was spiky at the top and there were spikes on its back as well. Even the tail had spikes on it, along with the dinosaur's calves and the side of its jaws. These features were absent from Max. The dinosaur also had a horn-like structure similar to what Max had, except there was only one point, whereas Max had two. The dinosaur was white in color, but had gray splotched on its face and underside. Its legs, sides, and arms were colored gold and it had blue stripes on its arms, legs, and back. And there was a yellow diamond in the middle of its forehead. The dinosaur looked like it could be even larger than Max, and more muscular as well.

From their experience, they suspected that there was a huge possibility that this could be another morpher like they were, like Oscura and Michelle were. The dinosaur looked over at them and opened up its jaws. Drool dripped from them and it let out a hungry growl. Caruso muttered under his breath. “I..I wonder if this is what Michelle was trying to warn me about...”

“Don't just stand there. Go dino!” Fiona ordered, not taking her eyes off the white dinosaur.


	27. Assassin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

As if on cue, the white dinosaur let out an Earth-shaking roar and charged towards them. Fiona glanced over at Caruso, who looked too frightened to think of transformation. She turned her attention back on the charging dino. No way was she going to let this monster take her friend away from her! Fiona transformed into a Spinosaurus. She was still smaller than the white Tyrannosaurus-like dinosaur, but she still held her ground, opening her long jaws and baring her sharp teeth. She let out a few warning hisses, hoping to make the strange dinosaur stop its charge.

But it just kept on coming.

Fiona let out a loud roar, her eyes glowing so brightly it was nearly impossible to see her pupils. She lowered her head and ran forward to meet the dinosaur's charge. The white dinosaur just kept on coming, but at the last second, it stopped. Then it moved its head to one side and struck Fiona. The force of the strike was strong enough to send Fiona flying across the room. She crashed into the ground, tables and chairs covering her body as she came to a halt against the wall. The white dinosaur stared at her for a few seconds to make sure she wasn't getting up anytime soon, and then turned its attention towards Irwin.

Irwin looked at the mess in horror. “Fiona!” He called out, rushing towards her. But he was instantly stopped by the white dinosaur, who had lowered its head close to his. Irwin looked up at it in horror. He tried to go dino, but he found himself petrified with fear as the dinosaur stared at him with those big, glowing eyes. The dinosaur took advantage of the boy's hesitation. It leaned its head back and then lifted up a massive clawed foot. It quickly positioned the foot over Caruso's body and prepared to slam down on him. It was all happening so fast that Caruso didn't have time to react.

Fiona shook her head and managed to get the debris off of her. She looked over and noticed the dinosaur was about to stomp down on her boyfriend. Her eyes widened in fear. 'CARUSO! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!' She cried out to him, trying to get up as fast as she could, but knowing that she would probably be too late in saving him. Luckily, Caruso managed to regain his senses just in time. He quickly dodged out of the way. A split second later, the foot came down, crushing the ground beneath it. That's when Fiona was certain the dinosaur was not trying to capture Caruso. It was trying to kill him! 'You..monster!' She shouted at the white dinosaur as she finally managed to get up onto her feet.

The white dinosaur looked towards Fiona and let out another loud roar. Its eyes narrowed further and it bared its teeth. It was looking very pissed that Fiona was interrupting its hunt once again. This time, it was going to make sure that she stayed out of its way. It lowered its head and charged forward. Fiona braced herself for impact, raising up her arms to defend herself. But it proved useless as the dinosaur slammed its head against her chest, causing her to fall onto her side again. The white dinosaur wasn't finished. It then stomped its foot onto her head. It was not strong enough to kill her, but it was enough to knock Fiona unconscious. Fiona's body went limp and her eyes closed. Satisfied that Fiona wasn't going to interrupted again, it turned its attention back on Caruso.

Although horrified by what happened to Fiona, Caruso started to back away from the white dinosaur. He couldn't bring himself to go dino and do anything. He started to feel worthless. What good was he if he was too frightened to go dino and save his best friend? He continued to back away as the massive dinosaur started coming towards him, licking its large chops with its massive, slimy tongue. “Who...who are you...?”

The dinosaur let out a series of snorts that Caruso swore sounding like laughter. 'I am your assassin, kid. Take a good look at me and your surroundings. This will be the last thing you will ever see before you die!' It said in a feminine voice, revealing her gender. Then she charged forward, her feet shaking the ground with each step.

Caruso let out a scream and ran away before the dinosaur's jaws could snap down on his small, fragile body. He almost slipped on some of the debris littering the floor. He managed to keep his footing long enough to make it to the other side of the room. Mercifully, there was a couple doors, both unlocked. Caruso quickly turned it, opened up the door, ran inside, and shut it behind him. He felt confident that the white dinosaur would be too big to get inside here and her human form would be weak enough so he could hold the door shut on his own. He waited inside the dark room, shaking in fear as he saw a shadow below his feet, indicating the white dinosaur was just outside the door. He backed up as far as he could bring himself to go. He ignored the horrible smell, more worried about his own life than small things such as smells.

Suddenly there was a loud banging sound and Caruso found himself thrust onto the ground. He looked up and gasped in horror. To his shock, the dinosaur had ripped the door from its hinges, pulling part of the walls with her! She tossed away the door, now leaving a space big enough for her to fit her head through. Caruso was now completely trapped. There was no room to go dino in here and he couldn't rush out because the white dinosaur blocked his path. Caruso tried to push himself further into the room, which turned out to be a storage room of some kind. He pressed his back against the wall next to a rack of different cleaning items. He looked up at the dinosaur, his body trembling fiercely. The white dinosaur easily pushed her head in further, reaching far enough that she could easily snatch the boy in her jaws. And there was no more room left for Caruso to back up into. The dinosaur seemed to smirk, knowing that her job was almost finished. She opened up her massive jaws.

Caruso's eyes went wide and he shouted, “HELP! SOMEBODY! HELP ME!” He then cried out in pain and held his mouth with both of his hands. An intense pain had struck him in his mouth, specifically on his still-healing tongue. Tears of pain streamed down his face.

'It's no use calling for help..' The dinosaur said, her mouth still wide open. 'No one can save you now!' She then proceeded to snatch Caruso in her jaws. The boy struggled to get free but she only tightened her grip, just enough to keep him in her jaws. Then she moved out of the room, holding him up in the air. 'Don't worry. I promise this won't hurt you...much.' She then proceeded to apply pressure slowly, wanting to slowly crush him to death, driving her teeth into his body, impaling him as well.

“FIONA! HELP ME!” Caruso called out again before he felt his body stiffen and twitch as the teeth pressed further against his body, the jaws slowly shutting tighter, threatening to crush him completely.

Fiona groaned as she slowly opened up her eyes. She felt a horrible pain on her head and gently rubbed it with one of her Spinosaurus arms. She heard a cry from Caruso and her eyes snapped open as far as they could go. She lifted up her head as fast as she could and lifted her muzzle towards where the white dinosaur was. She was horrified to see Caruso in the jaws of the dinosaur. He was still alive and was struggling in the monster's jaws. But he couldn't get free and the white dinosaur was slowly shutting her jaws, slowly crushing Caruso to death. Fiona remained frozen where she was, terrified by this turn of events. Then she narrowed her eyes and opened up her long muzzle, exposing her sharp teeth. She quickly got up to her feet. Without hesitation, she charged towards the white dinosaur.

'LET HIM GO, YOU MONSTER!' Fiona clamped her jaws onto the white dinosaur's neck. The neck was so thick that she couldn't get a good grip, but she managed to sink some of her teeth into the skin and scales. The white dinosaur let out a roar of pain and she released Caruso, who fell to the ground. Caruso tried to get up, but he was still frozen in fear as he looked up at the two large dinosaurs going against each other. Fiona looked down at Caruso for a few seconds to make sure that he was all right. Then she turned her attention back on the white dinosaur. Fiona still hung onto the dinosaur's neck, trying to dig her teeth as far as they could go. She then tried to push the white dinosaur onto her side, using as much of her body strength as she could.

Then the white dinosaur's head started to turn to one side so that one of the glowing eyes could look over at Fiona. The eye narrowed and the dinosaur let out a long, low hiss, teeth bared as they glinted in the light of the restaurant. 'What do you think you are doing, you malignant pulchritude?! Release me this instant!'

Fiona was taken aback briefly by the dinosaur's strange use of words. But the realization that both she and Caruso were still in danger brought her back to reality. 'No! I won't let you kill my friend!' She declared, biting down as hard as she could with her dinosaur jaws. But it wasn't enough to cause much damage to the white dinosaur, who started to move her neck back and forth swiftly to dislodge Fiona. Eventually, with one big thrust, Fiona found herself knocked into the ground, her jaws slipping from the dinosaur's neck. Luckily, the teeth had stuck into the skin long enough so that when the white dinosaur thrown her off, her teeth had left long, somewhat deep, somewhat shallow cuts in the neck. The dinosaur's eyes widened and she let out a roar of pain, blood dripping from the cuts on her neck.

The white dinosaur shook her head a few times, trying to shake off the pain. Then she turned her head towards Fiona, growling angrily. 'Why you conflagration..! I was considering letting you live after I finish off your pathetic little friend...' Her jaws opened up wide as she roared again. 'BUT NOW YOU WILL BE THE FIRST TO DIE!' The dinosaur charged towards Fiona, knocking her back onto the ground. But this time, she wasn't going to simply knock her out. She was going to kill her. The white dinosaur positioned her jaws around Fiona's head and clamped down before Fiona could react. Fiona's eyes closed and she tried to knock the white dinosaur off of her, but the jaws only clamped down tighter, causing her severe pain. 'Hold still and this will go quickly.' The white dinosaur hissed.

Just then, something large and soft struck the white dinosaur on her side. She roared in pain, releasing Fiona as she tumbled backwards. Fiona shook her head slowly and looked over to see who had saved her. Her eyes widened. 'Caruso...?'

Caruso stood in a defensive posture, now in Stegosaurus mode. His front half was lowered to the ground and his massive tail was held up high into the air, motioned for another strike. 'Leave her alone!' He demanded, his eyes narrowed. But the white dinosaur didn't seem fazed. Caruso took another step forward, poised to strike again.

The white dinosaur chuckled in a dinosaurian manner. 'You don't have the guts to attack me, kid. I can smell your fear..your hesitation.' She took a step forward, acting as if she was never struck by that massive tail. 'Why don't you just give up now and save yourself the trouble? If you surrender now, I promise to make your death and your friend's death as swift and as painless as I can manage...' Her eyes narrowed as she said this. She waited for Caruso's answer, but she already knew what it was going to be.

'NO!' Caruso shouted, slamming his tail into the ground in anger.

'Then die...' The white dinosaur hissed.

All of a sudden, before the white dinosaur could react, something thick, black, and sticky covered her body. She howled in frustration as she tried to move, but she ended up falling forward, her chin slamming into the ground with tremendous force. Caruso's eyes went wide with shock. Who had done that? He had not even made a move yet and already the white dinosaur was down! A closer look revealed that the black, sticky stuff that had struck the white dino was tar. But where did the tar come from? From his experience, only Veloci's men would carry such weapons. Caruso looked over towards the possible source, prepared to fight.

But to Caruso's surprise, it wasn't one of Veloci's men; it was Mrs. Krell. She was wielding one of the weapons that Victor's men used to shoot out tar to trap dinosaurs and mutantsaurs. The old woman still held the gun in the air, leveling it up to take another shot at the white dinosaur in case she broke free from the tar. Mrs. Krell looked over at Caruso. “Go on! Get out of here! I'll slow it down!”

'But..Mrs. Krell...' Fiona said, slowly struggling to her feet.

“But nothing! Just get out of here while you can!” Mrs. Krell shouted, not taking no for an answer. “Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself!” She smiled slightly. “After all..I've been taking care of myself for years...”

'Mrs. Krell!' Fiona tried to move towards her, but Caruso stopped her. 'Caruso! Get out of the way!'

Caruso shook his head. 'I'm sorry, Fiona. But she gave us orders. We have to get out now!'

Fiona's eyes narrowed slightly. 'And what about Mrs. Krell? Are we supposed to just leave her here with this monster?'

'I think she'll be fine, Fiona.' Caruso said, although there was a slight pang of doubt in his voice.

'Fine? Fine?! How can you think she'd be fine?!' Fiona growled at Caruso. 'She can't even transform into a dinosaur like we can! If that dinosaur gets loose, she won't stand a chance!'

'But...' Caruso tried to say, but stopped himself. He lowered his head, feeling ashamed of himself.

'If you want to get out of here, you can.' Fiona said, trying to sound calmer. 'But I'm staying there and helping Mrs. Krell.'

'WHAT?!' Caruso's dinosaur eyes opened up as wide as they could go. 'That dinosaur almost killed you! You want to face it alone?!'

Fiona looked away from him and started to walk towards the white dinosaur, still trapped under the tar. 'Well..I wouldn't have to face it alone if you help me.' She stopped and looked back over at him as if she were expecting him to come to her side.

Caruso hesitated. Part of him did want to assist Fiona. He didn't want to leave her here alone to face the mysterious yet dangerous white dinosaur, especially after how she managed to get the better of her twice, almost killing her the second time. And yet, he wanted to heed Mrs. Krell's demand. She wanted them to get out of there and she claimed she could handle herself. While she could not transform, Mrs. Krell was pretty crafty and she was no pushover. And yet, he could understand why Fiona didn't want to leave the old woman alone. Unlike Ms. Moynihan, Mrs. Krell had no transforming abilities. Finally coming to a decision, Caruso made his way towards Fiona. 'All right then, I'll stay and help you.'

Fiona gave a dinosaur-like smirk with her jaws. 'I knew you would. Don't want to leave me all by myself, now do ya?' She chuckled.

Caruso narrowed his eyes, but offered a small laugh as well, despite the situation. 'Yeah, yeah..sure...' He said.

“Why are you two still here?!” Mrs. Krell shouted at them, looking at Fiona and Caruso over her shoulder. She still held the gun towards the white dinosaur.

'Like it nor not, Mrs. Krell, we're staying here to help you!' Fiona said, her voice filled with determination. There was no way Mrs. Krell could make a Spinosaurus leave.

'There's no way you can take on this dinosaur all by yourself!' Caruso said, backing Fiona up. 'You'll get clobbered!'

“I'm not as frail as I look!” Mrs. Krell said angrily. “Don't treat me like I am!”

The white dinosaur managed to free her head. She lifted it up and shook it, trying to get whatever tar she could off of her chin. She looked over at the old woman, both furious that she interrupted her hunt and curious as to how she had gotten a hold of that tar gun. She hadn't brought one with her to the restaurant, so how could this woman have gotten a hold of one? 'Hey you, you old hag! How did you get that weapon?'

Mrs. Krell's eyes narrowed. “That is none of your business, you horrid reptile!”

The dinosaur's eyes widened slightly. She was a little impressed with the woman's bravery. But that still didn't change the fact that this woman was in her way. She hadn't counted in killing a third person. But what would it matter anyway? Who would miss an old woman like this hag? 'You have no idea what you are up against...' The white dinosaur slowly rose to her feet. Mustering up all the energy she could, she pulled herself out of the tar trap. Tar still stuck to her skin and scales, but she ignored it. Before Mrs. Krell had time to shoot the dinosaur again, the dinosaur swung her massive head forward, knocking the woman into the ground. The gun was knocked from her hands and was sent flying away, landing several feet away. Mrs. Krell tried to get up to her feet, but the white dinosaur quickly grabbed her into her jaws and slammed her down. She then placed her foot on the old woman to keep her down.

“Get your filthy foot off of me!” Mrs. Krell demanded, still showing bravery despite being pinned down by a dinosaur that could easily crush her if she were to press down just a little harder. She put her hands on the dinosaur's foot and, even though it would be fruitless, she tried to pry the dinosaur's foot off of her body.

'You should have listened to me...' The white dinosaur pushed harder on Mrs. Krell, causing her to grunt in pain. 'Now you will join the fate of your dinosaur pals!' She pushed down a little harder. She smirked. Only a little more and the woman would be crushed to death. She could feel the woman still struggling, but those struggles were weakening.

'Let her go!' Fiona let out a loud roar and charged forward. Using her body mass and size, she slammed against the white dinosaur and sent her flying across the room. Once Mrs. Krell was free, Fiona lowered her head and let the woman cling around her neck and lifted her up. Fiona looked over to the white dinosaur. She had already recovered from her fall and was now running towards her, mouth slip wide open. Fiona's eyes widened. There was less of a chance for her to defend herself if Mrs. Krell was still latched onto her neck.

'Get away!' Caruso let out a loud bellow and quickly moved forward as fast as he could go. Before the white dinosaur could reach them, he quickly turned around, raising his massive tail and slamming it down. The tail made contact with the white dinosaur and once again, the white dinosaur found herself being thrown backwards. She slammed her back against the wall, causing a chandelier to fall down, striking her with enough force to slam her chin into the ground. Caruso turned his head back toward Fiona. 'Now can we get out of here? I suggest we leave now before that dinosaur gets on her feet again!'

Fiona's eyes went from Caruso to Mrs. Krell. The only reason she had stayed was to protect her. But now that she had Mrs. Krell with her, there was nothing left keeping her here to face the white Tyrannosaurus-like dinosaur. She nodded her head. 'Yes. Let's go!' She then turned her head towards the front of the restaurant and took off towards it. Caruso followed quickly behind her. They easily smashed through the doors. Normally they would have detransformed, but they just didn't have the time. Ignoring screams of horror as people ran away from them, Fiona and Caruso continued to run until they could reach a place secluded enough so that they could detransform.

* * *

The white dinosaur lifted up her head and looked around. She realized that the dinosaurs and old woman had escaped her. Growling in frustration, she closed her eyes and her body glowed. She quickly shrunk down to the form of a woman, Kista Bakar herself, and stepped from the debris. She brushed herself off and straighted up her clothes the best that she could. This evening hadn't turned out exactly how she wanted it. It was not supposed to be this hard to kill off a cowardly kid!

“That's right..run...you cowards... I'll come find you, and next time you won't be so lucky...” Kista said, her glowing yellow eyes narrowed into slits.

* * *

“Did you get all of that?” O'Ryan asked, sounding very excited. He and Zoom were standing in the alleyway across the street of the restaurant. With the camera that Zoom had, he was able to zoom in to see enough detail of what was going on in the restaurant. If they had enough luck with them, they may have even gotten a clear shot of the children transforming. Once this got out to the public, everyone in town would know they were dinosaurs!

Zoom smirked as he looked at the footage. “You bet I did!” He was impressed with the footage. Despite being further away and the glass that was in the way, the footage was pretty sharp and clear. It was a little easy to tell who the kids were that transformed, which was a plus for them. That meant that once they transferred this video, it would reveal the identity of another Dino Squad member, which is probably what Victor wants. Zoom was still worried that Victor might get angry with him, but the idea of getting even with the Dino Squad for what they did to him made it seem all worth it.

The two hadn't even planned on filming that day. They had just planned on a walk through town, trying to come up with ideas for how they could go about the plan. They were also keeping an eye out for the 'perfect dinosaurs' in case they had gotten any surprises, although they wouldn't record since it wouldn't be the 'right moment', as O'Ryan would have said. But they were both taken by surprise when they saw people running out of this particular restaurant. O'Ryan knew it had to be something big and he had ordered Zoom to start recording right that instant. It was lucky for them that they did for about a few seconds after O'Ryan had gave that command, a strange white dinosaur appeared. Zoom seemed to recognize the dinosaur and nearly dropped his camera in fear, but he quickly came to his senses and continued to record.

When they saw the two children still inside transform, they were further excited, especially since they got it on film. The destruction inside the building, the fact that an old woman was in there in the midst of it all, and the fact that the old woman was 'taken' by two of the dinosaurs, who had stormed out of the building and ran off, that made the story even more convincing. Zoom became convinced that perhaps O'Ryan was correct. He didn't need the bomb and frame the dinosaurs to make the public think the dinosaurs were the bad guys. The footage of the old woman in the jaws of Kista would terrify and convince anyone. And if that didn't work, the old woman being taken 'hostage' by the Spinosaurus and Stegosaurus, who then proceed to break out of the building and take off running, just might be enough to convince even the most skeptical.

“So what do we do now?” Zoom asked as he finished watching the footage. They got all the footage that they needed. He looked over at O'Ryan, waiting for him to make the next call.

O'Ryan looked over at Zoom, a dark smile on his face. “What do you think is next?”

That smile on the man's face creeped Zoom out, but he still managed to ask, “What do you mean?”

“The editing, stupid!” O'Ryan barked, feeling a little angry at Zoom's stupidity. He pointed at the camera that Zoom held in his arms. “How could you forget? Weren't you the one who suggested editing the footage?” Before Zoom could respond, O'Ryan continued, “Then stop being lazy and get the work with the editing, cameraman! And make it convincing.”

Zoom tilted his head. “But I thought it was already convincing enough as it was. I mean, a dinosaur grabbing someone in its jaws and two dinosaurs running off with someone..” Zoom shrugged his shoulders. “Isn't that convincing enough? What else could it possibly need to make it more convincing then that?”

O'Ryan frowned slightly. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. The man did seem to have a point there. How could they get more convincing than what they had gotten in the footage? He wasn't entirely sure if anyone would be unconvinced by it. He wondered if his past failure was effecting him. He was used to being laughed at and turned down because of his 'ridiculous dinosaur notions'. But back then, he had used costumes that were so obviously fake he couldn't think for the life of him how he thought anyone would be fooled by it. But in this situation, it was so authentically real, he couldn't think of how any one would think it was faked.

O'Ryan smiled at Zoom. “I suppose you are right.”

“Come on, why do...” Zoom stopped and looked at Zoom in surprise. Did he hear right? Did O'Ryan say what he thought he said? “..what? What did you say? Did you just..agree with me?” Zoom asked, sounding perplexed.

“Well yes of course. Thinking about it, you did make a good point, Zoom. After all that had happened, perhaps editing is not really required.” O'Ryan said, glancing over at the wrecked restaurant. How long it was going to take to rebuild the place wasn't his concern. He didn't even like this particular restaurant. “Perhaps the footage, on its own, will be enough to convince anyone. And who knows?” He glanced back at Zoom. “A couple of little brats just might recognize the two kids inside that restaurant.” O'Ryan had recognized Caruso in the building and he was tempted to go in and do something to him, but he was able to restrain himself for the sake of the footage.

Zoom looked back the restaurant. He could see Kista still inside. He wondered why she hadn't come out yet. After all, she was in human form now. But then he realized that perhaps she was afraid she would be linked to this incident. She was probably going to either come out some other way or just storm out of there as a dinosaur. Either way, Zoom was a little disappointed that she wasn't coming out yet. He would have loved to see her getting linked to this crime, or getting in trouble in general. He wanted her to pay for what she did to him. And yet, he couldn't help but feel somewhat attracted to her. He didn't know what it was. Just something about her was attracting him. But what was it?

O'Ryan took notice of Zoom's zoning out and walked over, nudging him a bit with his elbow. Zoom looked over and glared at O'Ryan, wondering why he had done that. “Why are you zoning out? Thinking about your girlfriend?”

Zoom blushed in embarrassment and anger. “She is not my girlfriend!”

O'Ryan held up his hands dismissively and said, “Sure, whatever you say, pal...”

Zoom growled softly, but decided to ignore what O'Ryan said. He glanced down at the camera he held in his hands again. “So should we leave now? Or is there something else you wanted to get footage of first?”

O'Ryan thought for a moment and then slowly shook his head. “No, we can go now.” With that, the two turned around and walked away, heading towards the vehicle that they hid back there. As they walked away, they were unaware that Kista had spotted them and was watching them from the restaurant, hiding behind a part of the building so they would not see her.

* * *

Kista's eyes narrowed. She didn't know why Zoom and O'Ryan were there at first. But it was very unlikely that they were sight-seeing, not after what she heard about their plans on exposing the Dino Squad. That's likely what they were doing there. Her eyes widened as she realized that they probably had recorded the fight she had with the two brats. What was she going to do now? Kista did have some choices. She could either allow the men to run away and post up the footage or she could try to stop them.

She could just let them post up the footage. What was the worst that could happen? There could be some benefits to doing that. Exposing the Dino Squad could make them more vulnerable and easier to catch. They could be constantly hunted down by the police or even the FBI. And if people knew what their humans forms looked like, they couldn't even hide that way. Classmates even could start hunting them down and trying to capture them, or even destroy them if they felt they were a big enough threat. The Dino Squad might ultimately be forced to come to Victor simply because it was likely safer than being among people who want them dead. Every day, the team might have to be running for their lives or hiding in fear because everywhere they turn, there might be someone pointing a gun or tazer in their direction. There might even be people who see them as nothing but evil monsters who need to be destroyed in order to save the city.

And yet, Kista was not entirely sure about this. Victor might be furious about this. If the humans succeeded in catching the Dino Squad, or even killing them, then Victor would never get the chance to obtain a sample of their DNA. And without that sample, he would not be able to perfect his primordial ooze. Sure, Victor could post as a 'hero' of sorts and say that he is going to capture all the dinosaurs so save the town, but there was still running that risk that someone might find out what he was. People might start wondering why he would be interested in dinosaurs, for one thing. And the opposite could occur. If people became aware of the Dino Squad and accepted them as heroes rather than the bad guys, they might be more willing to protect them. And with that added protection, Victor might have a harder time getting to them. And if the dinosaurs are seen as heroes, then they might see Victor as a bad guy if he tried to capture them.

Kista knew what she must do now. She would have to capture Zoom and O'Ryan and stop them, for her boss's sake. She just couldn't allow that footage to make it out into the public. If she dare allow that, it could have more consequences than benefits. And Victor might find out what she knew about it and would demand her to tell him why she had kept quiet about it. Kista's eyes glowed and she took a step back, her body becoming concealed in the darkness. Then a blue glow illuminated the room and a huge white form appeared from the darkness. Kista's eyes narrowed as she locked her eyes on her intended target. She let out a loud roar and stormed out of the building, taking off after Zoom and O'Ryan.

* * *

Fiona, Caruso, and Mrs. Krell arrived at the lighthouse, exhausted and tired from the constant running. They were so busy trying to get away quickly enough that they had forgotten how weary their bodies were, and they had also forgotten about the motorcycles. But Fiona and Caruso didn't worry about that too much. They can just talk to Moynihan and they'll pick them up for them. Right now, they had to get Mrs. Krell into the lighthouse. She suffered a few injuries after being inside that monster's jaws. Mrs. Krell could walk on her own, but Fiona and Caruso had insisted on helping her towards the lighthouse. Caruso held one arm while Fiona held the other and they helped to support her weight.

“Thanks, you two..” Mrs. Krell said, a little weary. “But you kids don't have to do this. I can still walk by myself...”

“We're not taking any chances.” Fiona said sternly, tightening her grip. “You're hurt. We're not going to let you hurt yourself more by trying to walk on your own.”

Mrs. Krell couldn't help but chuckle. Kids nowadays, she thought. They often don't realize the potential of another person, especially if that person was either 'too old' or 'too different'. People place stereotypes on people and base their judgments off of that. Mrs. Krell herself knew too well how much it hurt to have someone ridicule her for being different without even giving themselves the chance to get to know her better. “Yes, of course. I know that. I still could have made it on my own, though.” Mrs. Krell said, hoping to keep herself sounding tough; she didn't want to get the appearance of someone who was helpless and needed assistance all the time. She may be old, but she is certainly no pushover.

Fiona smiled slightly. “Yeah, I'm sure you knew that, Mrs. Krell.”

When they reached the door, Fiona couldn't let go of Mrs. Krell or risk letting her fall down. Caruso was having the same problems as well. He quickly solved this by lifting up one foot and slamming it against the door as loud as he could. Even if the others weren't at the lighthouse, they were certain that at least one person would be. After a couple seconds, Caruso banged his foot against the door again, this time trying to be even louder than he was the last time. They heard the sound of someone talking from inside the building. They couldn't make out the words though. And then there was the sound of footsteps heading towards the door. They saw a shadow appearing at the bottom of the door and then they saw the door knob turning. It opened up to reveal Ms. Moynihan, who was supporting herself with her cane with one hand and holding the door open with the other.

Upon seeing Mrs. Krell, Moynihan's eyes went wide. What had happened to this woman? She looked like she really went through something terrible. She quickly looked at her legs, trying to find any signs of damage. With the way Caruso and Fiona were holding her up, she suspected that perhaps there was some trauma to the legs. She couldn't find anything of significant damage, but she could see some blood stains on the old woman's body. Mrs. Moynihan looked at Caruso first, but then turned to Fiona, thinking it was better to ask her considering Caruso's condition. “Fiona..what happened here? What happened to Mrs. Krell?”

Fiona swallowed hard, not sure of how to explain it to Moynihan. She would just have to be blunt about it. No need to go into too much detail about it. “We were attacked.”

Moynihan gasped, her eyes widening further. She quickly looked Fiona and Caruso up and down to see if there were any injuries on them as well. “What? Attacked by what? Or who? Are you two all right?”

Fiona nodded her head. “We'll tell you more about it inside.”

After a few minutes, Fiona and Caruso managed to help Mrs. Krell inside the lighthouse and escorted her into the living room. The other Dino Squad members had gone home already, so the only living beings in the lighthouse at this time were Rump, Cerulean, and, of course, Moynihan. After settling herself down on her usual chair, Moynihan leaned back and interlocked her fingers. She had calmed herself down quickly. She needed to remain relaxed in situations like this. She didn't want to stress herself too much or risk letting herself go crazy once again. Caruso and Fiona both took a spot beside Mrs. Krell, their heads turned towards Moynihan.

Moynihan, after a couple seconds, said, “So..can one of you three tell me what happened? And where this took place?”

“It took place at the restaurant Caruso and I went to for our...” Fiona hesitated, and then finished, “..date.”

Moynihan nodded. It seemed that their first date didn't go over too good. But there was a more important issue at hand. She needed to know what had happened at the place where Fiona and Caruso went on a date. “What, or who, had attacked you three?”

“It was a dinosaur.” Mrs. Krell said. “A very large one. I reckon it's even bigger than that T-Rex boy of yours. White mostly, with some grays and yellows too. Blue stripes and a yellow diamond on its forehead.” Caruso and Fiona looked at her in surprise. “What? You think that, just because I'm old, I'd forget details like that?” She frowned for a few seconds, and then smiled softly. But when she looked back at Moynihan, her face grew solemn. “It was unlike anything I have ever seen... It almost took their lives.”

“And she almost took your life. She had you in her jaws and just threw you like a rag doll..” Fiona said. When she realized what she said, she quickly added, “The dinosaur was a female. Anyway, I tried to fight her, but she was too strong. Mrs. Krell even shot her with the tar trap gun that Victor's men often use and she was able to break away from it without problem! It was no worse than a mildly sticky situation for her.”

Moynihan was shocked to learn that not one, but two of her own students had nearly been killed by a dinosaur. It reminded her of what happened a few weeks ago when they were all trying to find Caruso, but when they found him, he was, or so they thought, already dead. Moynihan didn't know what she would do if she lost him again, not to mention another of her students or anyone else that she cared about. “What did she want? Did she say?” When she asked this, she found herself looking over at Mrs. Krell.

Mrs. Krell shrugged her shoulders. “Ask them. I don't have a clue what she wanted. She did not tell me.”

Moynihan turned her head towards Fiona. “Well...?”

But it was Caruso who answered her. “She...she w-wanted to k-k-kill me..” Moynihan looked over at him, her eyes slightly widened in fear. “She said she..she was my a-a-assassin.”

“Assassin...?” Moynihan whispered, hoping that Caruso didn't say that, hoping it was just a mistake. If it was truly an assassin, then things just got more complicated than they already were. How were they going to deal with an assassin? Not even Victor, their number one enemy, qualified as an assassin. As sneaky as he could be at times, he often had people who were even craftier than he was pull off assassin jobs. Moynihan was convinced that this dinosaur worked for Victor Veloci, and she was sure that the kids suspected this as well.

“Y-Yeah...” Caruso said, shuddering at the memory. “Sh-She told me that..everything i-in the restaurant w-would be the last things I-I would see before I d-died..” He closed his eyes tightly, wanting to shake the memory from his head. And it wasn't just the threat of his own life that frightened him. “A-And she was going to k-kill Fiona and M-Mrs. Krell as well..”

Moynihan looked horrified. “Oh my! What happened to this dinosaur? How did you guys manage to get away?”

“We ran.” Fiona said. “After she was knocked away, we managed to grab Mrs. Krell, who was bravely facing off with the dinosaur, and took off running. I am ashamed to admit that we didn't detransform, but we didn't have time, Ms. Moynihan. We just didn't! If we detransformed, that dinosaur would have seen us! We had to get out of there as quickly as we could!”

Moynihan nodded. She was angry that they did not detransform after leaving the restaurant, but she was also glad that they didn't as it might have caused more harm than good. And it would have wasted precious time too. Who knew how quickly that dinosaur moved? She might have been upon the trio before they could get very far if Fiona and Caruso had changed back. “I understand, Fiona.”

“S-So..wh-what are we going to do..?” Caruso asked cautiously. Despite acting brave back there, he was still rather terrified for not only his life but his friends' and family's as well. And he was still terrified of being alone. He didn't know what he was going to do when he went home to his mom and dad. They were bound to ask him how the evening went. What was he going to tell him? They were worried enough about him with what Victor had done to him. He didn't want to frighten them more by saying that an assassin had tried to murder him.

Moynihan frowned slightly. This was a serious situation, indeed. And what made it even worse was that they were attacked in a restaurant, in a public area. Suppose someone had seen them? Fiona and Caruso were probably certain that the restaurant was empty before dealing with the dinosaur. Moynihan, however, was still concerned. Someone easily could have seen them, especially the wrong people, those who might put them at risk just to get a good story. And the Dino Squad knew a few people who were just like that like. Could they have been there? “Did you kids happen to see anyone nearby?”

Fiona shook her head. “I didn't see anyone.” She was going to say that she wasn't exactly looking, but she kept her mouth shut. She didn't want Moynihan to get upset with her.

Moynihan then turned to Mrs. Krell. Perhaps she had seen something on the way into the restaurant, provided that she had arrived after everyone else had left. Moynihan knew that not many humans would stick around if a big predatory dinosaur was in the same room as they were. “What about you, Mrs. Krell? Was there anyone outside the restaurant looking in? Did the fight catch unwanted attention?”

Mrs. Krell rubbed her head. “The only one I knew was nearby was one of those blasted costumed men that you say Victor works for. I knocked him out and stole the tar gun. And I rushed in to try and save these two kids. I didn't bother to look to see if anyone was watching.” Her voice was laced with regret, realizing the mistake she had made in going in the restaurant without looking to make sure no one was watching. What if someone thought she was being taken prisoner by the dinosaurs, or even be working with them as an accomplice of some kind? “I admit, it was bad judgment on my part for not looking. But everything was happening so fast, I did not have time to look back.”

Moynihan grew more concerned. If Mrs. Krell hadn't looked, she suspected that Fiona and Caruso would not have. She couldn't really blame them though. Being attacked by a carnivore, how could she expect them to take their time and look out the restaurant to make sure the coast was clear? But she still couldn't help but feel worried about this. Nowadays, after how Victor invaded the lighthouse, it didn't hurt to be extra cautious about situations like this. “I am worried that someone might have seen you kids in there.”

Fiona narrowed her eyes in confusion. “What do you mean? How could any one have..” Then she stopped herself and realized what Moynihan was saying. It wasn't that hard to see into the restaurant after the dinosaur had stormed in. Provided, the view would not have been very crisp or anything, but it might have been good enough for anyone close by to see what was going on inside. And if people were watching what was going on, that also meant that they had also seen both her and Caruso go dino. “Oh no...”

“Something wrong?” Moynihan asked.

“Caruso and I both went dino...” Fiona said, lowering her head. “If someone had seen that...” Her voice trailed off.

“I-I hope n-no one saw us..” Caruso said, stating the obvious. This reminded him of how he had transformed right on one of Victor's surveillance cameras. He had managed to destroy the footage before Victor got to it, but he was just lucky. If it weren't for his lotion that he had brought with him, he wouldn't have been able to control the ants and he wouldn't have been able to save his friends.

“I'm sure no one did.” Mrs. Krell said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder to try and comfort him. “Most of the people I had seen myself were running away. I don't know of many people who would stick around long enough to see what was going on if they were going to get eaten by a T-Rex.”

“She was not a T-Rex.” Fiona said quickly, then added, “But I understand what you mean.”

“What do you mean she wasn't a T-Rex?” Mrs. Krell blinked a few times. “She sure looked like a T-Rex... What made you certain that she wasn't a T-Rex?”

“Max is a Tyrannosaurus as well, and his body shape is a bit different from hers.” Fiona explained. “More spiny on her head, tail, back, jaws, and legs.”

“Did she have a dewlap on her lower jaw?” Moynihan suddenly asked, leaning forward on her seat.

Fiona looked over at Moynihan, a quizzical look on her face. “Well, not... She didn't have a dewlap on her lower jaw. Why?”

Moynihan didn't answer. Instead, she asked another question. “Was the top of her head smooth, without any horn-like structures?”

Fiona shook her head slowly. “No. She had something close to what Max has, but there was only one 'horn', so-to-speak. There wasn't a ridge or a second point like Max has.”

Moynihan rubbed her chin thoughtfully. It was like she had not encountered something like this before. “Interesting...”

“Wh-What is interesting?” Caruso asked, not sure why Moynihan was taking an interest in the assassin that had tried to kill him.

“She has the spiny features of a Tarbosaurus, but a head more reminiscent of that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex's...” Moynihan said, frowning a little. “She must be a hybrid of sorts... And that makes this situation even worse.”

“Why?” Caruso asked before he could stop himself. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know how the situation had gotten worse.

“That means that not only does she have the power of a T-Rex, she has the speed of a Tarbosaurus, which was basically a smaller T-Rex.” Moynihan said. “She's going to be a tough opponent, that's for sure...” Caruso gulped, now feeling even more scared than he already was. Why did Moynihan have to tell them these things? Why did she just have to make the situation worse than it already was. Moynihan noticed Caruso's fear and said, “I apologize, Caruso. But it is important to know your opponent before you face them. You two had never encountered a Tarbosaurus before. That's why you had lost.”

“And how do you suppose they fight this..hybrid?” Mrs. Krell said, folding up her arms and glaring at Moynihan. “You say that the dinosaur is as strong as a Tyrannosaurus Rex. You also say she is very fast. A combination of speed and strength..how are they supposed to beat that should they encounter this hybrid again?”

Joanne shook her head. “I..really don't know. Teamwork may be the only way to take her down. There's no way they can take her down by themselves, or even with a partner.” Joanne then looked over at Caruso, and then looked at Fiona before saying, “I strongly advice you kids to watch your backs. If you encounter this dinosaur again, just run. Don't try to fight her if you are alone. If you are all together and you choose to fight, be careful. Don't let her get a hold of you or it will be all over.”

“Yeah, I think we could have guessed that..” Fiona said softly. She glanced over at Caruso as she said that. Caruso had been inside that dinosaur's jaws. She had been lucky that she was able to save him when she could. A few seconds later and he would have been killed. Then she remembered something. Buzz, Rodger, and Max weren't in the lighthouse. Should she call them up and tell them what had happened? She didn't want to worry them, but she felt that they needed to know anyway. “What about the others, Mrs. M? Should we call up and tell them what happened?”

Moynihan nodded her head. “Yes.” She said. She was just about to ask Fiona about that. It seemed the two were on the same mind track. Moynihan was going to ask Fiona to call them, but she decided that she should call the boys up herself. She was in charge of taking care of this team. She felt that it was her responsibility to tell the kids situations like this. She slowly got up to her feet, gripping her cane. She made her way towards the telephone, and picked up the phone. As Fiona, Caruso, and Mrs. Krell watched, Moynihan began to dial a number.

As Moynihan dialed the number, Caruso looked over at Fiona. A blush was developing on his face. He didn't know why, but he had the urge to say something to Fiona. “..de-despite what happened...I had a..g-g-good time with you..Fiona..”

Fiona blushed as well. “I had a good time with you, too, Caruso..” All the while, Mrs. Krell watched them and then smiled softly, glad to see that these two had a good time together. That was something that she had never been able to experience for herself.

After the phone rang a few times, Joanne heard a clicking sound, and then a voice on the other end spoke to her. She immediately recognized it as Rodger. When Rodger had said his hello to her, Moynihan said, “Rodger? It's me, Moynihan. We've got a situation...”

* * *

A couple stray cats sniffed around a garbage can at the side of the road. There weren't many houses out this way since it was out of town. But there were still a few garbage cans for the neighborhood strays to wander up to and try to find a scrap of food to eat. One of the cats jumped up, poking its furry head into the can to try and snag what looked like a rotting fish from the trash can. A couple cats walked up, their heads craned up in anticipation, hoping the cat was going to drop something down for them to eat. They were all quite thin and looked as if they hadn't eaten in days.

Just then a bright light shined in their eyes. The cats let out a screech, their fur standing on end. The two cats that were watching the first cat now bolted off into the distance. The cat on the trash can jolted in fear, dropping the fish onto the ground. It, too, took off as the lights grew brighter, illuminating the entire yard for a few seconds. Then a car zipped by, going at nearly full speed. A cloud of thick gray gas spewed all over the place and the sound of tires screeching filled the air. The loud sound caused one of the windows of the house to light up. A dark figure opened up the window and peered outside, rubbing their eyes with one hand. It was a man.

The man, whose skin was so dark it was hard to see him in the darkness of the night, rubbed his eyes. “Now what could that be...?” He sounded irritated. He noticed the car speeding in his front yard. He grumbled angrily. “Darn drivers...” He was about to close the window when something else raced across his yard as well. It took him by such surprise that he nearly fell out of the window. There was a white dinosaur out there! And it was chasing the car! The man's eyes grew wide. “What the..what was that?!” He muttered under his breath. Did he just see what he thought he saw? Or were his eyes playing tricks on him? “..I think I need to stop putting so much hot sauce on my tacos...”

“Faster!” Zoom shouted. He stuck his head out the window to see if they were still being followed by Kista. And they were. He let out a scream of fear. “She's getting closer! Step on those accelerators! Go faster!” Zoom commanded, gripping his seat tightly in fear.

O'Ryan bared his teeth and tightened his grip on the wheel. “I'm going as fast as this car can go, all right?! I can't make it go any faster than this!”

“You must go faster!” Zoom yelled.

“I'm trying! I've been trying!” O'Ryan yelled back at him. “What do you want me to do about it? Magically have the car grow wings so it can fly?!”

“It would help...” Zoom muttered under his breath. O'Ryan just growled and rolled his eyes.

The two had spent about an hour trying to get away from Kista. She had shown up first at the alley as they were getting in the car. Before she managed to get them, O'Ryan started up the car and zipped off. After a while, they thought they were home free, but the white dinosaur suddenly showed up again, chasing them down. And after all this time, she was still coming at them. She was either so angry or upset with them that she didn't care she was wearing herself down or her kind really could run like this for a very long time. Either way, it didn't help that she was getting closer to them with every second that passed. O'Ryan had tried losing her several times, but Kista always managed to find them again. It was like she knew all the back roads there and knew just how to catch up to them.

When the white dinosaur had first appeared, O'Ryan didn't know for sure who she was. When he saw Zoom react in a strange way, he made Zoom tell him who that was. When he had revealed that it was Kista, it took O'Ryan by surprise. He hadn't expected Kista was a dinosaur. But that would explain how she was able to frighten Zoom so might, or now she was able to restrain Zoom so easily. And after knowing this information, O'Ryan understood why Zoom was so upset. At first, he thought it was because Zoom was a coward. But a dinosaur is a very good reason to be afraid, especially one that had all those sharp claws and sharp teeth...

O'Ryan snapped out of his thoughts when Kista let out a loud roar behind them. She sounded as if she was right beside them. But when O'Ryan checked his mirrors, she was still a good distance behind them, although she was closing in the gap rather quickly. He couldn't make the car to any faster though. He cursed himself for using this old, out-of-date car. It was apparently too hold to 'out-drive' a sixty-five million year old dinosaur! And after how he couldn't get the car to catch up to the Tyrannosaurus Rex when he first saw it, it was a wonder that he didn't learn his lesson back then.

Zoom looked out the window again. His eyes widened in horror when Kista turned her head towards him. Her mouth was wide open, exposing her sharp teeth to him. Her tongue hung out, saliva dripping from her jaws and flying in the air. The eyes narrowed, focusing on him alone. Then she spoke, her voice sending chills down the man's spine. 'Come back here, Zoomie boy. I just want to talk to you..' Zoom screamed and pulled his head back into the car.

“She really freaks me out..” Zoom said, trying to calm himself down. He could feel his heart racing.

O'Ryan shook his head in disgust. “Then don't stick your head out the window, man! Or do you like giving yourself a heart attack every five seconds?!”

Zoom retorted, “Well someone has to keep an eye on Kista to see how close she is to us!”

O'Ryan rolled his eyes. “Oh please! I have my rear view mirrors!”

Zoom narrowed his eyes. He then looked out the rear view mirror that was on the passenger's side of the car. His eyes flew open wide when he saw a mouth full of sharp teeth coming towards them. He quickly grabbed onto his seat. “She's going to attack!”

O'Ryan said, “Not for long!” He quickly turned the car to one side, veering off the road for a few seconds before doing a complete turn and started to head in the opposite direction. He heard Kista roar in frustration and then heard the sound of her footsteps approaching them yet again.

“She's going to eat us!” Zoom cried out, trembling in fear.

“Grow a backbone!” O'Ryan shouted. He started to wonder why he agreed to work with this man. He was even more of a coward than he thought he was.

As soon as O'Ryan said that, they felt something massive and hard strike the side of the car. The vehicle turned upwards, causing the two men to panic. The car almost flipped completely over, but it soon righted itself. As it slammed back into the ground, the two men were jolted upwards from the sheer force of the car slamming into the ground. Zoom was breathing heavily, trying to calm down his speeding heart. O'Ryan, despite his best attempts to remain calm about the situation, was now white in the face, realizing how close they came to being severely injured, or even killed. His hands were sweaty as he tried to turn the wheel.

Just then, something caused the car to come to a complete stop. O'Ryan and Zoom were suddenly thrust forward, nearly banging their heads against the window shield. O'Ryan glanced down at the meters and then down at his foot. He hadn't done anything to make the car stop himself. That could only mean one thing: Kista had gotten a hold of the car! To confirm this, he looked at the rear view mirror and could see a white figure behind the car. It looked like Kista had grabbed the car's bumper with her jaws and was now pulling them back. O'Ryan tried pressing on the accelerator, spewing gray gas into the dinosaur's face. But she was relentless, driving her teeth further into the bumper and lifting up her head, pulling the car back.

Kista narrowed her eyes. Then she roughly pulled backwards and up, lifting the car up into the air. She managed to lift the car completely off the ground. Then she moved her head towards one side and then roughly thrust the car in the opposite direction and released her jaws. The car tumbled across the road and landed with a heavy thud at the other side of the road, landing in the grass. Smoke rose from the car, but there were no flames, just the sound of groans and moans coming from the car. Kista growled under her breath as she stomped towards the car. She was so heavy that her feet were creating shallow footprints in the road.

Once she reached the car, she straightened herself up, raising her head up much higher than normal. She stared down at the car, her eyes narrowed in determination as she tried to locate her intended target: the video camera. She lowered her head towards the window of the car that faced her; the car was on its side now. She peered inside and could see O'Ryan. And beside him, she could see Zoom. Both men were unconscious and she could see a little blood on their heads, indicating that they must have struck them when she flipped the car. Kista tilted her head to one side, trying to decide what she was going to do with these two men and how she was going to get to the camera, which she was sure was with Zoom and not O'Ryan. She bared her teeth and opened her jaws wide and slammed them on the driver's door. She could feel the metal twist and turning in her jaws as she ripped it from its hinges and tossed it away. Then she looked back down and her eyes widened slightly.

O'Ryan was looking up at her, his eyes narrowed in a combination of fear and anger. He was trying to move, but it looked as if he was in too much pain to move or perhaps he was stuck. Either way, that worked both against Kista and for her. It did complicate things since she had to get to Zoom, but it also helped her because it would ensure her that they wouldn't be able to get away from her. Kista lowered her head down towards O'Ryan and sniffed him. The man tried to swat her away, but the feel of his hand smacking against her nose hurt her no more than a simple mosquito bite. She simply snorted, her breath brushing so hard against his face that it blew his hair back. O'Ryan closed his eyes and looked away, waiting for Kista to make the final blow.

Kista glared down at him, wrinkling her nose in disgust. This pathetic human cowering before her, he wasn't even worth her time. She would never really consider eating him, if that was what he was thinking. She would have tried to talk to him, but quickly decided that he wasn't with her time. She bent down and gently gripped his arm with her jaws. She lifted him up in the air, roughly wrenching him free from the car. She tossed him aside, and then turned back to the car. She tried to lower her head into the car to snag the still unconscious Zoom O'Donnell. But her head was too big for the door to fit through. She growled in frustration and changed back into human form. She then climbed into the car, reaching towards Zoom's, which was still slung around his body.

Zoom's eyes slowly opened up and he looked over. His eyes immediately widened when he saw Kista moving towards him, her hand outstretched. He pulled his hand back and scratched at Kista's hand, striking it with enough force to send it flying back. Kista winced at the pain. It seemed Zoom had more energy than his partner did. But she wasn't going to give up. She continued to inch her way forward, her eyes glowing yellow in determination. Zoom tried to strike out at her again, but this time she was prepared. Kista suddenly reached out and gripped his wrist, squeezing so tightly that she dug her nails into his sin. Zoom winced in pain, his eyes shut tightly.

“Oh no you don't..” Kista hissed darkly. She reached forward with her other hand, confident that Zoom's other arm was pinned down at the man's side. She managed to grab a hold of the strap and began to pull on it.

“Let go of that...!” Zoom managed to say through his pain. He tried to pull his arm back so he could grab the bag, but Kista had a strong grip. He tried to wrench his other arm free, but his weight pushing it against the door made it impossible for him to get free. But he was determined to stop Kista. He couldn't let her take the footage. He just couldn't! “I need that! You don't have the right to take it from me!”

Kista's eyes narrowed dangerously. “Shut up, you little....!” She didn't manage to finish her sentence. She felt something grab her from behind. Before she could figure out what was going on, she felt herself being pulled from the car so swiftly that she released Zoom's bag and deeply scratched his arm with her fingernails. She was then pushed into the ground, strong arms pinning her hands at her sides. Hissing angrily, she looked up to see who had dared to try to stop her. She was hardly surprised to see O'Ryan standing above her.

“Leave him alone!” O'Ryan shouted at her, lowering his head a little as if he wanted to make sure that she had heard him correctly.

Kista rolled her eyes, looking completely unfazed by the man's threat. “And here, I did not think you even cared about him.”

O'Ryan ignored her remark and gripped her tighter. “Just get out of here...” He growled darkly, trying to sound like he was a real threat. When Kista just smiled, he got even angrier. He pulled her up and then slammed her into the ground, forcing a grunt of pain from her. “I said get out of here, you...!”

Kista's eyes glowed once again as she chuckled darkly. Her teeth became pointed again, making her look almost like a vampire. “You humans are all the same. You think you can take something on and you fail, or you just not try at all. I am somewhat impressed that you tried to take me on, young man, but you really must learn how to pick your fights correctly. Otherwise...” A long, white tail grew from her behind and she bent it forward. She pressed the tail against O'Ryan's body and she easily pushed him off, knocking him into the ground. She quickly got onto her feet. “...you will get hurt.”

O'Ryan quickly climbed up to his feet. Despite being knocked away, he quickly get himself between Kista and the vehicle. Why was he doing this? He couldn't figure out what compelled him to want to protect Zoom from this woman. Was it because he genuinely cared about him like a friend or even brother? Or was it as simple as wanting Zoom around to help fulfill the plan of revenge on the Dino Squad? O'Ryan growled in frustration against himself, but he had to keep his focus on Kista, who was now walking towards him slowly, deliberately. “Stay away!”

Kista chuckled, her hands glowing, exposing sharp claws. “And what are you going to do about it? You have no dinosaur form. You have no way to defend yourself. Why don't you make it easier for yourself and get out of my way?” She stopped walking forward and just stood there as if she was expecting O'Ryan to walk out of her way like she told him to. She put her hands against her hips, glaring at O'Ryan with her glowing, dinosaurian eyes. “Or are you willing to throw away your life over something so meaningless...?”

O'Ryan hesitated, listening to what Kista was telling him. He considered his options briefly, and then yelled, “What are you after?!”

“Why, the bag of course!” Kista said, a dark smile spreading across her face. She was trying her best not to laugh. How could this man be so dense that he didn't know what she was after? She didn't come here to kill them, really. She only wanted the bag. “Or more specifically, the camera. I don't want you to show that to anyone. I will make sure that no one ever sees that footage!”

“Whose side are you on?!” O'Ryan screeched at her, his eyes so wide with anger that Kista could easily see the veins in his eyes. “You work for Victor Veloci, don't you?! You are against this wretched Dino Squad! Why would you even care if this footage is shown or not?!”

“It would ruin Victor's plan! There's too many risks involved!” Kista yelled back, trying to get her point across. She tried her best not to charge at the man. “You humans are all so ignorant and so stupid! You don't even understand half the things that you say! You are all just a bunch of dulcet exasperates!”

“...I don't understand half the things that you say, you idiotic dino brain!” O'Ryan shouted, taking a step forward.

Kista's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in anger. How dare he...He had no idea what he was talking about! “You filthy human...” She said angrily, something she would normally never say. She charged at him and slammed the man into the ground, pinning him down quickly.

O'Ryan grunted in pain and grabbed a hold of Kista's arms and tried to push her off of him. “Get your filthy paws off of me, you hideous reptile!” O'Ryan barked at her, still showing bravery despite his hidden fear of what Kista really was and what she was capable of. Kista didn't answer back. Instead, she continued to push him into the ground. Her dinosaur half enabled her to easily overpower O'Ryan, preventing him from escaping her. Eventually, O'Ryan could not fight back any longer and he let himself fall limp on the ground. He took in slow, deep breaths as he glared up at Kista, his teeth bared in uncertainty and fear.

Kista just stared down at him, pondering on what she should do with this man. She needed to get a hold of the camera before Zoom was able to get away. But she couldn't turn her back on this guy. He would likely recover relatively quickly and attack her from behind. She would have to do something to make sure that he wouldn't be a threat to her. She leaned back slightly and released her grip on one of his arms. She lifted up her hand, extending her claws. O'Ryan looked up at the hand in horror, his eyes focusing on the glinting tips as they grew from the fingertips. Kista narrowed her eyes further. “I am sorry.” She said, although it was easy to tell, from the tone of her voice, that she didn't really mean it. “But you have left me with no choice..I must make sure that you don't try to interrupt me again...”

But before she could muster up enough energy to make the blow, something grabbed her from behind. A leather strap was caught around her neck and something pulled her forcefully backwards, pulling her off of O'Ryan and back a few steps. She nearly lost her balance as she grabbed a hold of the strap and tried to pull it off of her. Her eyes slowly moved backwards to try and catch a glimpse of who had her. But humans could not see directly behind them without turning their heads. Yet Kista didn't even need to turn her head to have a clue on who had grabbed her. “Zoom! Let me go!” She managed to say, gritting her teeth as she tried to loosen the strap that was pushing up against her throat, making it a bit hard for her to breathe.

Zoom had managed to climb out of the vehicle. Upon seeing his partner in danger, he had quickly grabbed his bag and slung the strap of it around Kista's neck and used as much strength as he dared to use to pull the bag back. He was attempting to subdue Kista, to force her into giving up. But even from this position, behind her where it was unlikely she could attack, and even with the strap against her throat, choking her, Zoom still felt paranoid about being this close to her. He knew this might cost him the job at Raptor Dyne. If Kista told Victor about this, Victor would fire him for sure! But for some reason, Zoom didn't care about that anymore. All he cared about was securing Kista, to make her feel as helpless as he did when she had gone dino on him, when she strapped him down, when she hurt him to make him submissive towards her.

“I won't let go!” Zoom shouted, pulling harder on the bag. “Not until you promise to leave us alone! I'm tired of you always trying to control me! I'm tired of you always getting the upper hand. Well guess what? That is not going to happen this time!” With that, he took a step back, pulling Kista backwards with him. Kista's eyes shut tightly, her teeth gritting in pain. “How does it feel, Kista? How does it feel being on the receiving end? Not so fun anymore, is it?” He asked her in a dark tone of voice.

Kista opened up one eye, glowing brightly, and she let out a low hiss. She was getting tired of this human. He was just as ignorant as Victor had said humans were. How dare this human try to make her submit to him?! “You..better let go of..me..or I will...!”

“Or you will what?” Zoom asked. “You going to go dino and eat me? That will prove how much of a monster you truly are!”

“Me? A monster..?” Kista choked, violently tugging at the rope to make Zoom let go, but the man managed to have a tight grip on the bag, not letting go and refusing to give up. “I'm hardly any more of a monster than you humans are! Take a look around this planet and what your kind is doing! Just be lucky that I'm more tolerant than Victor is!” Kista continued to struggle, trying to keep herself from going dino as she, deep down, for a reason she didn't know herself, didn't really want to severely hurt Zoom. Why was this? She didn't know for sure. “At least, if it were me..I'd let you humans live..”

Zoom's eyes narrowed. “Sure..that's exactly what you want me to believe...” He would have pulled on even tighter, but something was holding him back. He didn't want to kill Kista and yet he was too afraid to let her go. “After what you have done to me..why should I believe you?”

“Let's just..skip this talk.” Kista said. “Just..give me the camera and I'll leave you alone. You won't hear from me again..I promise!”

Zoom's eyes narrowed further. “You expect me to believe that..?”

Finally, Kista could not take it anymore. She had tolerated this human holding her long enough. She would have to free herself before he ended up choking her to death. Why did she bother even showing him mercy? Why did she force herself to not use as much of her energy as she was capable of? Why was she turning into a weakling for this human? Was it because she cared about him? She shook her head. No, that couldn't be it. She glanced down at O'Ryan, who was watching the situation with eyes widened in fear. What was happening to them? What was up with these conflicting emotions? Humans are so strange, Kista thought. And what scared her more was that she was starting to think more like a human. She couldn't allow herself to feel this way. She just couldn't!

Kista suddenly transformed into her dinosaur form. The transformation caused the strap to break, freeing her from its grasp. Zoom was thrust backwards, landing hard onto his back. Kista stood over him, mouth agape, drool dripping from her jaws. Before Zoom could react, she pressed her foot against his body. She lowered her head, her muzzle dangerously close to Zoom's face. 'I told you to let me go...but you refused to listen to me.' Kista said, parting her jaws slightly to show her teeth to the photographer. 'Now I have no choice...'

Zoom's eyes widened in fear as Kista opened up her massive jaws. He felt his courage crumble down and his body started shaking. He realized his mistake in trying to restrain this woman. Why had he tried to do so? Why did he try to play hero to save O'Ryan anyway? Why did he care about him so much that he would be willing to sacrifice his life for him? He had barely even known the guy and O'Ryan was often a jerk to him and to others. Why did he care?

Zoom struggled under Kista's massive foot, trying to wrench himself free as he saw the jaws start to close in around him. If he didn't get himself free, Kista was going to kill him! “No..please..no! Don't kill me..!” He begged, his eyes closed tightly as if he were trying to avoid seeing his death coming at him in the form of huge teeth.

'Why should I stop?' Kista asked, pausing briefly as she stared down at the man. Even in dino mode, she still felt hesitate about actually killing this human. After all, it wasn't every day that she met someone who was brave enough to retort and challenge her even after they discovered her little secret; the fact that she was a dinosaur. She tilted her head in curiosity, waiting for the photographer to answer her question.

“Because...I...” Zoom started to say, but couldn't bring himself to finish.

'Because what?' Kista said, grinning. 'You're a coward?'

“I...” Zoom started to say, but he stopped himself. He didn't know what to say to Kista. He didn't want to make himself sound more of a coward than he already felt. “I don't know...”

'You don't know?' Kista chortled, feeling mildly amused by how Zoom was acting. How like him to act brave one second and then the next act like a total weakling. She snorted against the man's face and asked, 'Do you have anything to say for yourself before I kill you?' She didn't really mean it, of course. She just wanted to see how he reacted to the question.

Zoom shook his head rapidly. “No..you can't kill me...”

'Oh? Can't I?' Kista was loving this, the feeling of being in control. No wonder Victor loved this feeling of power. She was about to say something else when she managed to snap herself back to reality. She didn't want to be just like Victor Veloci. No, she was too good for that. She didn't join Raptor Dyne so that she could torment the humans. She tried to keep herself rather neutral about them. She herself didn't understand Victor at times. Why was she becoming like Victor? She let out a soft sigh and lifted her foot off of Zoom. She just couldn't go through with it. Not now, anyway.

Zoom didn't know what was going on. One minute, Kista was pinning him down, trying to kill him. The next, she released him and even looked remorseful over her actions. Zoom rubbed his forehead carefully. It has been a really strange evening, he had to admit. He looked over at O'Ryan, who was now on his feet. He looked just as flabbergasted as he did. Zoom had never experienced a night as random as this. Chased by a dinosaur, knocked down by a dinosaur, and that same dinosaur acting, what he perceived as, out-of-character. Zoom looked up towards the sky and saw that it was a full moon. Although he was not superstitious, could the full moon have had anything to do with it?

“Why are you releasing me?” Zoom asked, tilting his head to one side.

Kista looked at him. 'I don't know. I just felt compelled to release you.'

“I see..” Zoom nodded his head slowly, trying to understand Kista. She was making less sense almost every time he talked with her. He didn't know if it was because of what he was saying or if it was just because Kista really was this stupid and irrelevant. “And do you have any idea why you released me?”

“Let's just go...” O'Ryan said as he walked up to Zoom. He cautiously looked up at Kista. “Let's leave while she's still confused. Now is our chance to get out of here.” Kista transformed back into her human state and began walking towards them. “Come on, let's get out of here!” He grabbed Zoom by his arms and started shaking him, almost like he was beginning for him to come with him.

Zoom was confused. Now O'Ryan was acting insane. What was wrong with him? This isn't like him! He grabbed O'Ryan's arms and managed to pry him off. What has gotten into this guy? “Let go of me! What is wrong with you? You never acted like this before!”

O'Ryan narrowed his eyes slightly. “What do you mean? I'm not acting any differently than usual. It is you who is acting strange.”

Zoom shook his head. He was about say something when he felt two hands gripping him firmly but gently. Before Zoom knew what was going on, Kista flipped him completely around, forcing him to face her. She continued to grip him on the shoulders, her eyes locked onto his. Zoom started to shake a little, not sure what to expect. “Kista...?”

Then Kista did something that took Zoom by complete and utter shock. “I love you.” She planted a kiss on Zoom's lips. Zoom started to struggle, but she just held onto him tighter, keeping him firmly in place.

* * *

Everything around Zoom suddenly warped and faded into nothingness, a blackness rapidly taking over. Sound seemed to go static and disappeared, and he started hearing faint voices. Zoom looked around. Everything had disappeared. He looked at his feet. Even the ground had disappeared, and yet he remained standing where he was. He tried to find any signs of O'Ryan or Kista, but they had faded away, completely vanishing into thin air. Then, just when he thought things couldn't get any weirder, images of multiple objects flew by for seemingly no reason, their imagery warped by whatever energy was present in this still blackness.

Then the voices started growing louder and more urgent. He started getting the sensation of being somewhere and he could almost feel eyes staring at him, boring into his soul. Then a bright light illuminated the darkness. Zoom closed his eyes and cried out in pain, the light hurting his eyes. Then the voices got loud enough for me to understand what they were saying and he was able to hear who was talking.

“So is he going to wake up anytime soon?” The voice was Kista. “It's kind of boring just watching him sleep.”

“Just give him time.” This voice belonged to Victor Veloci. “He did take quite a nasty blow. Why did you have to knock the car down?”

“I needed to get the camera.” Kista said without hesitation.

Then a third voice joined in. Zoom didn't recognize it as anyone he knew. The voice sounded masculine. “I don't understand why you had to go dino on him though. Do you like showing off your dinosaur powers?”

A growl came from Kista. “Shut up, you. I'm..not in the mood.”

“And why not?” The same masculine voice asked. “Or are you afraid to tell me?”

“Keep asking me, and I'll give you a reason to be afraid of me!” Kista yelled.

“Enough, you two!” Victor yelled, his voice at a slightly higher level than Kista's.

Zoom didn't know what was going on. He was suddenly very groggy and confused. His mind was becoming clouded. He didn't know what hit him. He suddenly felt a horrible pain in his head and he tried his best not to cry out. His closed his eyes tightly, gripping his head gently and trying to make the pain go away. Then he collapsed onto his knees and his world finally went totally dark.

“Look, I think he's waking up.” Kista said, glancing down at the chair. Zoom was restrained in the chair. In a chair next to him, O'Ryan was secured. He was already awake and was struggling against his bonds. He glared daggers at Kista, who just looked away, an evil smile on her face. O'Ryan couldn't spew any insults at her. His mouth was secured and gagged with a piece of cloth. She had gagged him herself because he was starting to get on her nerves. She had tried to assure them that they would both be free if they answered her questions. But he didn't seem to want to listen to reason and thus she gagged him so that he wouldn't be able to complain anymore. Zoom, however, had no gag in his mouth. She kept her eyes on him as his eyes started to flutter open, slowly but surely.

Victor stood nearby, his arms folded up as he waited for the disgusting human to wake up. These two humans were brought into Raptor Dyne unconscious and injured, although not fatally. Kista had knocked them out when she flipped the car onto its side. He was not very pleased to learn she had done that. He was a little concerned that someone might have seen her. He wasn't too concerned about O'Ryan or Zoom, however. They didn't look too bad, anyway. Despite the nasty blow Kista had given to the car, the two men had only suffered minor blows to the head that were strong enough to knock them out. Kista said that she was just going to take the camera, but she did not know what to do with these two men, so she decided to take them with her to see what Victor himself would want to do with them. Victor tried to think of something, but for a while, he could not come up with anything. Eventually he came up with something that he thought suited the situation.

“Oooo....” Zoom groaned softly. He slowly moved his head up, his eyes opening up. “What..what happened...?” It took him a few moments to realize that he was strapped down. His eyes popped open even wider as he quickly came to his senses. He tried to pull his arms free, but they wouldn't budge. “What's..what's going on?!” He cried, feeling his heart race.

“Oh I think you should know very well what is going on.” Victor said as he quickly moved forward. Finally, the human was awake. It took him long enough to wake up.

Zoom looked up at Victor. “Dr. Veloci...? What's this all about?”

Victor's face contorted in a snarl, making Zoom yelp and cringe back in the chair as Victor leaned forward. Zoom could have sworn that he saw Victor's sharp teeth bared at him for a brief second. “I'll show you what this is all about!” Victor reached behind him and quickly pulled out what looked like a bag. Zoom recognized it as his own bag. He looked up at Victor in fear, sensing what was going to happen next. Victor opened up the bag and put his hand inside it and began to rummage through. It didn't take very long for him to find what he was looking for. Very swiftly, he pulled it out. He glared at the camera for a few seconds and then held the camera out towards Zoom. “What is the meaning of this, O'Donnell? What were you doing with this camera?”

Zoom looked away, shivering. “I-It's my c-camera.. Why shouldn't it be with me?”

Victor growled and looked towards O'Ryan. He considered questioning him, but thought better of it. This whole situation would go a lot better without O'Ryan's attitude. He turned his attention back on Zoom. He knew Zoom was hiding something. Kista had already given him enough suspicion about Zoom. “Kista here told me that she saw you and O'Ryan near the restaurant where she had nearly managed to destroy Irwin Caruso!”

Zoom looked back at Victor. He gulped and said, “All right..yes.. we were there. But..but we weren't doing anything...We were...” Zoom was trying to come up with any excuse to tell Victor so that he would not find out about the footage that he had recorded. This was what Zoom had been dreading ever since he began this little scam with O'Ryan. He glanced back at O'Ryan, who was now looking away, looking very grumpy. Zoom glared at the man. This would not have happened if it weren't for him. Zoom looked back at Victor. “We were just...scouting..for... umm...”

“Dinosaurs?” Victor asked, his eyebrow arched up in curiosity. He was starting to wonder if there was any point in interrogating Zoom O'Donnell. He already knew what this man had done, even if he could not prove it...yet. But humans were so predictable. He had anticipated Zoom would try and bend the truth a little in his favor.

“No sir.” Zoom said as confidently as he could. “I didn't see any dinosaur in that area. I think I might have seen a mutant, but..I think that was just my imagination.” He hoped Victor would by that lie. He wanted to tell him anything to keep him from watching the video on that tape. If he found out that he and O'Ryan had planned on editing it and posting it online and such, he couldn't imagine how angry Victor would have gotten.

Victor nodded his head. This was exactly how he had expected Zoom to reply. But he figured out a possible way to make him confess. “I was there too. And I thought I saw something else...” Victor was lying of course, but what did Zoom know? “There were dinosaurs in that area..namely Kista here and Caruso. There were reports of a third...But I can't recall just which one it was...” Victor tapped his chin with a finger a couple times in a thoughtful manner. “Now what was that third dinosaur..?”

“A Spinosaurus.” Zoom said before he realized what he had said. When he realized what he just said, his eyes grew wide and he quickly cringed back. He tried to cover his mouth, but quickly remembered that his arms were strapped down. He looked up at Victor, who know had a scary smile on his face.

Leaning down towards Zoom, Victor sneered, “How could you have known that, Mr. O'Donnell? You claim that you did not see any dinosaur. So how did you know that it was a Spinosaurus?” He tilted his head to one said, his smile softening a little to try and appear a little more friendly. “Please, enlighten me. I'd love to hear how you guessed the third dinosaur without even seeing any dinosaurs there.”

Zoom gritted his teeth. Victor had tricked him into revealing the information that he wanted to hear. That was sneaky and underhanded! “You tricked me...” He accused Victor somewhat angrily. But he kept himself in check, not wanting to provoke an attack from Victor.

Victor leaned back and laughed. “And why does that surprise you? You should have expected such a thing from me..?” He placed a hand on Zoom's shoulders. “I have had many, many, long years of practice in deceiving humans. You should have realized that you cannot fool me quite so easily. How could you even hope to fool me when I, myself, have been around far longer than you have..?”

Zoom growled and looked away. He muttered softly, but loud enough for Victor to hear him. “Well if that is true, then how come a group of teenagers have apparently been fooling you for a long time before you realized what was going on..?” Victor's eyes widened slightly at that question. Zoom took notice and decided to continue on, feeling a little more confident. “You claim that humans would not be able to trick you and that you could always fool them. But let me tell you something.. If that were true, then those little..brats never would have known about you! And you would have caught them on day one! But you didn't, did you?!”

Victor's eyes glowed, narrowing into slits. He gripped Zoom by the throat and squeezed it tightly. Zoom's eyes widened briefly and then shut tightly in pain. He tried to free himself, but with his hands bound, he had no way to do it. Victor continued to squeeze Zoom's throat, not enough to kill him, but just enough to make it a little hard for the man to breathe and to cause him some pain. “The only reason those pathetic humans knew anything about me was because Moynihan told them about me! And the only reason they managed to outsmart me was because of Moynihan's training that I'm sure she puts them through! In fact, if it weren't for Moynihan, they never would have been able to see through my deceit!”

Adam, who was standing further back in the room and was the third voice that Zoom had heard but didn't recognize, took a few steps forward. “Perhaps you should just release him, sir.” He normally would not try and suggest things to Victor while he was busy, but he wanted to try and stop Victor before he did unnecessary harm to Zoom. “After all, you wanted to interrogate him, didn't you? What good will he be for interrogation if you end up killing him?”

Victor growled softly, pausing as he thought about what Adam said. The man did make some sense. Victor looked back at Zoom and realized that his face was turning a shade of blue. Realizing that he was squeezing a little too tightly, Victor released his grip on Zoom, who then proceeded to take sharp, teeth breaths. Zoom's face color quickly returned to normal. Victor just looked at him callously. He could have easily killed him if he wanted to. But he did agree with what Adam said. If Zoom were dead, he would not be able to interrogate him anymore. And he wasn't finished with Zoom yet. He reached out towards him again, this time gripping his arm roughly. Zoom winced in pain, but didn't say anything. “So tell me, Zoom. Do you mind if I take a look at what you have recorded on this camera?”

“W-Well I...” Zoom started to say. He would have objected to it, but he knew that Victor would have just laughed in his face. There as nothing Zoom could do to stop Victor from looking at the tape. Heck, even if he were not strapped down into this chair, he wouldn't have been able to stop Victor from taking the camera. Victor could've easily taken it away from him even in human from for all he knew. “Go ahead.” Zoom finally said, his voice bitter. He looked away. “I know there's no way to keep you from looking at it. So fine. Go ahead and look at it, lizard lips!”

Kista hissed softly. “Don't you dare say that...” Victor raised up a hand to silence her. Kista looked at him in confusion. “But Veloci... that perlustrate promontory just...”

“Yes, I know that Kista.” Victor said quickly, looking at Zoom for a few seconds, and then turning them back to Kista. “But right now, I don't really care. So just please shut up for now, Kista.”

“Well!” Kista said, sounding offended as she put her hands against her hips. But a smile came onto her face, indicating she wasn't really as mad as she sounded.

Victor turned his attention back on the camera. He opened up the side and pushed out the little monitor that most cameras come with. It didn't take him very long to find the power button. He turned on the tape and rewound the video for a few seconds. He wanted to be sure that, when he turned it on, he would at least see some of what Zoom had seen near the restaurant. After a few seconds, he stopped the tape and put his finger on the play button. But before he even pressed it, he quickly looked over the camera. He wanted to be sure that the footage hadn't been erased. He remembered one time when he tried to check the footage from a camera only to realize that there was a magnet attached to the camera, which had completely ruined the footage! But luckily, this camera didn't seem to have anything attached to it or anything wrong with it in general. Satisfied, Victor pressed the play button and began watching the video.

After a few minutes, perhaps ten at most, Victor shut the camera off and looked over at Victor, then at O'Ryan, and then back at the camera. Zoom had managed to record the entire battle that had occurred at the restaurant. Victor had seen Kista show up and not long after, two of the so-called 'perfect dinosaurs' showed up. He was impressed with how Kista was able to subdue them rather quickly. Kista had nearly killed Caruso in her jaws and she, twice, managed to nearly defeat the Spinosaurus. One thing that disappointed him, however, was the fact that Kista was nearly owned by a human. But not just any human, but a frail, old woman who would have been downright harmless if it weren't for that gun she had stolen from one of his men. But he couldn't really put full blame on Kista. And she was able to get free anyway, so it was like the tar didn't even effect her. He smirked. That's what a real species should be like.

His anger against Zoom and O'Ryan had quickly faded away. There was something in the video that took him by surprise, and then delighted him. He lost interest in punishing them. In fact, he felt he should thank the two men for the footage. It helped fill in another piece of the puzzle that he needed to get a DNA sample from all of the 'perfect dinosaurs'. Victor smiled evilly at Zoom and reached out towards him again. This time, he gently placed his hand on the man's shoulder, much to Zoom's confusion. “Well..I guess I should thank you and O'Ryan.”

“Why?” Zoom asked, confused.

“Because you have done me a huge favor.” Victor said, grinning.

“And what the heck did he do?” Adam asked from a distance. His head was tilted to one side and he looked curious to know what Victor thought Zoom and O'Ryan had done to help Victor Veloci.

Victor looked down at the camera, the evil smile broadening a little. “They have revealed to me the identity of one of the 'perfect dinosaurs'...”

Adam blinked a few times. What was Victor talking about? How could the video have shown anything like that? “And who is it..?”

“That same girl that tricked me into giving a precious amount of money towards some animal shelter..” Victor responded. He closed his eyes. “It was when one of my workers claimed to have captured all the 'perfect dinos' but it turned out to be a bunch of little brats. I don't recall the others too well; it was that girl I remember the most because of what she made me do.” He remembered her from somewhere else too. She was the same girl he had seen with a rabbit when he was looking for mutant pets that his men were supposed to contaminate. But those two bumbling idiots didn't follow orders and, because of them, his experiment was ruined.

“And why is that a big deal?” Kista asked, shrugging her shoulders. “So what if she made you pay all that money? So what? You're a millionaire, aren't you? Or billionaire, whatever. You could have easily replaced that money quickly.”

“It doesn't bother me too much, I suppose..” Victor said thoughtfully. “But anyway, now I know the identity of the Spinosaurus.”

“Oh really?” Zoom said out of nowhere. Victor looked over at him, his eyes slightly narrowed, but other than that, there was no sign of anger on his face. Zoom chuckled lightly. “So tell me...what do you think the girl's name is? Can you tell that from the footage?”

Victor slowly shook his head. “No, I cannot tell just from the footage. But...” Victor turned around, holding his hands behind his back as if he were hiding something. A twisted smile appeared on his face. “There are ways to find out...”

* * *

The next day at school, Caruso was out on the football field. He was walking towards the locker room because his coach told him to go there. Caruso's mouth was still too sore and painful to wear the helmet and mouth piece as the coach had started making his students wear for added safety. The mouth piece continued to press against the cuts and scratches. The coach didn't understand how anyone could do that to their mouth, but Caruso never told him the story nor did he ever come up with an explanation. He had only told his coach he hurt his mouth. Despite not having a good story, there was no denying the injuries; they were as real as anything. The coach didn't want Caruso to hurt himself with the mouthpiece, so he immediately sent Caruso to the locker room.

Although disappointed that he wouldn't be able to play today, Caruso obeyed his coach without question. He immediately headed towards the locker room, thinking about what had happened last night. After Fiona had gotten done talking with Rodger, there was a meeting not long afterward. Buzz and Max were also contacted and they, along with Rodger, went up to the lighthouse to talk with each other about what to do. It shocked them when they found out there was another dinosaur out there, especially one that was larger than Max and perhaps faster too. But what frightened them even more was the fact that this dinosaur might have been the assassin that Michelle had warned them about earlier. Now Rodger and Buzz could no longer deny that Michelle was lying about the assassin.

After a long discussion, lasting about two hours, it was ultimately decided to take no direct action. They would not seek out this dinosaur and try to interrogate her like they had with Michelle. For one thing, they had no idea what this dinosaur looked like in human form. Not only that, but they had no clue what the dinosaur's human name was, so they had absolutely nothing to go on. It was true that the human and dinosaur forms often share similar coloration, however this could easily be changed. For one thing, Oscura's human form and dinosaur form had vastly different colors from one another. It's likely that Oscura, and Michelle, changed their outfits after receiving their dinosaur forms, perhaps to make it difficult to tell if they are the dinosaurs or not.

Instead of a direct approach, the Dino Squad, with advise from Ms. Moynihan, had decided to just wait and see if the white dinosaur returned again. They would keep their guard up and constantly look around their environment to see any signs of the dinosaur or even anyone that could possibly be this very dinosaur. There were some suspicions on who it could be, but there was no proof as of now. Moynihan encouraged them not to jump to conclusions if they suspect someone. She, instead, wanted them to keep an eye on the individual and wait and see if they ever transform or do anything out-of-the-ordinary, such as disappear into nowhere or sneak around certain places. But even this may not be able to pinpoint who the mysterious white dinosaur is. They knew little to nothing about her personality, except for one thing: her habit of using big, irrelevant words.

That, alone, might be their only lead to discovering the identity of the white dinosaur. There wasn't a lot of people that would use such a manner of talking. Heck, they didn't know anyone who talked like that. It wasn't much to go on, but it is their only clue that they have to link a human with a dinosaur. Caruso's heart raced as he continued to think about that assassin. He was still terrified about what had happened and how close he came to dying. He tried to push the thoughts out of his head, but they continued to haunt him, flooding back into his mind. He was hoping that some football would help him calm down, but he couldn't even do that, not with these injuries that Victor had given him around two weeks ago. Oh well, he did bring a book along, suggested by his mother, to read in case he ever got any free time. And he had some free time now, so perhaps he should read it.

Caruso reached the locker room. He opened up the door and quickly stepped inside. He was greeted with the familiar sight of a dark gray floor and rows of dark blue lockers, a couple of brown benches in each aisle. Caruso slowly walked further into the locker room. He didn't really like being in this room all alone and he could tell he was the only one in the room. The locker room wasn't too big, but it felt too large for him to be in alone. He quickly walked from one end of the room to the other, looking into each of the aisles to make sure that there was no one else in the locker room. He thought about taking a shower first. There was a small shower in the locker room that he had used time and time again in the past. Caruso decided that he could read later. He wanted to get cleaned up first. He placed the book he was carrying and placed it on the bench closest to the door that he had through and grabbed a towel from a rack nearby. He then made his way towards the shower.

Just then, he felt something grab him from behind. Caruso's eyes suddenly widened and the towel he was carrying was dropped to the floor. He started to struggle against whatever it was that was holding him. But he was pulled roughly backwards, nearly toppling onto his feet. An arm was wrapped around his body, pinning his arms at his sides. They weren't as thick as his arms were, but they were packed with muscle, possibly more than he had. He tried grabbing onto the arm and pulling it off of him, but it was useless. He then tried to scream for help, but swiftly, something hard and cold pressed against his neck so quickly that he nearly gagged on it. It didn't take him long to realize what the object was. It was a knife!

The figure behind him pulled him even closer, their grip on the knife tightening as they pressed it harder against his throat. As Caruso tried moving his head away from the knife, the figure simply moved the knife along with him, making sure it remained in a lethal position. Then the figure leaned forward, practically resting their head on his shoulder and whispered into his ear, “Don't try to move. Just hold still.” The voice was feminine, making Caruso realize that he was being threatened by a woman. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. “I promise that if you hold still, this will go a lot faster. Do not prolong this more than it has to be.” With that, she started slowly moving the knife to one side and Caruso knew what she was going to do. She was going to slit his throat!

Panicking, Caruso started to fight back. He wanted to try and bite the arm that was pushing him against the woman, but he couldn't move his head down without causing the knife to dig further into his skin. Instead, he transformed his fingernails into his Stegosaurus claws and started slashing the arm holding onto him. The figure let out a scream and released him. Caruso tried to run forward, but he felt the woman grab onto his ankle and pulling him to the floor. Caruso cried out in pain as his chin slammed heavily into the ground, making him bite his own tongue, producing a small puncture wound on it. Caruso tried to climb onto his feet, but he felt something heavy lay on top of him, keeping him onto the ground. The woman had quickly jumped onto him, using her body weight to make sure he stayed on the ground. Then she slung her left arm around his neck, pressing his throat against the hook of her arm as she quickly moved her arm back, roughly pulling Caruso's head back along with it.

Before Caruso knew what was going on, he felt the cold blade of the knife against his throat again. He panicked again and struggled on the ground, his Stegosaur claws on his arms digging into the metal, chipping a little, his shoes squeaking slightly as he kicked against the floor, trying to get up off the ground. But all he seemed to be doing was making the woman on his back increasingly angrily. She started to squeeze his neck a little tighter, making it a little difficult for him to breathe. He tried moving one of his arms behind him to try and slash the woman's arm again, but he suddenly felt a strong pain in his and and he quickly pulled it back. He noticed there were human bite marks there. The woman had actually bitten him, similar to how he had bitten Victor in an attempt to defend himself.

“You really like pushing your luck, don't you, kid?” The woman said, her voice filled with anger towards both his attempted escape and the fact that he had slashed up one of her arms pretty good. She could feel it trinkling down her arm, starting to stain Caruso's clothes. She pushed the knife further against his neck, but not enough to do any damage. “You could have just held still and your death would have been swift!” Caruso shuddered as she said that. “But perhaps you don't even deserve a quick death. I could easily just keep cutting up your body and letting you slowly bleed to death! How would you like that, kid? Do you want a slow, painful death or would you like a quick, rather painless one?” Her voice lowered into a harsh whisper. “It's up to you.”

Caruso closed his eyes and started to cry. He was crying because of the situation that he was on and the fact that he might never see his friends again. Who was going to find him in time? No one could possibly hear him in here. The players were a good distance away and the door to this locker room was closed. There's no way that his cries for help would be heard, especially since the boys are usually rather noisy during a game. And he was frightened at the thought of never seeing his friends again. He couldn't imagine, didn't want to imagine, how torn up they would be to find his body again and this time he would really be dead. There would be no second chances, no miracles, no nothing this time. At least, after becoming physically exhausted from the struggling and emotionally exhausted from his grief and fear, Caruso fell limp on the ground, much to the woman's delight.

The woman chuckled. “I knew you would come to your senses kid.” She readied the knife. “Don't worry, I'll make this as painless for you as possible.” She started to press the knife into his throat, enough to only make a tiny, bloodless scratch. Then she prepared to swiftly pull the knife to one side, which would effectively slice his throat open, which would cause so much rapid bleeding that Caruso would die within a minute or two...

Suddenly, Caruso felt the weight being swiftly lifted off of him. He yelped when the knife cut his throat, but it made a small, harmless scratch. He immediately got up to his feet and looked over to see what had happened. He could now see his attacker. She looked like a young woman, perhaps looking no older than his mother. A few seconds later, Caruso was able to recognize who she was. Caruso was horrified to learn that his attacker was the new school librarian. He took a few steps back, his legs shaky, thinking about how close he came to being killed. Then he noticed what had caused her to release him. Someone was behind her, grabbing into her and pulling her back, as far back as they could away from Caruso himself. Caruso recognized the second person as Liam. “Liam?!” He cried in shock, although he felt relieved that someone had come to save him. But what was Liam doing here? This wasn't where he should be. Either way, he was grateful that Liam found him in time.

Liam was struggling to hold onto the woman, doing his best not to slip on the floor himself. This wasn't something he normally would do. He would not have even come here if it weren't for Ms. Moynihan. She had wanted him to find Caruso and give him some information. Why she couldn't do it herself later on, Liam wasn't sure. He was given a pass so he could go to the football field without running into any problems. When he had arrived, the coach had told him where Caruso was. But when Liam opened the door and saw what was going on, he hesitated only a few seconds before rushing over and helping Caruso. He had grabbed onto the woman and pulled her back as quickly as he could, hoping that he wasn't too late. Now he was hanging on, trying to keep himself from letting go. The woman was thrashing violently, trying to knock him off. But he couldn't be thrown off, not yet. He had to make sure that Caruso was fine.

Liam saw that Caruso was standing there, looking over at him in shock. Why wasn't the boy running away? “Caruso! Run! Get out of here!”


	28. Invasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Caruso was confused for only a moment. He hadn't heard Liam be this brief and to-the-point many times before. Usually he would give longer descriptions or give him random information that was either useless or difficult to decipher. “Liam..what about you?”

“Do not worry about me! I'll be fine! Maybe a few bruises, internal bleeding, or scratches on the epidermis, but I'll be okay! Metamorphose now!” Liam called out, still struggling to hang into the woman. Caruso smirked softly and shook his head. That was Liam all right. Though he wondered what Liam meant by metamorphose. But then a fearful expression came into Caruso's face when he saw the woman manage to grab onto Liam. The woman pulled on him roughly, dislodging him from her back. She then proceeded to throw him onto the ground. Liam cried out in pain when his back slammed into the hard floor.

“You maladroit anemic!” The woman gripped Liam by the shirt and lifted him up. “How dare you interrupt my insubstantial dominion?!” With that, she threw Liam aside as if he were just a ragdoll. Liam banged his head against the wall and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. The woman turned her attention on Caruso, who was backing away from her slowly, his body trembling.

In a shaky voice, Caruso managed to say, “No..it..it can't be... You can't be the...” He couldn't bring himself to finish. Those irrelevant words that she spoke...that left no doubt in Caruso's mind that this was the same assassin as from the restaurant.

The woman just smiled evilly. “I told you I'd be back, kid...”

Caruso continued to move away until he felt his back press up against the wall. “Get away from me, you...you monster!”

The woman laughed. “Oh please..just call me Kista.”

“Just get away!” Caruso cried out again, his eyes starting to glow faintly.

The woman, Kista, saw this and her eyes brightened up slightly, her smile turning into a grin. “That's right. Transform, kid. Let's make this interesting.”

Caruso then realized what Liam meant by metamorphose. He was trying to tell him the transform. But could he really transform in here? The locker room seemed a little small, and if Kista here transformed as well, there wouldn't be a lot of room. Then again, Max did say that, when he went dino in here, he had a lot of room to move around even in T-Rex form. And what else could Caruso do to defend himself? He didn't have a choice anymore. But he found himself still paralyzed in fear as Kista walked up to him. He bared his teeth at her to try and intimidate her, but it didn't work. Kista swiftly grabbed him by the neck and pushed him into the wall. “Urgh!” Caruso cried out, grabbing onto the hand and trying to pry it off.

“Come on, kid. Transform.” Kista taunted. She reached forward and started to stroke the boy's hair, just like how Victor had done weeks ago. Caruso shuddered at the touch and tried to move his head away, but it was in vain. Kista chuckled and decided to play with the boy a little more before she released him. “What's the matter?” She asked mockingly, extending a claw on her pointer finger and tracing the tip from the boy's forehead, along the side of his face, down his cheek, and stopped at the corner of his mouth, leaving a thin scratch along his face. Knowing that the area was sensitive from the bridle, Kista purposely pushed her claw into the still-healing cut, slicing it open and letting fresh blood leak from it.

Caruso cried out in pain and his struggles increased. “Help! Somebody, please help me!” He tried to scream again, but Kista quickly covered his mouth with her hand, her now extended claws digging into his face. His eyes widened in fear and he tried to get free, but Kista just gripped him tighter, holding him firmly in place.

“No one can hear you in here.” Kista said, her sharp teeth bared at him in an evil grin. “You're too far away from them to hear your pitiful cries for help...” She leaned in closely to whisper into the boy's ear as if she was afraid Liam would hear it, even though he was still out cold. “And you know what the best part is..? Once I'm finished with you, your little girlfriend is next on the list. She won't stand a chance...” Caruso's eyes widened in horror and then narrowed. He glared at Kista with eyes filled with rage. Before Kista could react, the boy managed to open up his mouth and bit hard into her hand, sinking his now-transformed Stegosaurus teeth into her hand. Kista howled in pain and released Caruso.

“Don't you dare...” Caruso said as he got into a hostile position. He bared his teeth at Kista, trying to make himself seem as threatening as possible. While he was still terrified for his life, he wasn't going to let Kista get her claws on his best friends or anyone else that he cared about, not so long as he could do something about it. “Don't you even think about hurting her...or any one else!”

Kista narrowed her eyes for a brief moment, and then softened up her expression and laughed as if this whole thing was just one big joke to her. “How cute... You're trying to threaten me. You, a child, threatening me, an adult, or more specifically, a dinosaur.” Her eyes glowed intensely as she chuckled, her laughs growing more and more dinosaur like. Caruso could hear hisses and growls mixed in and it did make him shudder, but he remained in his position. “So you're willing to take me on, kid? Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into?” Kista taunted him, tilting her head to one side. “All your dinosaur form will do is make this fight more interesting. It's always more fun when I kill my victims while they fight back. I was growing tired of my job at Raptor Dyne until I heard about you and your Dino Squad pals.” Her smile grew dark. “Killing them will be as much fun for me as it is going to be when I kill you...” Kista laughed.

Caruso growled softly, feeling his own eyes starting to glow out of anger. He could feel his anger starting to overpower his fear, and empowering him with the courage that he didn't have before. “S-Stop laughing...S-Stop laughing now!” He demanded, his voice filled with rage. When Kista didn't stop laughing, he charged forward. His body started to glow, and he quickly grew in size. Before Kista had time to react, she felt herself being thrown into the ground by a large, mad Stegosaurus. Caruso opened up his jaws and let out a loud bellow that shook the ground beneath their feet.

Kista shook her head a few times and looked up at Caruso. At first, her eyes were wide with shock. She hadn't expected him to transform so quickly. But then a smile appeared on her face. Finally, this fight was going to get more interesting! She hoped that Caruso would put up more of a fight than he did in the restaurant. Kista chuckled as she continued to look up. Caruso had her pinned down and his mouth was open, but he hadn't tried to bite her yet. Was he actually hesitating? “What are you waiting for, weakling?” Caruso's eyes widened. “Are you too much of a chicken to make the first move..?”

'I'm no chicken.' Caruso said, but that was all he could think of to say. He quickly fell silent and just glared at Kista, eyes narrowed into slits. He closed his mouth most of the way, keeping it only part way open to expose his teeth at her.

“Great comeback.” Kista said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “I've heard better remarks from a trash can.”

'Why you...' Caruso let out a loud bellow, trying to scare Kista. But it quickly became obvious that roaring at her wasn't going to scare Kista. It was like it didn't even faze her. She would just look at him, smiling or looking away, sometimes both, and just wait until he was finished. Frustrated, Caruso lifted up his foot, positioning it above Kista's body. It wouldn't take much effort to crush her under his weight. But even when he got the foot where he wanted it, he couldn't bring himself to go through with it. 'I..I can't do it...' He said softly to no one in particular. He lowered his foot to the ground. 'I can't do it...' Why couldn't he do it? It wasn't like Kista was begging for help or anything. But for some reason, he just didn't feel right about it. This wasn't what Moynihan had taught them to do. Even if she was their enemy, Caruso didn't know if he could go through with actually killing someone. He lowered his head as if he felt ashamed of himself for being such a coward.

Kista narrowed her eyes in disappointment. “I knew it! You're too weak to fight back! Oh how wrong I was to think that you would have the courage to stand up against me...” Kista didn't give Caruso a chance to say anything. She transformed into her hybrid dinosaur form. It doesn't take her much effort to put her feet underneath Caruso's body and pushing him off of her. Despite there being two fully transformed, fully grown dinosaurs in the room, there seemed to be enough space for the two of them to move around a little. But it still felt a bit cramped in there. Caruso knew there wasn't much room to fight, but he was too scared to change back. His anger had changed back into fear. 'You'll never change!' Kista slammed her tail into the ground, knocking over a bunch as she did so. 'You'll always be the pathetic little coward that Victor has turned you into! But how can I blame you? You're just a human. All you humans are the same...' Kista said, her eyes narrowed.

'Th-That's not true!' Caruso said, baring his teeth and lifting up his tail. 'Not all humans are like that! I...'

'But you're the exception? Oh no, not really.' Kista said, interrupting him. She didn't care if that wasn't what he was going to say or not. She just felt like saying it, felt like mocking him. 'You will find, kid, that many people are like you. Too afraid to stand up for themselves. Scared of their own shadow. Completely spineless...' Kista shook her massive head back and forth in disgust. 'I may not agree wth everything Victor says, especially about humans. But when it comes to cowardly behavior, he has my vote.'

Caruso slammed his tail into the ground. 'You'll be surprised at what humans are capable of!'

'Oh really?' Kista said mockingly, her mouth partly open in a dinosaurian smile.

'Yes!' Caruso declared.

'Then show me...' Kista said, lowering her head slightly.

Caruso hesitated for a moment. He was still feeling very afraid, but he also didn't want to look like a coward, especially now. He felt unsure about attacking Kista in there, so close to the school. But what other choice did he have? It wasn't like he could run away. Well, theoretically, he could, but he felt it was too late for him to make that decision. If he changed back and ran, she could easily gobble him up before he could reach the door. 'Okay then..I will!' He prepared to make his move. Kista waited for him, anticipating his move.

But before Caruso could make his move, there was a sudden, loud scream in the air. Caruso quickly looked towards where Liam was. Perhaps he had woken up and screamed because there were two dinosaurs in the room. But that didn't make much sense. Liam seemed to be able to control himself before. It wasn't that Liam couldn't feel fear; he just wasn't the type to scream so easily. But when Caruso looked over, he noticed that Liam was gone. Where did he go?

Then another scream ran in his ears. He looked over at Kista, who seemed unfazed by this turn of events. Her body was haunched forward as if she were about to charge a victim. Caruso looked over towards the exit where he first came in. He was shocked to see the door was wide open now and a small group of students, his gym mates to be precise, was standing there, looking up at him in horror. He couldn't tell if they could see Kista in there or not. If they couldn't see her, he felt a little glad. If they were freaking out over the presence of a large herbivore, he couldn't imagine how they'd react to a large carnivore. Caruso turned his attention back on Kista and lowered his head. He started to kick up the ground as if it were dirt and snorted loudly like a bull.

Kista hissed. 'Oh how threatening. You're going to charge me like some pathetic mammal? Go ahead!' Kista lowered her body forward slightly more, opening up her massive jaws and exposing her sharp teeth. But instead of waiting for Caruso, Kista decided to make the first move. She charged forward, mouth agape. Saliva flew into the air as her tongue hang out for a few seconds before she pulled it back in. Caruso's eyes widened and he charged to meet with Kista. Caruso tried to twist his body around to bring out his spiked tail, but the cramped space of the locker room made this turn impossible. And before he could do anything about it, Kista's jaws slammed shut around his shoulder. Caruso let out a loud roar of pain as he found himself being pushed into the ground. Kista, without letting go, then placed one of her three-toed feet onto the side of his soft abdomen. 'Let's see you try getting yourself out of this, kid!'

Caruso winced in pain as he felt Kista's talons digging into his side and he could feel her teeth sawing into his shoulder. He could feel his blood dripping from the wound and he could feel Kista's slimy tongue lapping it up. He struggled to get up, but Kista seemed too strong for him. The floor didn't make his situation any better either. His feet would constantly slip on the hard tiles. His claws provided very little traction here. All they did was make a loud screeching sound as his feet slipped on the ground. He tried again to get up or at least move himself into a better position to strike her with his tail, but he again slipped on the ground, his claws making the horrible scratching sound. Then he noticed Kista's reaction to when his claws scraped the ground. She was flinching. Although it was just slight, he could tell that the noise bothered her. Perhaps this could work to his advantage.

Caruso lifted up one of his feet. He flexed his claws as much as he could, spreading them as far apart as he could, and slammed his paw into the ground. He dug in his claws as deep as they could go and then started to pull back. This action made a sound similar to what he would hear on a chalkboard if someone were to scrape their nails across it. It sent chills down his spine and he wanted to stop, but he knew he couldn't. He had to see if this would work. He did the same action again, this time making sure he took a little longer to prolong the sound. He got the result that he wanted. Kista, not able to take the horrible sound, opened up her jaws and let out a huge roar. Caruso took advantage of this opportunity. He quickly got up to his feet and cracked forward, ramming his body into Kista's and slamming her into the ground.

Kista shook her head, remaining on the ground as she looked up at Caruso. Instead of being angry, she seemed rather pleased about what had happened. 'Good, good.. you're fighting back. That's what being a dinosaur is all about.'

Caruso's eyes narrowed. 'Shut up. Spare me your dino ego.'

Just then, a loud shot rang out. Caruso, unsure of what was going on, immediately ducked down. He heard the sound of metallic clanking beside him and he looked over. He could see a small puncture mark. He looked more carefully at it. It was more of a dent than a hole. It took him a few seconds to realize that someone had fired a bullet at him. He looked over towards the source and nearly gasped in horror. There was someone standing there, someone that he did not recognize. A tall man with some kind of uniform, a policeman perhaps, and he was pointing a gun straight at his face! Caruso's eyes went wide and he reared up onto his hind legs, letting out a huge bellow before slamming back down with enough force to knock the man down. Someone must have dialed the emergency number. He had to get out of there and quick!

'Looks like the battle just got more interesting.' Kista commented. She turned around and lowered her head. Then she rammed into the wall, creating a huge hole. The next thing Caruso could hear was the sound of screaming and he could hear Kista's feet slamming into the ground each time. Caruso knew he couldn't just leave his classmates to die at the claws of this monster. He had to help them! Caruso ran out of the same hold that Kista had made and could see her mockingly chasing the students. Even though she was close to some of them multiple times, she didn't try to bite them. It was like she was just playing with them, purposely scaring them half to death. Some of the students saw Caruso and became even more panicked despite the fact that he was in a plant-eater's body. But Caruso did his best to ignore the screams as he charged for Kista.

'Leave them alone!' Caruso shouted as he lowered his head and rammed his body against Kista. His plates managed to strike Kista as well this time, pushing deep against her skin. They didn't penetrate the skin, but they did cause considerable pain, making Kista roar in pain as she fell to the ground once again. This time, Caruso did not hesitate to jump on top of Kista, pinning her down with his massive weight. He looked around to see if the students were all right. Some were still around, perhaps too dscared to move. Despite the fact that he had just saved them from Kista, they were still afraid of him. To no one in particular, he said softly, 'Why..why are they still afraid of me?' But he knew the answer already.

'Why, dear, it's because you're a dinosaur.' Kista said mockingly, a sneer on her face despite her predicament. 'And as every human knows, all dinosaurs are big, nasty, ferocious monsters that would kill a human as soon as they looked at one!'

'But not everyone thinks that.' Caruso stated, but for what reason he wasn't sure. He didn't even know why he was having this conversation with Kista.

'Oh no? All humans are alike in this aspect, too. They think anything larger than them and is strange to them as monsters that should be destroyed.' Kista said, chuckling darkly. All around the ttwo, students had worked up the courage to get a little closer to see what was going on. Caruso and Kista noticed that they had an audience now, but they didn't care. Their attention was focused on each other. 'And why does it surprise you anyway? You're a strange kid, you know that? Afraid, then brave, then afraid, now brave again, and then acting surprised to see someone freak out at the sight of you?' Kista chortled. 'What are you? Suffering from kind of weird condition or something?' She asked mockingly, her teeth partly bared.

Caruso let out a roar. He felt really angry by that comment, but he slowly realized that she was right. He had been acting a little strange during this battle, particuarly how his emotions have been constantly switching from one extreme to the next and back again. He slowly closed his mouth as if he were admitting defeat. But he did still have one thing to say to Kista. 'At least I'm not as strange as you are!' He retorted bravely.

Kista snarled. 'What are you talking about, human?'

'The way you use big words to sound smart. Oh you think that makes you more intelligent, but let me tell you something, it does not! It only makes you look like an idiot because those stupid words you use have nothing to do with the conversation!' Caruso said, his eyes narrowed. 'Why, I'm sure that, deep down, you're as dumb as a rock!'

'What?!' Kista roared. She was not going to take this from some lowly mammal! Before Caruso could react, Kista grabbed his leg with her jaws. The Stegosaurus roared in pain as Kista managed to use enough force to knock him off of her. She immediately got up and pressed a foot on top of his head. 'You...!' She opened up her jaws and was about to take a bite out of Caruso when she suddenly heard a roar behind her. 'Now who could that be?' Kista said to herself as she craned her neck over to see what was going on.

'Leave my friend alone!' Rodger's voice sounded out before it was completely muted by a loud rhino-like bellow. Kista didn't have enough time to react. Rodger charged towards her as fast as he could, his head lowered to so that his brow horns faced forward. He rammed into the dinosaur, driving his horns into her side. Kista screeched loudly and tried to get free, feeling the horns digging deeper into her body. She managed to get free, but the bleeding wounds caused her to stagger a little as she moved back and prepared to attack Rodger.

'You discerning swine! I'll kill you!' Kista hissed. But before she could attack Rodger, something large and heavy slammed into her. Kista fell to the ground. Before she recovered, she heard the voices from the students shouting something about another Tyrannosaurus being in the area. Kista looked up and saw a green T-Rex towering over her, and a purebred one too! Kista had only laid eyes on a purebred T-Rex a few times, and that was millions of years ago. She staggered to her feet and glared at the green T-Rex. There was something familiar about this Tyrannosaurus. She could have sworn that this T-Rex looked an awful like how her father did.

'You mess with one of my teammates, you mess with me!' Max let out a loud roar to assert his threat. He took a step forward, putting himself between Rodger and the strange white dinosaur. He looked over at Caruso to make sure he was all right. By this time, Caruso had managed to crawl back onto his feet. He seemed to be all right. Max turned his attention back on Kista. He opened up his mouth and was ready to attack. But something stopped him. He took a look around. Despite the obvious danger, there was still a handful of students nearby, watching the fight intently. His eyes widened. If he started to fight here, he could accidentally hurt someone. 'Why are they just standing there? Why aren't they running away?'

'They seemed to be rather fascinated by this fight.' Rodger said, looking left and right.

'They'll just get in the way. We have to get them out of here.' Max said. 'Otherwise, they could get hurt!'

Rodger looked up. 'And how do you propose we do that?'

Max lowered his head. 'Easy. Watch!' Max opened his jaws and let out another roar, this time directed at the students. The students just froze in fear. Max tried roaring again, but all he seemed to be doing was making them too paralyzed to move. Then he tried another approach. He lowered his body as far as he could without falling over and started charging at the students. He got the idea from when Moynihan went raptor and chased away Veloci's men without actually hurting them. The students dispersed, running off in all directions as Max ran towards them, making sure that he stayed behind them, never passing them. A few times, he snapped his jaws, careful not to actually snag anyone, in an attempt to convince them to get out of the area.

But while Max was watching the students run away, he failed to notice Kista behind them. He suddenly felt something knock him down. When he struggled to get up, he felt a massive foot press against his neck, nearly choking him. Kista lowered her head so he could see her. 'Don't ever turn your back on me, kid...' She opened up her mouth, revealing her sharp teeth to him.

Kista roared in pain suddenly when Rodger rammed his body against hers again, his horns once again driving into her skin, creating more puncture wounds. Kista managed to free herself again and turned to face her new adversary, turning her back to the T-Rex. 'You shouldn't turn your back on me as well...' Rodger said, slowly backing away with his horns lowered as Kista walked towards him. Then she felt something grab onto her tail and pull her onto the ground. She looked up to see the T-Rex towering over her.

'The same goes for me!' Max said, lifting up his foot to stomp down onto her body. Kista's eyes narrowed and she suddenly lunged forward despite her awkward position. Her jaws slammed shut around Max's leg. His eyes widened and he roared in pain. Kista pulled backwards, causing Max to fall onto his back. She could have easily attacked him since he was the most vulnerable on that position, but she had another dinosaur to contend with.

'Max!' Rodger shouted, rushing towards Max. Kista quickly got herself off the ground and went over to deal with the Styracosaurus before he had another chance to drive those hideous horns into her body again.

'You aren't going to do that again..' Kista said. She waited until Rodger was just inches away, and then she quickly moved to one side, taking him by complete surprise. Before he had time to swing his body around a different direction, Kista slammed her jaws around his bony, spiked frill. Rodger bellowed and tried to get free, swinging his head violenty back and forth. Kista couldn't do much damage in this area and she knew that. She had another reason for biting the region. Using as much energy as she could, she pushed Rodger into the ground. Rodger crashed into the ground with a heavy thud, kicking up dirt.

Caruso, who had stayed back and watched the battle wage on, was horrified by this turn of events. 'Rodger! No!' He cried out, feeling helpless to do anything. He tried putting weight on his injured leg, but he was overwhelmed with pain.

Kista's jaws were still clamped onto the frill, blood dripping from it as her teeth drove as far as they could into the bony frill. As Rodger continued to struggle, Kista twisted her neck in such a way that she pulled Rodger's head back, exposing his throat. She positioned a foot right in front of it, flexing the claws. 'You shouldn't have interfered.' Kista said as she lifted up the foot briefly to press against the Styracosaur's neck. Rodger's eyes widened as he felt the claws digging at his throat and his struggles increased in intensity. But it didn't make much of a difference. Kista sneered, 'It's too late for you!'

Kista suddenly let out a loud screech as Max rushed forward, having recovered from the fall, and bit down onto Kista's leg, threatening to snap it in two. Kista looked down at Max, hissing at him threateningly. But despite the threat, Max refused to let go. 'As I told you before, you mess with my team, you mess with me!' Max said, letting out a threatening growl of his own. If Kista made a move towards him, he could easily close his jaws even tighter than he already was and his massive jaw muscles would crush the leg bone, easily crippling Kista so she'd no longer be a threat.

Kista narrowed her eyes and moved her foot away from Rodger. He wasn't worth killing right now, anyway. Her attention became focused on Max. She decided perhaps it was best if he tried to reason with him. Perhaps if she could convince him to let her go, she could have another chance at attacking Caruso. But her mind was buzzing with questions, most prominent being that what should she do if she did succeed. She could easily try killing Caruso now. She didn't feel threatened by him or his two friends, despite the fact that one is about to break her leg. On the other hand, she had to get out of here without injury and she wondered if it was worth it to try killing Caruso now. No, there would be another chance. She would just have to explain the situation to Victor. 'Wait!'

Max paused, looking up at her skeptically. Rodger tilted his head to one side, his eyes narrowing. He couldn't tell what Kista was going to do, and he didn't want to wait to find out. The only thing holding him back was Max, who was silently telling him to stay put. Caruso felt uneasy. He suspected that Kista was going to pull off some sort of trick and he wanted to do something to help. But he dared not interfere with Max while he had Kista in his jaws. What was confusing Caruso was the fact that Kista wasn't trying to bite down into Max's back. Not that he wanted that to happen, but he couldn't understand why. Unless there was a reason that he could not yet comprehend.

'Why should I?' Max asked. He could feel the blood dripping down his jaws and chin, but he couldn't do anything about it. 'If I stop now, I risk letting you try to kill off my friends!' He pressed his jaws tighter and Kista's eyes suddenly bulged in pain.

Instinctively, Kista opened up her jaws and was about to bite down on Max's back, but she restrained herself, slowly closing her jaws and pulling her head away. 'Look, if you let me go, I promise I'll leave right this instant. I won't try to attack you or your precious friends.'

Max thought about what Kista said. But he wasn't going to buy it. From what he's seen from Oscura and Michelle, he wasn't going to be fooled by Kista as easily again. Kista could still turn her back on this 'promise' of hers and attack them while they aren't looking. And, if she doesn't succeed in killing Irwin now, she could easily come back at a later time and try finishing up the job. No, he wasn't going to give her that chance. 'No. I won't let go.' Max said, eyes narrowed.

'Well if you won't me go, I'll make you!' Kista shouted, her mouth part way open.

'How will you make me let go? I have your leg!' Max said. To prove his point, he moved his jaws a little, causing his teeth to scrape slightly across the leg. Kista winced in pain but her expression remained more or less unchanged, as if she wasn't afraid. 'Why aren't you afraid? You don't care if you lose a leg?'

'Oh, but it's not me who should be afraid..' Kista growled. Finally tired of waiting, she opened her jaws again and started to turn her head into the right position. Caruso and Rodger realized what was going to happen and tried to warn Max.

'Max! Watch out!' Caruso cried out. He tried to move, but the pain in his leg prevented him from doing so.

'She's going to attack!' Rodger shouted. He wanted to do something to help, but he was afraid that he would mess things up again, like how he did when they were facing off with Peter.

'What?' Max looked up, but it was already too late. Kista's jaws snapped around his back. A horrible pain shot up Max's spine, causing him to release Kista's leg and let out a loud, deafening roar of pain. He started to struggle in Kista's jaws, trying to make her let go. He tried twisting his head around and biting her back, but he couldn't reach her. Kista carefully moved her leg back, testing it a few times to make sure the bone was not broken. When she was sure it wasn't, she went back to work on Max. She drove her teeth as deep as she could without crushing bone and lifted him off the ground and quickly threw him back down, releasing her grip on him. Max groaned in pain and tried to get up, but Kista knocked him back down with her clawed foot.

'I gave you an offer and you should have taken it. At least then, you and your two friends here would have had a chance!' Kista said, pushing her foot as hard as she could into Max's shoulder, threatening to crush the bone. 'But you had to pass it up, didn't you? Well congratulations, leader boy. You've just condemned yourself and your pathetic friends to death!' Max wanted to say something, but he couldn't think of anything. And the pain he was in was clouding his judgment. Was this how Caruso felt? Kista lowered her jaws and was about to bite into Max's throat to end his life, but she didn't have a chance to.

'No!' Rodger finally couldn't take it any longer. He couldn't just sit back and watch this happen! Rodger lowered his head and charged forward. He was able to drive his horns into this dinosaur twice. Perhaps he could do it a third time. As he ran forward, Caruso could only watch. He looked down at his leg, feeling angry with himself that he could not do anything to help. Rodger's horns suddenly drove into Kista's skin for a third time. Kista roared in pain and backed away from Max, who just remained on the floor, in too much pain to get up right away. Kista hissed angrily and turned her attention on Rodger. She got herself free and, feeling very pissed that Rodger had, for a third time, interrupted her kill, lashed out at him. She bit down onto one of his horns and started to pull him across the floor. Rodger fought to dislodge his horn and finally managed to get free.

'You will pay for your interference, you pathetic mongrel!' Kista shouted as she charged forward, snapping her jaws only inches away from Rodger's face.

But Rodger stood his ground, waving his horned face back and forth threateningly. 'No, you're the one who is going to pay!'

'You're just as foolish as all the other mammals!' Kista said, baring her teeth as she started to circle Rodger, trying to find a way to get at a more vulnerable part of him. But Rodger matched her every move and kept his head facing towards her. 'Stop moving around so much!'

'You know, I could say the same thing about you.' Rodger said, eyeing the dinosaur's legs. If he could just strike with one of them with enough force, he could break one or both of her legs. Then they could easily get away. But could he really do that? Would Moynihan approve of it? He felt reluctant to attack, fearing that Moynihan would see him as cold-hearted for doing such a thing. But thoughts of his own safety as well as the safety of his friends motivated him to consider that option.

Kista eyed her legs briefly, noticing Rodger watching them intently a few times. She quickly realized what he was thinking and she had to make sure she prevented it from happening. If she allowed this little brat break one, or worse, both, of her legs, she wouldn't be able return to work and she would have to explain herself to Victor. What was he going to say to her if he found out? But it wasn't just Victor that concerned her. She was also worried about how she was going to function with a broken leg. She had seen how humans with broken legs lived and she wouldn't be able to handle it. On top of that, they would need blood samples and she couldn't risk letting a scientist see her blood and finding out what she really was. How Peter managed to get away from it, she wasn't sure.

'I could easily kill you right now..' Kista threatened, drool dripping from her jaws.

Rodger threw his head from one side to the other, brandishing his long, sharp brow horns. 'But you're not going to kill me!' Rodger said confidently, keeping his head low so that his horns lined up with the dinosaur's legs at all times. If Kista were to charge him suddenly, he could easily thrust his head upwards and drive the horns into her body. And he was certain that the white dinosaur probably knew that already. 'Why don't you spare yourself a broken leg and get out of here?'

Kista tilted her head to one said and then tilted it the other way, making a motion similar to what birds do when they get curious about something. Kista continued to circle Rodger, seeing him as the only remaining threat in the area. Caruso's leg was too badly torn for him to fight efficiently enough and his cowardly ways would likely decrease the chances of him attacking even further. Max's shoulder was ripped up and he was laying on the ground, in too much pain to get up. The only one that remained was Rodger. Once she disabled him, she could go in for the kill. She opened up her jaws in anticipation, licking her scaly lips with her thick, drooling tongue. 'You know, I am rather hungry.. When I'm done killing you and your friends, who do you think I should have first?' She thought for a moment and quickly added, 'How about you, chubby boy? You've got a lot of meat on your bones. Perhaps you should be the first to die.'

Rodger bellowed in anger. 'I am not your main course!' Rodger snorted and kicked at the ground beneath his feet, preparing for a charge.

'Rodger... Get away from her.' Caruso said softly, a worried expression on his dinosaurian face. Rodger looked over at him, looking a little perplexed. 'We have to get out of here.. Max is badly injured.. He needs to have those wounds treated before they get worse. We can't just sit here and play games with this..this monster..'

'But Caruso..' Rodger tried to explain. 'If I turn my back on her now, she'll just attack me from behind. We have to deal with her now, or else there won't ever be a chance to help Max.'

'I know, but..' Caruso started to say, but he stopped himself, realizing there wasn't anything he could do to get Rodger to change his mind. He simply nodded and took a step back, flinching in pain as he put pressure on his injured leg.

'You better listen to your friend.' Kista said, chuckling. 'If you don't, I fear that you will regret it.'

'Why? It's not like it worries you anyway.' Rodger snorted.

Kista lifted her head up high. 'You're right.. It doesn't concern me one bit.' She then lowered her head again, a faint grin appearing on her face. 'But you should be worried. Aren't you the least bit afraid that I'll inflict damage on you? Are you at all concerned that I might kill you with a single bite?' Rodger winced slightly, but stood his ground. 'Such courage...a shame it'll be wasted once you die!' With that, Kista charged towards Rodger, mouth split wide open. 'Don't say I didn't warn you!' Then a loud roar sounded out from her throat, nearly shaking the ground.

'I won't back down.' Rodger said, refusing to run from his current position. His eyes were narrowed in determination and he waited just for the right moment. If he could just get into the right position at the right time, he might just have a chance...

'All right then..' Kista said, narrowing her eyes. 'It's your funeral.'

'We'll see about that, now won't we?' Rodger said, offering a smile of his own. Kista didn't answer him, but acknowledged his words with a nod of her head. They continued to circle each other, trying to find an opportunity to attack the other's vulnerable areas. Rodger kept his eyes focused on Kista's leg, waiting for her to move into a position where her legs would be an easier target. Kista kept her eyes focused on Rodger's flanks, which were completely unprotected. That was one thing she never understood about ceratopsian dinosaurs. They had developed such interesting defensive and offensive weapons on the head, but they neglected the rest of their body. Rodger knew that if he attacked too quickly, Kista might get the upper hand. Likewise, Kista couldn't attack right away, not with those horns facing her. She'd have to come up with some way to force Rodger into making a grave error. And she thinks she knows how.

Kista suddenly chuckled. 'You know, I'll be honest. I've never came across a human like you. Even when faced with danger, you stand your ground. I don't know whether I should regard you as brave, or as just another stupid human.'

'If you know anything about humans, you should have realized that we humans look after one another.' Rodger stated.

Kista tilted her head. 'Oh really? Is that way you humans kill one another? Is that why many of you torture others and leave them to day? And is that why you wage war on one another?' Rodger's eyes widened. 'You know it's true, don't you? If humans care so much about each other, then why do you all spend so much time trying to kill the other?' Kista realized she was getting somewhere when Rodger's movements became more stiff and he seemed a little less responsive. That should give her a chance to move in for a strike. She started getting into position, hoping that Rodger's mind was slow-witted enough to permit her access to his vulnerable flanks.

'That's..that's not true..' Rodger said, shaking his head in disbelief. He didn't want to fall for Kista's mind game, but her words were sinking in. He knew them to be true.

'It's not?' Kista said mockingly. 'Then tell me, why do you humans attack one another? The mass murders? The serial killers? The wars? If what you say is true, then how come so many innocent people have died over the years?'

'You don't understand humans! How could you? You're a dinosaur!' Rodger declared, snorting in anger. 'Dinosaurs don't have the same kind of feelings and emotions that humans do!'

'Aren't you a dinosaur yourself?' Kista asked in a softer tone, lowering her head slightly.

'Well..yes and no..' Rodger said, unsure of what to think of Kista's question. In a way, he wasn't a dinosaur; he can just transform into one. But in a way, perhaps he was a dinosaur. Rodger wasn't sure what to think and became very confused. While he was confused, he failed to notice Kista getting into position. His mind was filled with so many questions that his perception of what was going on around him was warped and jumbled up. As Rodger tried to figure out how to interpret Kista's question, he felt a horrible pain in his side. He felt teeth, sharp and strong, digging into his body. He let out a bellow of pain and realized he had been tricked.

Kista's jaws were clamped down on Rodger's side, blood pouring from the wound. Rodger struggled to get free, snapping his beak at Kista's tail. But he missed every time. Kista pulled her head back, painfully pulling Rodger to one side. With a powerful thrust of her head, she managed to fling him in one direction, smirking in a dinosaurian way as she watched him crash into the ground, a blood trail being left behind. Rodger shook his head and managed to get back into his feet, albeit moving a little slower due to the wound on his side. Kista lowered her body and flashed her razor sharp teeth in his direction, threatening to attack him if he tried to fight back again.

Rodger roared and charged forward. Kista narrowed her eyes. Due to Rodger's slower speed caused by the pain, she was able to have enough reaction time to move her body out of the way just in time. Furious that Rodger dared to attack her again, Kista bit down onto his flanks, this time on the other side. Rodger cried out in agony, thrashing his body to try and get himself loose. But he found himself being picked up and tossed in one direction again as if he were a rag doll. He struggled to get onto his feet again, but he felt Kista's feet press against his head, pinning it to the ground. He was forced to keep his eyes closed to avoid the claws digging into his eyeballs.

'You have no idea when to give up, do you?' Kista said, baring her teeth. 'You should have just backed off. You should not have gotten involved. Now look where it has gotten you.' Rodger was angry at Kista, but he dare not say anything given his precarious situation. Kista snorted and lowered her head. 'I could easily kill you now if I want to.' Kista said, her eyes locked into Rodger's vulnerable flanks. She could easily tear into his flesh and give a fatal blow. But something was stopping her. This fight didn't seem very complete. Should she back down from the fight and attack later?

'Then why don't you finish me then..?' Rodger said halfheartedly, daring to open up one eye to look up at her. 'That's what you wanted to do, isn't it? Isn't that what Victor Veloci wants you to do? Come on, what are you waiting for?'

'Rodger, are you crazy?!' Caruso cried out, his eyes widened in horror. 'You can't...!'

'Relax, Caruso. I am not going to let her kill me.' Rodger said confidently. 'Besides, I don't think she has it in her. I mean, if she really was going to kill any of us, wouldn't she have done it already? I'd say she's just messing with us.'

Suddenly, Kista moved her foot off of Rodger and quickly clamped her jaws around his head. Rodger roared in pain as the teeth dug into his face. Because of his horns being in the way, Kista's jaws were around his muzzle, behind the horn. She bit down hard, but not using all of her strength. If she wanted to, she could easily break his jaws with her own. 'You really shouldn't judge me like that, kid.' Kista said, tasting Rodger's blood in her mouth. 'I could easily snap your neck or break your mouth.' She applied more pressure and Rodger, feeling the teeth slicing the skin on his face, closed his eyes tightly and waited for the final blow. But it didn't come. Kista suddenly released him and stepped away from him. 'But not now. I think I've had enough fun with you three for one day. I could easily kill you all now, but I'll wait until all five of you are together. That should make things a lot more interesting.'

'Wait!' Max cried out, who had finally gotten up onto his feet. His wound was still bleeding, creating many trails of redness down his back. 'You're just..letting us go? After all that? I don't understand..'

'It's simple, boy.' Kista said, looking at him with a sideways glance. 'I would rather fight when you are up to full strength and altogether. It would make the fight seem more fair and more interesting, if you know what I mean. I admit, I was disappointed in this fight, but it's my fault anyway.' She chuckled light-heartedly. 'I should have waited until all five of you were together.' She turned her head away.

'But it doesn't make much sense.' Rodger said as he climbed up to his feet. 'I thought you worked for Victor Veloci and that you were going to kill Caruso no matter what...'

Kista laughed. 'Well you got that part right!' Caruso's eyes widened in fear. 'But I would rather give him more of a chance to fight back. He seems too cowardly right now. It doesn't seem as much fun if the prey doesn't fight back. True, I wanted to give him a quick death, but it's always more fun when they die fighting.' She turned her massive head towards Caruso. 'The next time we meet, I expect you to at least try to defend yourself. And do a better job next time. You were so pathetic...'

'Hey!' Max roared at her. 'Don't talk to him like that!'

Kista turned her head towards him, her eyes glowing more intently than before. 'If I were you, boy, I wouldn't be back talking to someone who had just defeated you in battle! Or do you want another wound to match the one on your back?' Max snarled at her, but fell silent. Kista smirked. 'I didn't think so..' Kista turned her back on the trio and began to walk away.

'Just one more thing..' Rodger said, interrupting her. Kista stopped and looked over at him. 'What is your name?'

Kista blinked a couple times, but she quickly gave her answer. 'My name? Well you and your little friends may call me Kista Bakar... Expect to see me again soon...' With that, she turned and walked away, leaving the trio behind, alone and bloodied.

* * *

“What?!” Fiona cried, her eyes widened in shock.

“Are you guys serious?” Buzz asked, sounding just as frightened as Fiona.

Groaning in pain, Rodger managed to nod his head. “Yeah..it's true..”

Caruso, Max, and Rodger, after the fight with Kista, had went to the school nurse. While in the waiting room, Caruso found out that Liam had told Max and Rodger what was going on and that's how they were able to find him so quickly. Caruso made a mental note to himself to think Liam if he saw him again. The students had a hard time coming up with some kind of explanation for their injuries, but they managed to convince the nurse that it wasn't anything that needed investigation. They managed to convince her it was due to their own stupidity and the school nurse scolded them for it. She was able to treat their wounds the best that she could, although being a school nurse meant that she had rather limited supplies at her disposal. She managed to clean and dress their wounds the best that she could and she gave them some medicine to try to kill the pain. But she recommended them to see a real doctor as soon as they could.

After visiting the nurse, the trio met up with Fiona and Buzz. The two were shocked to see what state that they were in, covered in bandages and bleeding. They wanted to know what had happened. At first, Max, Rodger, and Caruso were reluctant to talk about it that second. But they eventually gave in and explained what had happened. Realizing how close the three came to getting killed frightened Buzz and Fiona. It didn't make them feel any better knowing that they weren't there to try and save them. A sense of guilt welled up inside both of them, and they wished that they had been there to aide them in the fight. But there was nothing they could do about it now. They were both grateful that the trio were still alive and hadn't suffered any fatal injuries.

“Should we tell Moynihan about it?” Buzz asked, turning his head to glance down the hallway. The three were in one of the hallways of the school. They had made sure the coast was clear before they talked about what had happened.

“We probably should..” Fiona said, agreeing with Buzz. “She has to know about this.”

Rodger shook his head slowly. “No, we can't tell her. Not here.”

“Why not?” Fiona asked, her head tilted in confusion. Why did Rodger not want them to tell Moynihan what had happened? Didn't she deserve to know?

Rodger looked down the hallway to make sure that no one was coming by. Then he turned his attention back to Fiona. “Well, don't you remember? Moynihan decided to stay home today. She said she wasn't feeling to well and she was worried that it was a virus and she didn't want to spread the virus in school.”

Feeling embarrassed about having forgotten, Fiona smiled nervously. “Oh yeah, I remember that. Perhaps we should go to the lighthouse now?” Then she realized something. “No, we couldn't leave. School isn't over yet.”

“Today isn't your day, is it?” Rodger said, smiling at his attempted joke. He hoped it would lighten up the mood a little.

Fiona glared at him, but then smiled, realizing that Rodger didn't mean any offense by what he said. “Yeah. With everything that's been going on, my mind is just.. a jumbled mess.”

Buzz nodded his head. “Yeah, same here. I mean, what do we do now? Someone just tried to kill Caruso, but then just got up and walked away for no apparent reason other than wanting to fight all five of us.. How should we react to that? I mean, it could be a trap...”

Max sighed softly. “I'm starting to believe that myself, Buzz. I can't think of any logical reason for her to leave. She had the upper hand. She could have finished us off, not that I would have wanted her to. And while I'm grateful that she decided to let us go, I can't help but remain worried about this situation. She could easily attack again at any time. We don't even know what she looks like.”

“I do...” Caruso suddenly said, who had remained quiet most of the time after Kista had left them. The group looked over at him, waiting for him to continue. Caruso bit his lip softly, not wanting to remember what happened. But he knew that they needed this information. It was vital for them to avoid another surprise attack from Kista. “It's the new school librarian.”

Rodger's eyes widened. “You mean the one that was only recently hired? The one that was there when we borrowed that biology book?”

“I-I wasn't there..” Caruso said. “But yes. That librarian. She's the one.”

Max narrowed his eyes. He had suspected that teacher since the first encounter with her. And now Caruso had provided the proof he needed to confirm his suspicions. The librarian was an enemy. “I knew it! I knew there was something wrong with that woman.”

“Are you serious?” Buzz asked, sounding as if he didn't want to believe what he was hearing. “I had talked to her and she seemed pretty nice to me. Oh sure, a little weird, but she didn't seem like the type of person to do such a thing...”

Fiona looked over at Buzz. “And Victor Veloci doesn't seem like the type of person to be trying to wipe out humanity, and yet we know for a fact..that's what he's trying to do.”

“But what I'm wondering is, why a librarian?” Max asked, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “Of all the school positions that Victor could have sent her here for, why did she become a librarian? We aren't there that often.” He looked at Rodger and corrected himself. “Well, most of us aren't, anyway. But my point is that she would have had a better chance at getting one of us if she were, oh say, the school cook or even one of our teachers. But why a librarian.”

Rodger thought about that for a couple minutes. It did seem a little strange that Kista chose to be a school librarian rather than someone who would have more contact with students. It didn't seem like it would have served her mission well enough if she were too far away from her intended targets most of the time. Surely, she would have wanted a position that would allow her to be as close to them as physically possible without arousing suspicion. And then he realized something. Perhaps there was a reason she chose the position of a librarian. “Perhaps the reason she chose to be a librarian was to decrease the chances of her getting suspected of anything.”

“Come again?” Max asked, confused.

“Think about it. If she were a teacher, and suddenly one or more of us disappeared, she would be suspected because she was a teacher and had more contact with the victims.” Rodger explained. “But if she were a librarian, someone who rarely talks with any students other than to help them find a book or check a book out for them, they would be less likely to be suspected right away because they weren't in contact with the students for that long.” He looked at each of his friends, who seemed to be understanding what he was trying to say. “So it makes perfect sense for Kista to be a librarian, to lessen the chances of her to be suspected of homicide if she successfully kills Caruso, or any one of us.”

“Well, we've got to warn the teachers about her, shouldn't we?” Buzz asked. “I mean, what if she decides to target someone else too?”

Max shook his head. “No, Buzz. We don't want to risk blowing our dino identities, and besides..who would believe us?”

“But..we have to do something...” Buzz said, looking at each of his friends. “..don't we?”

“Buzz has a point. We can't just sit around and allow this white dinosaur to run around in the school.” Fiona said, resting her chin on her hand as she tried to think of a solution. But she couldn't think of anything they could do that wouldn't arouse any suspicion from their peers or other teachers. Kista, so far, hadn't done anything that the teachers and other students would find unusual. For them to go over and accuse her of trying to kill not one, but three students, there probably wouldn't be anyone who would believe them. They might even get in trouble with the school principal for even suggesting the idea that Kista was a possible serial killer. “But at the same time, I also agree with Max. There isn't going to be a lot of people, if any, who will take us seriously if we try to report this woman.”

“So are you suggesting that we just sit around and do nothing?” Buzz asked, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Fiona shook her head. “No, Buzz. Obviously we have to do something about her.” She turned her attention towards Rodger. She recalled him mentioning something about Kista possibly returning. “Didn't this woman say that she would be back?”

Rodger rubbed the back of his head. “You know, I can't remember exactly what she said...” The others looked at him strangely and Rodger looked a little confused. “What? You expect me to remember everything? In case you forgotten, our lives were at stake! I was more concerned about her actions rather than her words!” He was starting to feel rather angry with the others, but he quickly calmed himself down, realizing that they weren't trying to make him feel upset or anything. And now wasn't the time to feel angry with any of his friends. “Anyway...I do remember her saying something about wanting to fight us again. I told you that already, Fiona. She wants to fight all five of us. She said it would make things more..interesting.”

Fiona nodded her head. Then she remembered there was something else she wanted to ask. “Did she attack any of the other students? You say that, when she was attacking, there was a group of students nearby, watching the fight or trying to run away.”

Rodger thought for a moment. This detail he couldn't remember, considering the fact that his eyes were mostly locked onto Kista. But he tried to reply to the best of his knowledge. “As far as I know, she wasn't trying to attack any one else, no... She seemed more focused on Caruso, Max, and myself.”

“Then perhaps we don't need to do anything about her right at this moment.” Fiona said.

“What are you saying..?” Buzz looked at Fiona with a shocked look on his face. He had a hard time believing that she would even think that. With a dinosaur loose in the building, anyone and everyone could be a potential target. “She's a dinosaur! If we don't do anything, she might...!”

Fiona raised a hand to silence Buzz. “No...if she works for Victor Veloci, and I'm sure she does, I doubt she would want to reveal her identity to a lot of people, not unless she doesn't mind getting in trouble with Victor himself. I think she would rather keep a low profile and only go after her intended target, or targets since it seems she wants to face all five of us.”

“Yes..that makes sense.” Max said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “It wouldn't be like Victor to want to send an assassin that would go after anyone they find rather than the person or persons that Victor had intended for them to kill. No, Victor is too clever for that. It is very likely that he knows that if he were to have someone kill too many people within a short time period, there's a chance that assassin could eventually be captured and they'd probably trace them back to Raptor Dyne...”

“...And there would be a full scale investigation and charges could be pressed against him.” Rodger said, continuing from where Max left off. “And knowing Veloci, he wouldn't want this to happen because such a situation would set him back. He'd lose his lab, his men would be arrested, Veloci himself could be arrested... He would be back to square one, if he ever was able to get out of prison.”

“If we're lucky and this does happen, hopefully he'll never get out of prison.” Buzz said.

“Veloci's too smart and too strong to be held by a prison for very long.” Rodger stated. “It's likely he would find a way out and find a way to start over. He isn't the type to easily give up.”

“Y-Yes.. I am w-well aware of that...” Caruso said softly, shuddering slightly. His mind was drifting back to the days where he was subjected to torture, particularly that human bridle he was forced to wear for many hours. Victor had shown determination in making him obedient towards him. Caruso had resisted the pain and the torture as long as he could and, at one point, felt that he would be able to outlast Victor, that he would be rescued long before he'd give in. But Victor wouldn't give up and continued to subject him to pain until, eventually, Caruso could not take anymore and submitted to Victor to avoid the torture.

Fiona noticed the boy's distress and wrapped an arm around him to comfort him. “You're thinking about....that aren't you?” Caruso nodded his head once. Fiona sighed softly. “Caruso, you really shouldn't be thinking about that.. It'll only make you feel worse.”

“I-I know..I can't help it...” Caruso said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “N-No matter what I try..he always comes into my mind...and when he comes into my mind...” He couldn't finish his sentence, but the others knew what he was talking about.

Buzz looked at Caruso sympathetically, but then his eyes suddenly widened in horror. Something came across his mind, something that he hadn't thought of before. “Guys...I just thought of something...” He whispered softly.

“What is it, Buzz?” Max asked.

“What's wrong?” Rodger inquired.

“You guys remember when Moynihan was able to control those puppysaurs before she was taken away by Victor?” Buzz asked slowly.

“Yes..what about it?” Max asked, a little confused as to where Buzz was going with this. What did puppysaurs have anything to do with their current predicament?

Buzz gulped and said nervously, “Well...what if Victor can do the same thing? What if, when Moynihan succumbs to that..chemical.. Victor can control her?” He swallowed hard again. “And if he can control her..what if he specifically targets us..friends..family...? And what if his mind link with her is so strong..we can't break her from it?” The disturbing question caused the team to fall into an uneasy silence.

* * *

“I hope that idiot Kista kept the Dino Squad busy long enough..” Oscura said to herself as she slowly approached the lighthouse. She was keeping off to the side, trying to avoid the windows as much as she could. She was in human form so that the radar system wouldn't be able to pick up her signal. The Dino Squad were still in school, but she didn't know for how much longer. She would have to hurry up and make her move. Moynihan was the only one in the lighthouse at this time. Well her and that dog Rump that Michelle had mentioned before. But even so, Oscura knew that she still had to be careful. She couldn't mess up this mission. Victor didn't want her to come back empty handed. When she finally reached the lighthouse, she quickly pressed her back against the wall, trying to flatten herself against it so that Moynihan couldn't see her in case she looked out of the window.

It was going all according to plan. Kista's assignment was to keep the Dino Squad busy for as long as she could. Not much delay was needed; just enough for Oscura to drive by the school without getting spotted. She did stop for a few minutes to watch the battle unfold. She couldn't help but smirk as Kista easily overpowered three of the Dino Squad teammates. If Kista could easily defeat them, that just proved what Oscura had believed before. The Dino Squad were just a bunch of weaklings. Destroying them will be so easy. She could do it with her paws tied behind her back.

As Kista distracted the Dino Squad and Oscura made her way past the school without getting spotted, the next task was getting to the lighthouse without being spotted by Moynihan. To decrease the chances of Moynihan spotting her, Oscura decided to go on foot. It took a lot longer, but at least the old woman wouldn't see her bike heading her way. And much to her luck, there was a forested area close by, providing her with all the cover that she needed to move in rather close without getting spotted by the enemy. Oscura's assignment was to get into the lighthouse and take at least one of the weapons. Victor was specific in which weapon he wanted. He didn't tell her the function of it, but he described it as yellow with a mouth that sort of resembled a Troodon's. That wouldn't be too difficult to find.

“This is going to be too easy...” Oscura said to herself. Moynihan won't be much of a problem. She is probably feeling sick at this moment from the chemical inside of her. The chemical was delayed according to Victor and because of that, it was probably messing up her mind a little and causing nausea. It was still a prototype and he had foreseen this nausea as a possible side effect if it took too long for her to succumb to it. Regardless, however, Oscura was grateful that Moynihan was likely to be ill; that would make things a lot easier for her. But at the same time, she hoped there would be some excitement in this boring lighthouse. She could use a little bit of fun.

Oscura made her way towards the door, careful with each step so she didn't make much noise. She knew dogs had excellent hearing and she didn't want that stupid mongrel barking and alerting her presence to Moynihan. If she was careful enough, she could get to the area where Victor claimed the weapons were and grab the one he was looking for and get out as quickly as possible. Within a few minutes, she reached the door. She slowly grabbed the doorknob and turned it cautiously. She slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside the lighthouse, shutting the door behind her. She looked around. She could not see anyone yet, but that could change any second. A quick survey of her surroundings told her that she was in the living room.

It didn't take her long to notice the stairs. She smirked. Michelle had claimed to have tossed Moynihan down these steps. Curious, she walked towards them. Once she reached them, she looked up. She noticed just how long this staircase was and she couldn't help but whistle. “That was some fall..I wonder how that old hag managed to survive.. Oh well, it was probably dumb luck.” She shrugged her shoulders. Her curiosity of the staircase satisfied, she quickly turned and walked away. She had to find those weapons. Now where did Victor say they were...?

* * *

Kista tossed her hair back as she stepped into the elevator. She quickly pressed a button and the sliding doors closed and she felt the contraption start to pull her downwards. She wasn't entirely sure what to expect when Victor saw her returning so soon. She wasn't gone as long as Victor had expected her to be. The school day for the humans wasn't even over and her job wasn't technically over. She had called in sick, though, so she won't get in trouble with the school. She had left so that those stupid kids wouldn't be able to get into the library and interrogate her. Though why she was so worried about that, she wasn't sure. The kids were hardly a match for her anyway. There were three of them against her and she managed to overpower them all. She chuckled to herself. Perhaps she should inform Victor of this.

As the doors opened up, Kista peered in the room. She could see some of the scientists on a nearby table, working on something that she wasn't able to recognize. It was probably some new experiment, she thought as she stepped into the room. She looked up at where the scanners were. This was where Veloci usually could be found in this part of Raptor Dyne. But this time, he was nowhere to be seen. Kista tilted her head. Well that was strange. Where could Veloci be?

Kista looked over at the scientists. She slowly walked towards them, her eyes narrowed and her lead lowered. “Hey, you guys!” She called out. The scientists looked over at her. Their eyes were slightly narrowed, but they kept their mouths shut. They knew what Kista was capable of doing and they dare not do anything to anger her. “Where is Dr. Veloci? He is usually here monitoring the scanners at this time.”

One of the scientists, a female, looked away for second, rubbing her head. She looked back at Kista. “I'll be honest with you, Kista.. I have no clue.” She shrugged her shoulders and went back to work. “Did you try actually looking around? I'm sure he's here somewhere.”

“Yeah.” A male scientist next to her said. A nervous smile was on his face. “It's not like Dr. Veloci to just neglect his work and disappear.”

Kista narrowed her eyes further and snorted. Of course these pathetic humans weren't going to be able to answer her question directly. What did they know anyway? All they knew is what Victor told them. He probably could walk in the room and stride right by them and they wouldn't even notice unless he said something to them. What was she thinking, anyway, in asking them? She should have known that they wouldn't be able to answer her question. “All right then...” She said and walked away. As she walked away, a couple of the scientists sighed in relief. They had been worried that Kista was angry and they knew what would have happened if she had snapped at them. They immediately went back to work.

Kista wandered further into the red-walled laboratory, looking for any signs of Victor. But no matter where she looked, she couldn't seem to find him. She finally stopped, near the edge of one part of the laboratory, and scratched the back of her head. “Now where could he be..?” She wondered. There were still other parts of the laboratory she hadn't checked, but she had her doubts that Victor would be there. These parts were rarely used and were mostly for the mutantsaurs. Victor had special rooms that he had created for mutantsaur testing, but they hadn't been used at all, largely because all his mutantsaur creations were transformed back by the pesky Dino Squad. But it still wouldn't hurt to look there, Kista thought as she turned and made her way towards one of the rooms.

Within a few minutes, she had reached one of the rooms. At a glance, it looked sort of like how that one room did that Victor had kept Caruso in. She had never actually seen it, but Victor had described it to her and this seemed to match Victor's description. She shrugged her shoulders and stepped inside. The room looked pretty clean considering no one has used this for a long time. She was surprised the doors were still open. She thought Victor had locked them up because he always seemed to lose the mutantsaurs. The closest he came to keeping some of them were the ants. The raptor had managed to get them into Raptor Dyne, but they were set loose rather quickly and then de-oozed, rendering them useless. It took Victor days to get all the ants out of Raptor Dyne before they caused more havoc.

Just then, Kista caught a strange smell. She didn't recognize it completely. It faintly resembled a wolverine, but there was something different about it. Kista couldn't hide her surprise. She wasn't expecting anything to be in this room. She quickly looked around, but saw no signs of whatever was in here. She narrowed her eyes and stood in place. Perhaps the smell was something else. Perhaps there was nothing in here. Yeah, that was probably it. Just a smell that sort of resembled a wolverine's. But it couldn't possibly be a wolverine, could it? There wasn't anything in this room, was there?

GRRAAAARRRRRRRGG...

Kista's eyes widened slightly at the sound of a growl that echoed through the room. She quickly turned around and saw, in the corner of the room, a pair of glowing eyes staring back at her. She braced herself, taking a few steps back. The creature was larger than she was in human form. But instead of transforming, she managed to stop herself. She needed to first find out if this creature was one of Veloci's experiments or not, and whether or not it was tied up. Victor would probably be angry at her if she did anything to ruin this experiment. This is probably the first mutantsaur to make it into one of these chambers. Kista was slightly impressed, but at the moment, she couldn't celebrate. Even though she was a dinosaur, she knew she was still vulnerable and she still had to be careful. She took a few more steps back as the creature started to move forward.

The mutantsaur took a few heavy steps forward. As it stepped into the light, Kista got a good look at it. It was a mutantsaur all right, and she quickly saw how it smelled like a wolverine. The body sort of resembled one, suggesting that it was a wolverine mutant. But how did Victor manage to transform a wolverine and how did he get it into Raptor Dyne without the Dino Squad on his tail? The mutantsaur's glowing eyes narrowed and it lowered its head. It opened up his jaws, revealing its sharp teeth, and roared at Kista, causing her hair to flow back from the creature's hot breath. Kista brushed her hair back and bared her teeth at the creature. “So you wanna fight? Okay then...” She said as her eyes glowed.

Before she could transform, Victor quickly walked in. He had been in another part of the room, sealed off to protect himself from the mutantsaurs whenever he would bring them in. Well if he had any mutantsaurs that is, other than this one. “Stop it, Kista!” He ordered her. Kista froze in place and looked around. “I won't have you going dino and destroying that mutantsaur. It still has some value...”

“So there you are...” Kista said, smirking softly. “I was wondering where you were.” She looked back at the wolverine mutantsaur. A closer examination revealed it did have some sort of chain leash on it, attaching it to the wall. “So...how did you bring in that mutantsaur? I admit I am surprised that you managed to bring in a wolverine mutantsaur without arousing attention from the Dino Squad...”

“Well, if you must know...” Victor said, walking towards the mutantsaur, smiling. He stopped a few feet in front. Kista was surprised that the mutantsaur wasn't attacking. “..This is not a mutated wild animal.”

“It's not? Then what...” Kista started to say, but the look on Victor's face told her what it was. Kista's eyes widened slightly and she shook her head. “You mean to tell me you mutated one of your own men? I thought you hated doing things like that, especially considering that they could retain their human mind and...”

“I took care of that.” Victor smirked. “The ooze I gave him is my latest formula. If my calculations are correct, then not only will the Dino Squad not be able to de-ooze this mutantsaur, but I will have complete control over it. Moynihan isn't the only one who can use telepathy to control other creatures...” His eyes glowed as he said this.

Kista folded up her arms and looked up at the mutantsaur. Victor was telling the truth about him having control over the thing. How else could he get close to the creature without it trying to attack him? And it could also be why it wasn't trying to escape. Surely, the creature was powerful enough to break those chains. But it wasn't even trying to escape. It made Kista wonder why Victor had never tried this trick before. Perhaps he had just forgotten about it or it never crossed his mind. Then she started to wonder who was unlucky enough to be transformed. She smirked. Whoever it was must have done something to really piss Victor off. She looked over at Victor. “So, who was the lucky human to participate in this experiment?”

“Drew Buzmati.” Victor said.

“Drew Buzmati?” Kista asked, slightly surprised. She hadn't thought of him as being someone who would defy Victor. “What did he do?”

Victor narrowed his eyes. “He destroyed the DNA sample of one of the perfect dinosaurs that he was supposed to get for me.”

Kista looked at him. “Really? He managed to get close enough to one of those kids and get a DNA sample from them?”

“Sort of...” Victor said, closing his eyes. “You see, I suspected that his son could be the Pteranodon, or one of the other perfect dinosaurs. I wanted a DNA sample so I can analyze it and verify whether or not I was correct. Drew did manage to get a DNA sample for me, but in the end, he betrayed me. He smashed the vile, so I punished him by making him part of this experiment.” He looked up at the creature that Drew had become. Victor couldn't help but smile. There was no chance of Drew disobeying his orders again. “Now he's under my control...”

Kista scratched her head. There was one thing she still didn't understand completely. “That's great and all, but one question...”

Victor's smile disappeared as he turned his head towards Kista. “And what is that?”

“What do you plan on doing with this thing?” Kista asked, looking up at the mutantsaur. “Are you going to unleash it on the Dino Squad or something?”

Victor smirked. “Oh don't worry about that. I figured out a use for him...”

* * *

Back at the light house, Oscura continued to look around. She had exited the living room and had explored several of the other rooms, including what looked like a huge garage. She was expecting to find the weapons there, but to no avail. Frustrated, she left and tried back in the living room. Perhaps there was a secret door or something. If only she had remembered where Victor said the weapons were. It would be a lot easier for her to find the weapons that way. She had been lucky that Rump nor Moynihan had heard her as she rummaged through the different lower level rooms. She pressed her hands against many parts of the wall, gently tapping it with one lightly closed fist to try and find any hollow spaces. But she couldn't find any and she groaned in frustration. Where were those darn weapons?!

“They've got to be here somewhere..” Oscura thought. She wondered if the weapons were even on the same floor as this one, or even the bottom floor where she assumed they trained. Perhaps it was on a higher level. Yeah, that's probably it. If she couldn't find the weapons down on this floor or in the 'training room', she should try another floor. Oscura quickly made her way towards the spiral staircase. “I might as well look up here...” She said quietly to herself. As silent as she could, she began to climb up the stairs.

Once she reached the top, she cautiously stepped out. She looked around, looking for any signs of Moynihan or Rump. At first, she didn't hear or see any signs of them and thought that they had probably left somewhere. But then, as she walked past one of the doors, she started hearing voices. She quickly looked over and noticed that the light was on and she could see shadows coming out of the bottom crack of the door. The shadows appeared to be getting larger, and at times they seemed to be getting smaller. Oscura wondered what they could be doing in there, but she couldn't stay for very long. As the voices grew louder, she quickly made her way to the nearest room. She rushed inside and shut the door as quickly and as quietly as she could. She lowered her head and peered through the keyhole.

The door slowly opened up a few minutes later and Moynihan stepped out. She was slightly pale in the face, looking as if she had a terrible fever. Her eyes looked like they were bloodshot, like she had been crying or was completely enraged about something. Rump was by her. He was keeping a certain distance from her, but at the same time, he looked concerned. His ears were folded back and he let out a few mournful barks at her. Moynihan bent down and gently stroked the dog on the head to try and ensure him that everything was all right. But it was clear, both to Rump and Oscura, watching from the doorway, that Moynihan was anything but fine.

Moynihan looked like she was limping even though she was using a cane to help support her weight. Well it didn't look like a normal limp; rather it looked almost like she was adopting a new gait, as if her normal human gait was not good enough for her. Her head was constantly low and facing forward, much like a raptor's head would be. Her mouth was partly open and it looked like she was panting, as if she was exhausted already from the walk. Her legs looked like they were shaky and weak, unable to bear her weight like they used to in the past. Oscura narrowed her eyes as she watched from the room. Perhaps she had nothing to worry about. Moynihan seemed too weak and too sickly to be able to fight back if they ever had a confrontation. She suspected that, even in raptor mode, Joanne wouldn't be much of a threat. Oscura smirked. That meant her only obstacle was Rump, who will be very easy to dispose of if it ever came to it.

Then Oscura's smile faded when she saw that Moynihan was headed in her direction. Oscura realized that Moynihan was going to come into this very room that she chose to hide in. She quickly looked around. Oscura realized, much to her stupidity, that she had gone into the bedroom. Of course Moynihan was going to want to be in here! She moved in quickly, looking for a place that she could hide. She saw a cage with a blue bird in it. But Oscura disregarded it. She managed to find a closet she could hide in. She opened up the door and quickly shut it. She cursed herself for being so stupid as to come into this room. But then again, how was she to know anyway? The room was completely dark and she was too concerned about avoiding Moynihan than to look around at the room she was hiding in. Even though Moynihan was likely going to be easy to take care of, she also wanted to grab the weapons and leave as quickly as possible. The last thing she needed was interruptions from the Dino Squad for when they come to the lighthouse.

Moynihan opened up the door and let out a soft yawn. It was too early to go to bed, she knew, but she couldn't help but feel too exhausted to stay up for much longer. Perhaps all she needed was a quick rest. Yes, that's probably all she needed. She walked into her bedroom and stretched a little, feeling a slight crack to her back as she did so. Rump walked in slowly behind her. Moynihan was too ill to realize that Rump and Cerulean don't exactly get along. But strangely, today, the two seemed to tolerate each other's presence. They merely looked at each other, tilting their heads as if they were curious. But it seemed their minds were distracted by something else. Whatever it was, Moynihan decided she could figure it out later. She made her way towards her bed and slumped into it.

Why was she feeling like this all of a sudden? She was fine yesterday. She hardly felt any different, although the thought of her going raptor on her students still haunted her mind. She still felt that fear rise up inside of her, although she felt some comfort knowing that whatever the kids had given her would have bought her some time. Unfortunately, she had forgotten how long it would last and couldn't even remember if Rodger or anyone else said anything about how long the 'cure' would last. And even worse still, she wasn't sure if they could remake this 'cure', and if they couldn't remake it, how were they going to stop her when she finally did succumb to whatever Victor had done to her?

Moynihan had woken up this morning with a terrible headache. Her stomach did hurt her as well, but not as much as her head. It was like her brain was at war with itself and it was causing so much pressure and pain that she just could not bring herself to go to school today. She had called in sick and had informed the Dino Squad about her absence. She had tried taking some medication earlier in the day, but they seemed to do very little to help her feel better. From time to time, Rump, sensing her distress, would nuzzle her or lick her hand to try and comfort her. While Moynihan appreciated the gestures, they did little to help her feel better. It even hurt her just to stand up. When she would sit up or stand up, her head was plagued with a whirling sensation of pain and she almost passed out a few times because of it. She wished she knew what was wrong with her, but all she could do now was try to get some rest. Perhaps she would feel better after a couple hours of sleeping.

Rump lifted up his head and started to sniff. He had caught some sort of scent in the air and it didn't smell like any of the kids, the Dino Squad, that he would see come by the lighthouse. This smelled rather different and yet almost eerily familiar. Rump's ears folded flat against his skull, memories flooding his mind of the last time a strange human had come into the lighthouse. He hadn't quite forgotten Michelle who had slashed him when she invaded the lighthouse a couple weeks ago. But Rump know that this wasn't Michelle; it was someone else, or even something else. He wasn't entirely sure if it was human or not.

On full alert, but not taking a defensive stance just yet, Rump started to search around the room. When he had come into the room, he had noticed the bird wasn't squawking at him like he normally would and that was rather strange. It was almost like the bird had seen something unfamiliar come into the room and was more concerned about the possible danger than some small white dog that couldn't really do anything to him. Rump put his nose to the ground, walking around in several circles and repeated patterns to try and locate the trail and try to find where this person or thing was hiding. When he caught it, he quickly followed it until he reached the closet. He took a few sniffs to make sure this was the right place and, doing what any dog would do, he started to bark. Simultaneously, as if in response, Cerulean started to squawk in his cage.

“Oh no..” Oscura muttered. She couldn't see what was going on from the closet, considering that there are no openings for her to look through. But she had heard Rump's panting as he approached the closet and as soon as he started barking, she knew she had been found. “Shut up, you stupid mongrel...” She muttered under her breath. It took all her willpower not to burst out of the closet and strangle the stupid animal.

Rump tilted his head and his ears perked straight up. He thought he heard something from inside the closet. He bared his teeth, sensing that a stranger was definitely in the room. He then relaxed his face. Out of curiosity, Rump lifted up a paw and scratched at the door. He repeated this gesture a few times before he started barking again. His tail was wagging to and fro and his teeth were bared slightly. He wasn't sure what to make of this possible threat and he took a step back, putting distance between himself and the closet, almost like he sensed that, whoever was inside, could leap out at any second and hurt him. All the while, Cerulean started squawking again, his calls increasing in volume every second. He flapped his wings in the cage, making it shake back and forth. But despite the noise, Moynihan remained on the bed, trying her best to get some sleep.

“Oh please you two...” Moynihan grumbled half-heartedly. “Not right now. Let me get some sleep...”

Rump turned his head towards Moynihan. Realizing that she wasn't going to get up, Rump dashed over towards her. He jumped up on the bed and walked over to her. Moynihan was laying on her back, her eyes looking up towards the ceiling. She didn't have any blankets over her; she felt too exhausted and ill to try and cover herself up at this point. Rump pushed his nose against her arm a couple times. Moynihan only groaned and gently pushed him away. But Rump was not about to give up. He continued to push her with his nose, despite being pushed back. When Moynihan wasn't budging, Rump growled softly and jumped onto her stomach.

“Rump!” Moynihan hissed softly. Rump just tilted his head and pushed his nose towards her face. Moynihan tried to turn away, but Rump was relentless. Suddenly, she felt his warm, wet tongue licking her face. Not able to take it anymore, Moynihan pushed Rump off again and this time she sat up. She glared at the dog and asked, “What is it? What do you want? I'm trying to sleep!” Rump lowered his head and whined, but then he quickly dashed over to the closet. Moynihan watched him curiously as he stood by the closet, looking at her, then at the closet, and pawing at it with one of his feet. Rump barked a few times and looked back at her, hoping that she would come over to investigate.

Moynihan, groaning, decided to see what Rump and Cerulean were so excited about. She slowly got up out of the bed. She quickly grabbed her cane, fearful that she would fall down if she didn't use it. She made her way towards the closet. She listened carefully, but she couldn't hear anything. And obviously she couldn't see anything if the door was closed. She would change her head into a raptor's, but she refrained from doing so for fear that she would succumb to her instincts and go wild. Instead, Moynihan decided to take a more direct approach. She reached up and grabbed the handle and started to turn it.

Suddenly, the door swooshed open quickly and almost violently. Moynihan felt herself being thrown into the ground with great force and she felt something standing on her. And it was too heavy to be Rump. Moynihan looked up and could see orange, scaly feet pushing against her body. But she didn't have to look up to know who it was. The small sickle claw gave it away. It was that darn Troodon again. Moynihan slowly moved her eyes upward and could see Oscura lowering her head. Oscura put her face close to Moynihan's, the jaws parted in a dinosaurian smile. “Oscura..I might have known it was you...” Moynihan said weakly, narrowing her eyes. “Just what are you doing here? If it's Caruso you want, you can't...”

Oscura pulled her head back and snickered. 'No, I didn't come here for Caruso. I came here for something more valuable than that...'

Moynihan narrowed her eyes further. “Me?” But to her surprise, Oscura shook her head.

'No, not you.' Oscura said. 'Victor will have you yet, but not now. He has something else in mind...'

“Tell me what you are after.” Moynihan said in a demanding tone of voice. Forgetting about her fears of transforming, she gripped onto Oscura's foot, the one closest to her face, and her hand grew green scales and claws extended outward. She dug the claws as deep as she could make them go onto her leg. Oscura let out a loud hiss of pain, but remained where she was. She merely looked down at Moynihan with a pissed off look on her face.

'Why you little..' Oscura hissed. She quickly pulled her foot away, although this caused Moynihan's claws to cut into her skin even further, leaving several long cuts along her foot. Oscura hissed in pain and in anger. However, Oscura refused to move from where she stood. She placed the foot back on Moynihan, despite the danger, and this time pushed the claws against her stomach. Although small and weak compared to Victor's, she still pressed her sickle claw against the old woman as well, threatening to dig them in deeper if she tried a stunt like that again. 'Just try that again, you old hag, and you will witness first hand what it is like to be a Troodon's dinner!'

“I've dealt with Michelle before. I can certainly deal with you.” Moynihan said defiantly.

'Michelle? Michelle?!' Oscura said almost gleefully. Then her voice grew serious. 'Don't make me laugh. She is nothing but a weakling! I am ten times better than she is!'

Moynihan tilted her head slightly to one side. “Oh, is that so?”

'Yes!' Oscura declared, straightening her neck up to make herself look proud. 'I know I am better than she is! I don't need to prove myself to anyone, least of all you!'

Moynihan smiled softly as she looked up at Oscura. The Troodon tilted her head sideways, confused as to why Moynihan was so darn happy. Moynihan decided to clear things up for her. “I guess that means you would have seen this coming!” Suddenly Oscura felt something wrap around her tail. Without warning, she was suddenly pulled violently backwards and released. She slammed against the wall, her head hitting the hard surface pretty hard. But she managed to keep consciousness. She shook her head and looked up at Moynihan in shock. The woman climbed onto her feet and, behind her, her long, flexible tail swished back and forth. “What? You've forgotten I have a tail?”

'Grrr..I'll kill you now!' Oscura declared. Without thinking, she dashed towards Moynihan. The old woman just arched her fingers as she swiftly transformed into a Velociraptor. She was so filled with the ancient urge to fight that she couldn't control herself. And now she found herself circling Oscura, waiting for the right moment to strike. After a few seconds of circling one another, the two suddenly lunged at each other. As the room became a blur of talons and colors, Rump ran under the bed in fright and Cerulean squawked loudly and, eventually, knocked over his cage, the door opening. As the fight continued, Cerulean flew out of the nearby open window, his calls echoing in the distance.

Within a short amount of time, Cerulean managed to reach the school. He didn't know where he was going. All he knew was that he wanted to get away from the lighthouse. He squawked constantly, filled with fright and confusion. He saw an open window and flew right into it. Students screamed in shock as the blue bird flew in all of a sudden. Cerulean nearly crashed into the teacher, who proceeded to swat the bird away. Cerulean managed to regain his 'footing' so-to-speak and continued flapping his wings. He made it out of the room and continued to fly frantically, trying his best to avoid all the obstacles. Papers flew in the air, students crashed into each other, people ran into the wall, others tried to avoid the crazed bird but ended up having run-ins with him. All the while, Cerulean just kept on squawking.

Eventually, the squawking caught the attention of Fiona and Max, who were in a hallway closest to where Cerulean had flown in. They didn't recognize the squawks at first and thought that a mutantsaur was attacking. They quickly ran to the location of the sounds to investigate what was going on. Although they knew they had to keep their secret dino identities a mystery from the other students, they still needed to check out the situation. For all they know, a very dangerous mutantsaur has invaded the school. People were screaming as if something was trying to kill them. They couldn't simply ignore this possible threat. Without contacting the others, the two quickly made their way to where the sounds were coming from.

“It's coming from over here!” Fiona said, gesturing for Max to follow her. The two quickly ran down the hallway, trying avoid the students as they rushed past them. Once they reached the end of the hallway, they stopped and looked around. There were two ways that they could go. They could either go left or right. Before they had time to decide, a loud squawk coming from the left revealed which way they should go. They quickly ran down the left hallway.

“What kind of mutantsaur is this?” Max asked aloud. “I haven't seen any damage to the school yet, I mean nothing other than the students just rushing by without looking where they are going.” It was strange, indeed. Usually when a mutantsaur is involved, they would see some signs of the mutantsaur itself, such as damage caused by its newfound size and strength. By this time, they would usually see footprints or damaged walls or material. However this time around, they didn't see anything. It didn't make much sense to them.

Fiona thought about this, knowing Max did have a point. This was one strange mutantsaur. Even if it were invisible, it still would remain a solid and thus there should be some physical evidence of it being in the school. Then Fiona thought of something that would make some sense. What if the mutantsaur was not actually a mutantsaur? “Maybe it's not a mutant..” Fiona suggested, coming to a halt in the hallway.

Max stopped as well and looked over at Fiona. “What are you talking about? Only a mutantsaur would cause this many people to panic.”

Fiona narrowed her eyes slightly and smiled. “Max, a lot of things can make people panic. Didn't you ever consider the possibility that maybe it's not a mutantsaur that's causing the problem but something else entirely? Maybe these students are just overreacting...”

Max tilted his head. “Well if it's not a mutantsaur, what could it possibly be?” His question was quickly answered when something small and blue flew out of the nearby empty class room. The small creature nearly ran into Max's face and he quickly ducked down. He looked up and quickly recognized who it was. “Hey..isn't that Cerulean? Moynihan's bird?”

Fiona looked up as well. Her eyes widened slightly. “Oh my..yes it is! But..what's he doing here?” She looked over at Max. “Moynihan never lets him outside..at least I never seen her do that.”

Max nodded his head. “Something must be wrong.”

Fiona's eyes widened further. “You don't suppose Moynihan is in any danger..do you?”

Max lowered his head, thinking. “I sure hope that isn't the case. But even if it is...how do you suppose we can get permission to leave school? It's not like we have any other teachers here who know our secret. We can't just walk up to the school principal and ask him to let us leave to help Moynihan who might be in danger from Victor Veloci.”

“Yes, I know that, Max. I'm not stupid.” Fiona said sternly. “But we can't just stand here and do nothing.” She glanced over at Cerulean, who, seemingly recognizing the two, was staying close by and seemed to be calming down a little. Fiona held up a hand, two fingers pressed against one another like a perch, and whistled to Cerulean. The bird promptly flew down and gripped Fiona's fingers with his feet. He squawked a few times, but otherwise seemed calm. “And besides, we can't let Cerulean be seen.”

Thinking about the students earlier, Max rolled his eyes. “It's kind of too late for that. People have already seen him.”

Fiona gently stroked the bird's feathery chest. Cerulean nibbled at her finger a couple times, but didn't like the feel of the leather on his beak and turned away. He ruffled the feathers on the back of his neck as Fiona stopped stroking him and turned her attention back to Max. “Well, what do you propose we do? Just let Cerulean fly around in the school? That's a good one.” Her voice was filled with sarcasm. “Let's just let him perch on my shoulder and no one will notice!”

Max looked irritated. “All right, I get it. You don't need to get an attitude.” Fiona just looked away, looking just as irritated herself. Max groaned softly and his expression softened up. “Look, Fi, I'm..I'm sorry about that. I'm just so frustrated right now. I don't know what to do.” Fiona still didn't respond, but Max decided not to press her any further. He looked back down the hallway to see if anyone was coming. He tried to listen for any approaching people, but he couldn't hear anything. The hallways were completely empty, at least this portion of the school was. He wondered if it was because of Cerulean. Even the teachers were gone. He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. A teacher overreacting to a bird? Now that's something.

But his smile quickly faded as his thoughts drifted back to Moynihan. It wasn't like her to let Cerulean out of his cage. How did he manage to get out? Did Moynihan knock over the cage? Unlikely..she would have tried to get him back and Cerulean usually comes when she calls him. Perhaps Cerulean opened up the cage himself while Moynihan wasn't looking? Max tried not to laugh at the thought. Again, this wasn't like Cerulean. His beak wasn't strong enough to pull the cage door lock open and he wasn't clever enough to do that anyway, unless someone managed to train him to do it. So what else could have happened? He briefly considered the possibility that Rump knocked over the cage, but this was also dismissed quickly. Moynihan had done her best to keep the two separated, knowing full well that they didn't get along very well. So what else remained? Then it hit him.

“You're right, Fiona...” Max finally said. Fiona turned over and looked at him, her expression now that of curiosity. “We do have to get to the lighthouse. There's only one thing I can think of that would explain why Cerulean is here.”

“And what is that?” Fiona asked. But she suspected what the answer was.

“She's under attack.” Max said sternly, eyes narrowed. “We have to tell the others.”

* * *

After what seemed like hours, the Dino Squad arrived at the lighthouse. Not much time had passed, probably a half hour at most. But it felt like an eternity for them, especially with how difficult it was to get out of school. After Fiona and Max managed to talk to the others without fear of being spied on, they had to talk to their teachers, coming up with some sort of elaborate lie in order to permit them to leave. Each one told their own story and, in the end, they all worked, although some of the teachers were still skeptical of the stories. The principal was the hardest to convince. He needed a very good excuse in order to let the children leave and he wasn't the type that was easily fooled. But miraculously, they did manage to convince him to let them go. The Dino Squad had promised him that they wouldn't be doing this on a daily basis and that this might most likely be their only time requesting to leave school early. Although he allowed them to leave, the principal was still rather skeptical and kept his eyes on them as they left as if he was expecting them to pull of some sort of trick.

The Dino Squad got off of their bikes, including Fiona and Caruso, who had their bikes retrieved by Ms. Moynihan after they had foolishly left them behind. Since this was the second time or so that one or more of the Dino Squad had left their bikes behind, Moynihan had a talk with her students on the dangers of leaving their bikes unattended for very long. She warned them that one of Victor's men might find them and take them away and that would allow him to find the Chillers and the Spillers. Each of the motorcycles had at least one Chiller and one Spiller inside a case. This was so that each of the team members would have their own Chillers and Spillers handy in case they needed to de-ooze some mutantsaurs and there was no one around to help them. While this was handy to keep them 'armed' in case danger approached, it also meant that there was an increased chance of Victor finding out about the weapons. They had done their best to make sure the crazy scientist never got a hold of them. If he did, he may figure out a way to transform the ooze into something the Chillers and Spillers cannot deal with. And if that were to happen, things will just get more complicated for the team.

The team approached the lighthouse cautiously. They looked up and couldn't see any lights on. It was almost like no one was home. But the team knew Moynihan was in here. There was nowhere else she could possibly be and she did say she was going to stay at the lighthouse today, apparently not feeling too well. It wasn't so much because of Moynihan that they were being cautious. They didn't know who or what was in the lighthouse that was causing whatever problems are going on inside. And it was eerily silent. What if Moynihan had been killed? The last time they came to the lighthouse and it was unusually quiet, they came upon both Rump and Moynihan being injured. Both were lucky to have survived Michelle's assault.

Max walked up to the door and grabbed the handle. He expected it to be locked just like last time, but to his surprise, it was open. He pushed the door open and walked inside the lighthouse. He was quickly followed by his team mates. They each had their Chillers and Spillers handy, leveled, prepared to fire in case it was a mutantsaur that got into the lighthouse. While it seemed unlikely considering the lighthouse shield was online and would detect mutantsaurs, if Moynihan wasn't feeling too well, it seemed likely that she wouldn't hear the signals or not pay as much attention to them.

“Where do you think Ms. Moynihan could be?” Buzz asked, looking around the living room. He had expected seeing her down here, although he couldn't think of why. Probably because that's what he's used to seeing whenever he comes to the lighthouse any other day. Moynihan was usually in the living room, ready to greet them as they came in for training.

“She's likely upstairs, Buzz.” Max responded as he made his way towards the steps. “She wasn't feeling very well, remember?”

“Yeah, I'm sure she's upstairs, laying down.” Fiona agreed. “Or..was laying down until...” She couldn't bring herself to finish. She and the others didn't want to think of the possibility that something terrible had happened. Perhaps Max was mistaken. Perhaps something else had happened that allowed Cerulean to get free. Fiona looked over at the bird still perched on her shoulder. Cerulean's head bobbed up and down and he seemed to grow more anxious as they went further into the lighthouse. “I wonder why he's getting all excited...”

Caruso, who was walking next to her, just shrugged his shoulders. In an attempt to make a lighthearted joke, he said, “I-I don't know. I-I am n-not a bird brain...” He offered a small smile, but his expression softened when Fiona glared slightly at him. “I'm sorry, Fiona. I was..was just trying to...”

Fiona sighed. “I know what you were trying to do, Caruso. But please..not now...”

“Come on you guys.” Max said. He was standing on the staircase now. He had started walking up when he realized the others weren't following. He gestured towards them and said, “Let's get up there now, before something terrible happens to Ms. M!” The others quickly followed him up the stairs and they continued their way up until they reached the top of the stairs.

Buzz glanced over at the door to Moynihan's bedroom. The door was shut, and, although the lights were out, he could see shadows moving along the floor. “Something is..definitely inside that room.” He said in a low voice. “You were right Max. Something is attacking Ms. Moynihan.”

“But we don't know that yet.” Rodger said quickly. “I haven't heard any screaming or seen any signs of blood or a fight. Perhaps that's just Moynihan walking around in there.”

Max's eyes narrowed slightly. “Well if that were the case, then why are there two shadows?” Max pointed to the ground.

Buzz's eyes widen. “That can't be good...”

“Maybe it's just an illusion.” Rodger said, trying to reason with Max. “The mind can play tricks on you if you get too worked up over nothing.”

Fiona put her hands on her hips. “Like how you and Buzz got worked up over Michelle and binded her?”

Rodger glared down at Fiona. “Hey, you helped!” Fiona couldn't think of anything to say to defend herself against that accusation. She knew Rodger was right. She had helped them tie up the girl in the first place. So she had no reason to accuse only Buzz and Rodger; she was at fault as well. Rodger's expression quickly softened up. “Look, let's not fight now.” He turned his attention back towards the door. “I think the only way we are going to find out what's going inside is to take a direct approach and open it up.”

“But what if it's a trap?” Buzz quickly said.

“M-Maybe it's Victor...” Caruso added, sounding even more afraid than Buzz did.

“But we aren't going to find out for sure unless we go in here.” Rodger explained. “And what if Max is right? While I don't agree with him about there something being in there, I will say that there's still the possibility...and what if something is in there? Don't you guys want to make sure that Ms. Moynihan is at least safe?”

“And what if she is?” Buzz asked, scratching his chin in a thoughtful manner. “Wouldn't that mean we came all the way out here for nothing? What is the principal going to say?”

Max shook his head. “The principal's not going to do anything. I'm sure Moynihan can talk to him and explain the situation.” Realizing what he said, he quickly added, “..without revealing our secret identities and missions and such, of course!” He laughed nervously, feeling embarrassed for almost leaving out that part.

Suddenly they heard a crash from inside the room. The Dino Squad immediately turned their attention towards the door. Then they heard another loud crash and then the sound of something hitting the floor with a heavy thud. This confirmed Max's suspicions. There was something inside and it sounded like, whatever it was, was currently in combat with Moynihan. But that also meant that Moyniha is likely in raptor mode. That made the team cautious about entering the room. What if she attacks them as soon as they walk in? But what other choice did they have? Hesitating only momentarily, Rodger quickly moved forward and tried to open up the door. For some reason, it had been locked, though he couldn't think of why, since it wasn't night or anything. Regardless, Rodger lifted up a foot and easily smashed the door open and the team rushed inside the room.

They quickly saw what was causing all the commotion. As they had initially suspected, Moynihan was in raptor form, but her eyes retained the normal yellow glow, indicating that she was in complete control of her dinosaur form. This came as a relief to the Dino Squad, but they couldn't relax just yet, for Moynihan was locked in combat with one of their enemies, Oscura. The Troodon was trying to bite Moynihan, but any time she came close, the female raptor managed to swat her away with a single swipe of the tail. But Oscura wasn't giving up. Each time she was knocked down, she quickly got back to her feet and tried to attack Moynihan once more. But when it became apparent the two weren't alone anymore in the fight, they paused and looked over at the team.

'Kids!' Moynihan said, her eyes widening slightly. 'You shouldn't be here!'

“We suspected that you were in trouble and we came to help!” Max said.

'How...?' Joanne started to say.

“Cerulean came to the school!” Fiona said, gesturing to the bird still perched on her shoulder.

Moynihan's eyes widened a little further. 'Cerulean...?' She hadn't even noticed her pet had gone missing.

'Well well...' Oscura suddenly said. 'Isn't this nice? Now I can kill you all!'


	29. Feral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

The Dino Squad took a fighting stance, preparing to fight. But before they could go dino, they realized something. There was no way any of them could transform in here. The room was too small for their dinosaur forms and, with how heavy they would be, especially Rodger and Caruso, they might fall through the floor and wreck the lighthouse. But they still kept the stance. Oscura tilted her head, at first confused as to why they weren't transforming. Then she realized the reason and gave a hissing laugh. The Dino Squad glared at her, but they couldn't do anything about it. Moynihan did her best to keep the Troodon from attacking the children. When Oscura made a charge towards them, Moynihan quickly rushed in her direction and knocked the Troodon away with her muzzle. Moynihan turned her head to the kids.

'It's too dangerous for you children to be here now! Hurry, get away!' Moynihan called out to them, her eyes narrowed in determination. 'Don't worry about me. I'll hold her off!' But the kids stood their ground. They didn't want to abandon their teacher, especially now, when she was alone against the dangerous Troodon.

“We're not leaving.” Max said, his voice filled with determination. “We're staying. We're going to help you.”

Fiona looked over at him. “But how can we help? None of us can transform in here without causing a problem. Rodger and Caruso might fall through the floor, and you and I might be too tall for the room....” As she thought about it, there was one person she had forgotten about: Buzz. Fiona looked over at the punk teenager. Buzz was not as tall as they were in dino mode and, being a pterosaur, he was very lightweight. Her main concern was maybe the room was too small for his wings. But she couldn't think of anyone else who might be able to go dino and help Moynihan. “Buzz!” She called out, getting the boy's attention. “You could go dino! You're light enough to transform...”

“But..what if the room's too small for me to...” Buzz started to ask. But he was cut off when Oscura lunged in his direction. Buzz screamed in surprise and stumbled back. Oscura was suddenly thrown to the side. Moynihan had grabbed the Troodon by the tail with her jaws and thrown her as hard as she could into the wall. Moynihan then lunged towards Oscura and pinned her down on the ground. Her hand digits wrapped around Oscura's mouth, holding it shut so she couldn't bite her.

“Hurry! Transform before she gets up again!” Fiona shouted at Buzz. But Buzz just hesitated, watching the scene, unsure if he would even be much of a help if he did transform. “Buzz...!”

Just then, Oscura let out a loud hiss as she managed to knock Moynihan off of her with all the energy that she could muster. But instead of going after the downed Velociraptor, probably the easiest target at the moment, Oscura again turned her attention to Buzz. It was like she knew that he was the only one who could currently transform without a problem. She wanted to disable him before he had a chance. After that, she could quickly take out the rest of the Dino Squad, who would be helpless in their human forms. Oscura lunged towards Buzz, mouth split wide open.

Buzz screamed. Then, for what seemed like several minutes, but in reality only took seconds, Buzz closed his eyes and started to glow. In a flash, he quickly transformed into a Pteranodon. He craned his head back and let out a loud screech as he managed to knock Oscura away with his sharp talons on his feet. The claws slashed Oscura's side and the Troodon screeched in pain as she slammed into the ground. She glanced at her cuts and looked back up at Buzz and hissed loudly. She quickly climbed to her feet and lunged at Buzz, who remained where he was standing, waiting for the right moment to strike. He stood in front of his friends, his wings spread out to not only make himself look bigger, but to protect his friends from the enraged Troodon. He managed to knock Oscura down again, but he couldn't help but wonder one thing: was he strong enough to face the Troodon on his own?

* * *

At Raptor Dyne, many of the workers were leaving, most of them having been assigned somewhere else temporarily. Likely, it was just to monitor any possible mutations that might have occurred. While Victor hadn't been doing a lot of experimenting with primordial ooze recently since he discovered the Dino Squad, once in a while he had let some ooze spill into the environment, although, so far, there wasn't any detection of mutations. This concerned Victor, especially since the recent bath of ooze he let loose was the one that was supposed to be enhanced, immune to the Chillers and Spillers. He wondered if his men had failed him again, but decided not to concern himself with it just yet. He could just try again, like he normally does. Besides, it wasn't like it was a mystery what might have happened to the ooze. The Dino Squad more than likely had something to do with it.

Not all the workers were sent away on missions, however. A good portion of the workers that knew nothing of Victor's real plans were simply sent home with no explanation. They found it to be strange, but Victor had assured them that there was nothing to worry about and that they could return to work the next day. And typical of humans, they did fall for it, trusting Victor's word completely. Victor was a little surprised that no one questioned him; he had expected at least one nosy human to try to figure out what was going on, but they all went home like he had told them to. But he shouldn't concern himself with that now. He had more important things to attend to.

Victor sent most of his men away so he could shut down Raptor Dyne. It wasn't because he was leaving for the day. There was still some hours left before Raptor Dyne would usually close. Victor, however, had plans for one part of the building and he didn't want to risk any of his untrustworthy workers to find out about it. He still had the wolverine mutantsaur tied up in one of the rooms, but he didn't think it was enough. He wanted more mutantsaurs to aide him in finally taking down the Dino Squad. One mutantsaur wasn't going to work. But he couldn't just take animals and mutate them, otherwise the Dino Squad would find out about it relatively quickly. He was going to need to mutate humans again inside his laboratory, the only safe place where it's unlikely they will detect the primordial ooze in their bodies. Luckily, he had saved some of the primordial ooze he had used on Drew earlier.

Victor was inside the laboratory already, looking at the monitors. He was checking to see how much longer it would be until Moynihan's mind should be completely reformed into how he feels a Velociraptor should be like. He was pleased to learn that it wasn't going to be very long. Anywhere between an hour and three hours, according to the scanners. Victor turned away from the monitors and looked at two vials that he had prepared for his two 'guinea pigs'. They were only about halfway filled, but that's all he needed to inject into them. Three mutantsaurs would be enough, combined with Kista, Oscura, Michelle, and himself, they would be more than enough to take down the Dino Squad. They would be easily overwhelmed. They wouldn't stand a chance. Victor smirked. Once he had captured the others and taken blood samples from them, he would kill them off along with Caruso. And Moynihan would remain by his side this time, and she didn't have a choice in the matter, not anymore.

As Veloci got up from his seat, he heard footsteps behind him. He looked over to see Kista, who had a serious look on her face. This only mildly surprised Victor. While Kista can be a little silly at times, she can be serious when she wants to be. And she was a formidable opponent, he'll give her that. Veloci picked up the two vials with one hand and narrowed his eyes at Kista. “What do you want, Ms. Bakar? I'm a little busy at the moment. I thought I had told you I didn't want to be disturbed.”

Kista nodded her head. “Well yes, you did tell me that. But...” Kista glanced over in one direction. All that could be seen where the many tubes of failed experiments, tables, and red walls. But it was also the same direction where the path to the large mutantsaur rooms were. “..why do you have to use those two idiots for the experiment? Do you think it is even wise to use such incompetent humans for this?”

“Normally I don't use humans.” Veloci said, a small glare appearing on his face. “But it's too risky to try and take any animals. Or do you want the Dino Squad coming around and neutralizing the mutants before they could be put to good use?”

Kista said, “Well no. I understand that part. But why don't you just capture some animals? Wouldn't that have been easier?”

Victor blinked. He had forgotten about that. Kista was right. That would have been an easier task to fulfill. But he had already made up his mind and he wasn't about to change it. He didn't answer Kista and instead just quickly walked past her and made his way towards the back part of the laboratory. Kista glared in his direction, putting her hands on her hips as if she was furious that he would just walk out on him like that. But her expression quickly softened up and she couldn't help but smile. She decided to follow him. She wasn't actually done talking to him yet anyway.

* * *

Victor made it to the room where he saw his 'lucky volunteers.' In the middle of the room, although greatly spaced apart, were both Zoom and O'Ryan. Victor had never actually let them go. He had found a better use for them and decided to keep them at Raptor Dyne until he thought the time was right. He hadn't told them what he wanted to do with them and he had kept them locked in this part of the laboratory. The only time he would usually come in was to give them something to eat and drink or to let them go to the bathroom, escorted by at least two of his men, armed with a weapon, to make sure that they didn't try to run away.

Both Zoom and O'Ryan were shackled with the same type of brace that Drew, and even earlier, Moynihan were wearing. He had managed to duplicate the devise and now had two of them. This was done to make things go a lot faster. Why do one human at a time when he could do two at the same time? The shackles, just as they were with Drew, were reversed so that energy would be pumped into the humans rather than out. This would enable the primordial ooze to take a hold a lot faster, forcing the two men to transform unwillingly into the mutantsaur that Victor had assigned to them. Zoom briefly struggled with the shackles, but they were clamped too tightly. They were locked as well so he couldn't bend down and pull them off. He glanced over at O'Ryan, who was putting up more of a fight. He was constantly struggling with the shackles, but they were firmly locked in place, preventing him from getting loose and escaping.

Zoom was the first one to notice Victor was in the room. “Victor!” He cried out. He was expecting him to bring them food again like he normally did, even though he wasn't very hungry at the moment. But then he glanced down at what Victor was holding in his hands. His eyes grew wide. “What..what are you going to do with that?”

Victor only smirked at him. “This, Zoom and O'Ryan, is the reason I kept you two down here. You are going to be the lucky humans who get to be part of my next experiment.”

Zoom slowly shook his head. “No....” Victor just tilted his head slightly to one side, the evil smirk still spread across his face. “You can't..please...”

O'Ryan glared over in his direction. “Stop being such a baby!” Then he looked over at Victor, his scowl deepening further. “And as for you, nobody, and I mean nobody, uses me as some sort of guinea pig! You hear me?” He glanced down at his shackles and tried to wrench his legs free from it. “If you think..I'm going to stand around here..and let you use me like I was some sort of wild animal, you've got..another think coming! I demand that you release me this instant!”

Victor narrowed his eyes for a moment, then softened his expression. He slowly walked over towards O'Ryan, Zoom watching the whole time with widened eyes. O'Ryan continued to glare even as the man came extremely close to him. The two simply stared at each other for several seconds before Victor finally broke the silence. “Did you just try to command me to do something for you?” Victor asked, acting as if he didn't hear O'Ryan's question properly.

O'Ryan nodded his head. “You heard me right, pal. No one messes with O'Ryan!”

Victor smirked. One of his hands glowed, becoming a shade of red with talons sticking out the tips of his fingers. He reached forward and gently pressed the tip of the pointer finger's claw against the underside of O'Ryan's chin. “And no one ever demands me to do anything. I do what I want.” O'Ryan tried to punch Victor, but the billionaire swiftly brought up his other hand and caught the fist before it came into contact with his face. Victor lowered his transformed hand down, changing it back to normal. He then shifted the hand gripping O'Ryan's hand the same way as he did with the other. He narrowed his eyes as he squeezed O'Ryan's hand tightly, digging his talons into the man's skin, blood starting to leak from the puncture wounds.

O'Ryan's eyes widened and he stifled a cry of pain. His eyes then closed tightly, letting a few tears of pain stream down his face as Victor squeezed his hand even tighter. O'Ryan felt as if his hand was going to be ripped off any second. Finally, O'Ryan couldn't take the pain anymore and he dropped down to his knees. “Let me go...” He said as he slowly lifted up his head. He still had the glare on his face, but Victor smirked as he saw the tears on the man's face. “Just let me go...” O'Ryan whispered, his voice a harsh whisper. O'Ryan wasn't about to beg for his life. He wasn't a weakling.

Veloci considered his options. He could just let the man go. He didn't have to deal with him for much longer anyway. Or he could prolong the man's pain just for the heck of it. He deserved it, after all. He was a rather arrogant human, and a strange one at that. The guy could use a little wake up call, to show him what happens when he crosses paths with the wrong person, or in this case, the wrong dinosaur. But he ultimately decided to let him go. Why delay the experiment any further? Victor released O'Ryan's hand and said, “Next time, I won't be so merciful.”

O'Ryan just glared at Victor. “Sure..whatever...” He slowly rose back onto his feet and brushed himself off.

Zoom, on the other hand, was still frightened. He glanced down at his shackles and gulped. Whatever Victor was going to do with them, there was no way they could escape. He looked back over at Victor and eyed the vials he had in his paws. “What...what is in those...?” He pointed at one of the vials Victor was carrying.

“Oh these..?” Victor lifted up one vial, looking at the orange material inside. “It's my primordial ooze, of course. I am going to use it to transform both of you into mutantsaurs...and then you will be under my control.”

Upon hearing this, Zoom started to struggle against his shackles. Victor just watched him, smiling at the man's pathetic attempts to free himself. O'Ryan just glanced over at Zoom and rolled his eyes. But despite the fact that there was no way Zoom could break out of the shackles, he still kept at it. This perseverance did impress O'Ryan somewhat. Perhaps he wasn't as weak as he had initially thought. O'Ryan glanced down at his own shackles again. He felt like a weakling because he couldn't break them. He had more muscular build than Zoom, so if he couldn't break them, there's no way Zoom was going to be able to pull it off either. O'Ryan then looked at Victor. Despite Victor's demonstration of strength, he still didn't feel like he should be listening to the guy. He didn't care who, or what, he was. Absolutely no one could control him, and he wasn't about to let that change now. Following Zoom's lead, he started, again, to pull at his shackles, using as much force as he could.

Veloci looked over and saw O'Ryan was also starting to try to escape. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “Humans are such stupid creatures.” He commented as he started to walk a wide circle around both O'Ryan and Zoom. “They get a little encouragement and they think they can do anything.” The two men paused, glancing at Victor as he continued to circle them like a hawk. “You two don't seem to fully understand the situation that you are in... And neither did Caruso.”

When he mentioned Caruso's name, O'Ryan growled. “Caruso..that little brat... I'll get him!”

Veloci gave O'Ryan a sideways glance. “I'm afraid you won't. I already have someone out to perform that task already. I don't care what kind of grudge you have against that boy. I have another use for you and your little friend here.”

O'Ryan bared his teeth. “He's not my friend, you abomination!”

Zoom looked over at O'Ryan. “Do you have any idea what he is? He could...”

O'Ryan chuckled darkly. “I don't care what he is. I don't care who he is. All I care about is him letting me go. He has no right to...!” Suddenly, something large and red, mixed in with what looked like pale yellow, smacked against his side. The sound of cloth ripping filled the air. O'Ryan let out a cry of pain and he quickly clutched his side. He felt something warm and sticky on his hands. He glanced down and his eyes widened. Blood was staining his hand, running through his fingers. When he moved his hand away from his side, he saw a somewhat long, somewhat deep cut in his side. O'Ryan glanced over at Victor and, for the first time, his eyes were filling with fear and dread.

Victor smirked in satisfaction. “I see that we understand each other.” One of his feet was partially transformed, a large sickle claw growing out of his shoe. That claw was coated in dark red blood, and was quickly hardening and drying up. Victor had hit the man with his sickle claw with only a fraction of his strength. If he killed O'Ryan, he wouldn't be of any use to him anymore, other than perhaps a meal. Victor took a step closer and put a hand on O'Ryan's shoulder. “Caruso was able to endure pain like this for a long time before he finally gave him. You are experiencing but a fraction of the pain he had gone through. If a pathetic boy like that could endure several times more pain than this for an extended period of time, in theory, you should be able to do the same...”

O'Ryan opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn't think of anything to say. His eyes were locked onto Victor's and he couldn't stop the fear from welling up inside of him. He shook his head, trying to regain his senses. What was wrong with him? Victor was just trying to scare him. And yet, he couldn't shake off the dreadful feeling that something bad was going to happen to him if he continued to act the way he did. And when Veloci mentioned briefly what Caruso had gone through, O'Ryan started to feel a small sense of guilt at wanting to go after the boy. Normally, he wouldn't care, but after experiencing a 'fraction' of what Caruso endured, being put in his shoes, O'Ryan started to have second thoughts. He finally managed to say something. “So..are you going to kill me?”

Victor released his grip and turned his back towards O'Ryan, letting out a light-hearted laugh. “Of course not! Weren't you listening? You and Zoom are going to become my slaves. Once I get this primordial ooze into your systems, you'll transform into what I'd like to call mutantsaurs. And you will under my control; the primordial ooze will take away your will power so there's no way you can fight back and disobey my orders.”

O'Ryan tried to struggle against his shackles, but the pain in his side stopped him. He gave up quickly and could only glare in Victor's direction. “Do you really think that you can...?”

Victor immediately interrupted him. “Yes, I really think I can.” He immediately reached forward and grabbed O'Ryan by the neck. He pulled the man towards himself and lifted up the first vial. “Don't worry. I'll make this as painless as I can for you.” He opened up the vial to reveal a long, sharp needle. O'Ryan's eyes widened as he saw the needle, but he made no attempts to struggle. Victor looked pleased at this sign of obedience and quickly shoved the needle into O'Ryan's neck. After a few seconds, the whole vial was pumped into his neck. Victor immediately with drew the needle and discarded it like it was trash. Then he made his way towards Zoom O'Donnell. “Now it's your turn...” He said with a smirk on his face.

Zoom shook his head. He glanced over at O'Ryan, looking in horror at his wound. This made Zoom afraid to say anything. He wondered if Victor was going to inflict a similar kind of injury to him if he tried to defy him. But Zoom was also equally terrified at the vial that Victor held in his hands, terrified of what was going to happen to him after it was injected. He could feel his heart racing and he quickly regretted ever wanting to join Victor as a means of vengeance. If this is what it means to have a chance to get even with someone, he would rather be dead. But there was something he wanted to ask Victor. “Why..why did you want to use us for this sort of thing? Out of everyone..why us...?”

Victor chuckled evilly. “Because you two are expendable. No one is going to miss you.”

“Someone is bound to notice we're missing!” Zoom snapped, but quickly regretted it when Victor narrowed his eyes at him. Zoom turned his head away, feeling his body trembling in fear.

“If any..human...asks where you are or what happened to you...” Victor explained, pressing a claw against Zoom's throat. “..I will just tell them you both were killed in a horrible accident that completely destroyed your remains. They'll buy it. Humans will believe almost anything...” Just as he had with O'Ryan, Victor gripped Zoom's neck. While the man put up some fight, struggling, it was weak and Victor was able to hold him in place long enough to push the needle into his neck. After he was finished, he released him and took a step back. Zoom looked at him, horrified. “Now just relax you two. The primordial ooze will take effect shortly. I can assure you it's completely painless. So there's no point in struggling. You might as well relax and let the ooze run its course. There's no escape for you two...”

A laugh suddenly echoed in the room. Victor turned around and saw Kista walking in slowly, her arms crossed and a dark smirk on her face. Victor growled under his breath. How long had she been standing there? And why had she followed him? Kista slowly talked towards him, her eyes darting from Victor, then to Zoom, then to O'Ryan, and then back at Victor. She slowly shook her head. “I still see no use for them. You should have just killed them off.” Zoom and O'Ryan's eyes both widened at that statement. Kista simply shrugged her shoulders. “I'm sorry, but that's all I can think of that I would want to do with them. They would just get in the way.”

Victor took a few steps towards her. “Don't question me, Kista. I've got it all figured out...” He pointed at Zoom and O'Ryan. “I've got a plan to wipe out the Dino Squad and they are going to help me.” The two men looked at each other nervously. As much as they wanted revenge on the kids, they didn't think it would be like this. “I don't care if they are human or not. Within a few minutes, they will be something..more...”

“You mean more idiotic and violent?” Kista chortled. “You crack me up, Dr. Veloci. You really do. You go on about wanting to kill Caruso because he knew the cure, then you say that there is no cure, and then now you want to kill all of the Dino Squad. And now you want to use these two idiots, who nearly released a video that would have interfered with your plan, as part of this new plan to kill the Dino Squad?” Kista shook her head as she watched Victor bare his teeth in anger. “Is there no end to your hilarity?”

“Yes...” Victor admitted, agreeing with some of what Kista said. “I did say that Caruso knowing some cure was a lie.” Victor had made up the claim of the cure just so that he would have some sort of motivation to want to kill him. But he recently found out he was wrong about something. “I had found out, however, that there may be a way to reverse the effects of the chemical. From what I examined on my monitors, the team had figured out a way to slow down the process.”

“And that's bad, right?” Kista said.

Victor nodded his head. “Bad for us anyway. If they can figure out how to slow it down, they may be able to figure out how to reverse it altogether.” Victor glanced over at the two men behind them, as if he were expecting them to transform soon. “It may also reverse the primordial ooze in these two imbeciles. And since Caruso was temporarily exposed to it, but recovered, he might be the key to my plan's undoing. That's why he must die.”

“And what of his friends? Why do you want to kill them?” Kista asked, acting as if she didn't already know the answer. She was simply acting ignorant to get on Victor's nerves.

Victor groaned. “It is so that I won't get anymore trouble from those pestering youngsters.” He explained, rubbing his head. “They've given me one headache too many with their constant interfering with my plans. I can't tell you the number of times I could have succeeded if it weren't for those little brats.”

Kista chuckled. “I see...”

Suddenly the two heard screams coming from where the two men were shackled. They looked over to see the men on their knees, seemingly in pain. Their muscles were bulging, becoming larger and stronger. Their skin color was changing. Their mouths were lengthening, teeth sharpening and growing in size. Their eyes were starting to glow, their pupils resembling a cat's rather than a human's. As the two men continued to mutate, Victor just watched them with a dark smile on his face. Within no time at all, Zoom and O'Ryan would be nothing more than additions to his company, two powerful assets that will help him capture the so-called 'perfect dinosaurs' once and for all. He glanced over at Kista, who eyed the two men with her eyes widened as if she was shocked by what she was seeing. When Kista looked over at Victor, his only response was, “There is no turning back now...”

* * *

Buzz let out a loud screech as he felt Oscura's talons graze across his leg. He felt blood drip from the wound, but he did his best to ignore it. There was several more cuts like this one on his body, mainly on his legs and tail, since they were the easiest targets for Oscura to reach. He had managed to dodge her bites, however, and also managed to injure her once or twice as well. But she was so small and so agile that he was having a hard time hitting her. He had nearly hit Moynihan instead a few times, but luckily managed to stop himself before he had done any damage. Keeping track of Oscura, however, was difficult. One minute, she'd be in front of him, and the next, she'd be behind him, lunging in for an attack.

Buzz had tried to get the others to leave, but they refused to leave him alone with Oscura and Moynihan. They were still concerned that Moynihan could go feral at any time and they thought Buzz would need their help if that ever did happen. They kept their distance from the fight and luckily Buzz was able to keep Oscura away from the others. This was one of the main reasons he wanted them to leave. While in human form, they make a more tempting target. If Oscura got her claws on them, he could easily bite them and make them very sick. And with Moynihan feral, they wouldn't be able to cure themselves from the dangerous cocktail of bacteria that would be pumped into their blood screams from the bite wound.

Oscura tried to land another bite. She lunged up into the air and snapped her jaws shut close to Buzz's wing. But she ended up missing and fell back to the ground. She shook her head, and then glanced back up at Buzz. An irritated look appeared on her reptilian face. 'Hold still, you worthless piece of trash!'

Buzz screeched in anger. 'And why should I listen to a talking rag doll?!'

Oscura hissed in fury. 'You take that back, you mutated buzzard!'

'No!' Buzz declared before he dove towards Oscura for another attack. He managed to hit her with his sharp beak, but he only managed to produce a long, small cut on her side. The injury was only enough to make her angry; it wasn't going to slow her down much at all. 'Oh man...' Buzz said, realizing what he had just gotten himself into.

'Yes..you should be afraid..' Oscura hissed at him. She glanced at her wound to see the extent of the damage.

Buzz shook his head quickly and took this opportunity to strike. While Oscura's head was turned away, he made another dive at her. His long beak opened up and he managed to land a bite on the Troodon. Oscura screeched loudly in pain as the Pteranodon's jagged beak cut into her back and side. She tried to twist her head around to bite Buzz, but Buzz was wise to this and managed to release her just before her jaws could sink into his body. He moved quickly away from her and Oscura glared up at him in frustration. She knew she wouldn't be able to reach him while he was up there, and Buzz knew it too. 'Heheheh..you can't reach me now, can you?'

Oscura hissed angrily. 'Come back down here, you flying rat!' Her long tail swished from side to side in anticipation. She lifted up her hands and arched her fingers forward, showing off her sharp claws. 'Let's see how well you fight a Troodon when you're on the ground!'

Neil shook his long head, his eyes closed. 'No thank you. I'm perfectly fine here up in the air.' He reopened his eyes and looked down at Oscura. He couldn't help but feel rather amused at how she was pacing across the floor, waiting for him to get low enough for her to attack him. She would be going after his friends if it weren't for the fact that both he and Moynihan would be able to stop her in a heartbeat. 'And I see you are perfectly fine on the ground.' He said in a joking manner.

'Laugh while you can, bird brain!' Oscura snapped, lowering her head in frustration. 'Once I get my teeth on you, there won't be anymore laughing from you!'

Buzz opened up his beak as he let out a long hiss. 'I hate to say it, but you won't be biting me, or anyone here, with your disgusting mouth!'

Oscura tilted her head in one direction. 'Are you so sure about that...?' She asked in a taunting voice. Before Buzz could answer, she asked another question, this time her tone was a little more serious. 'How can you be so certain that you would be able to stop me? You're all the way up there, and I'm here on the ground. I could easily...'

Buzz narrowed his eyes dangerously. 'I'd like to see you try!' As he said that, he suddenly dove for the Troodon, his beak opened up to take aim at the Troodon once again. Oscura narrowed her eyes and jumped up in his direction, managing to kick him in the stomach with one of her feet. Buzz's eyes widen in pain as he found himself plummeting towards the ground. Before he could stop himself, his beak struck the floor and became stuck. Buzz struggled to get his beak free.

'You're mine now....' Oscura proclaimed as she charged for the Troodon.

“BUZZ!” Max and the others cried out. They wished they could help, but there was nothing that they could do. They couldn't go dino in here. They wouldn't be able to move quickly enough to combat Oscura. And if they let themselves get bitten, they would get sick and likely die from the infection. All they could do was watch helplessly as Oscura charged towards Buzz, and they hoped that he would get free in time. But as Oscura drew closer and Buzz still wasn't free, they felt their hopes diminish. Not wanting to see this happen, the team closed their eyes and looked away. Oscura's jaws slammed shut and there was a loud dinosaurian scream filling the air. The team shuddered, and forced themselves to look over to see what had happened. To their shock, it wasn't Buzz that Oscura had bitten...

“Moynihan!” Rodger shouted in horror.

“No!” Max chimed in.

'What the...you?!' Oscura was just as shocked as the Dino Squad. Her jaws were clamped down on the Velociraptor's arm. She could feel blood running through her teeth. While she was glad that she had gotten some kind of target, she hadn't been expecting to bite Moynihan. She started to feel a little worried on what Victor might say to her if he found out what had happened. The green Velociraptor lifted up one of her feet and struck Oscura in the side, causing the Troodon to tumble backwards, creating long cuts on Moynihan with her jagged teeth.

Moynihan hissed in pain, but stood her ground. Although in pain, Moynihan simply glanced down at the Troodon, eyeing her as if the bite wasn't bothering her at all. 'I will not...ever let you hurt...those kids...!' She said through her pain, baring her sharp teeth.

Oscura lifted up her head confidently. Her bacteria-filled saliva would start working on the raptor pretty soon and when it did, the raptor would become an easy target. Oscura just needed to merely bide her time until the bacteria started to take effect. She started to walk around Moynihan, locking her eyes on the raptor's eyes. Moynihan followed Oscura's every move, waiting to see what she was going to do next. Oscura chuckled darkly, her tail swinging swiftly back and forth like a cat that was getting ready to pounce on its prey. 'You do realize what a foolish mistake you just made, don't you, you old woman?' Oscura asked, baring her teeth in a dinosaur-like grin.

Moynihan narrowed her eyes. 'I made no mistake. I jumped in front of Buzz because I wanted to protect him. That's what loved ones do. Then again, you wouldn't understand that, now would you..?'

Oscura let out a couple growly hisses, as if she were trying to laugh, but her dinosaur form prevented her from laughing properly. 'You're such a fool! You would give up your life for him? How idiotic...' Oscura shook her small head, her eyes closed. 'No wonder Victor regards humans as weak. A true species would look after itself. A true species would be strong enough to handle things on its own!'

Moynihan interrupted her with a loud screech. 'And a true species knows that they aren't the only living creatures in this world! And a true species would know that it is wrong to allow someone to get hurt, or even killed, if they could do something to change it!' She took a step towards Oscura, taking a more hostile posture. Her eyes had started to change color, albeit very slightly. Her mouth started to salivate a little more. The Dino Squad started to become concerned about this. They were afraid this was going to happen. Moynihan was in Velociraptor mode too long.

“Moynihan!” Max called out, taking a step forward. Moynihan's head turned towards him. “Please, change back! Transform back now!”

Fiona nodded her head. “Please! If you don't change back, you might lose it, just like you did before! Transform back!”

“Hurry! Before it's too late!” Rodger called out. Caruso was going to call out as well, but the change in Moynihan's eyes frightened him, and he also didn't like the way Oscura was looking at him. He couldn't help but jump to the conclusion that he was going to be her next target after she dealt with Moynihan and Buzz.

Moynihan stared at her students. Part of her wanted to listen to them. She wanted to transform back, knowing the risks of staying in this form for too long while they had not found a total cure for the chemical inside of her yet. She didn't want to become that horrid monster again. She didn't want to become a predator. She had given up that life years ago. She was a human now! A human! But when she tried to change back, despite the danger she was in, something prevented her from doing so. The other part of her mind, the raptor's mind, it was keeping her from transforming. It was taunting her, tempting her, telling her to hunt, telling her that it knows that she wants to. Moynihan shook her head rapidly. No, she couldn't let this happen! Not again! But the dinosaur's mind was becoming stronger, and eventually Moynihan felt her eyes slowly change to a bright orange.

“Oh no...” Caruso whispered, taking a step backwards. “L-Let's go..before she....”

“Her eyes..they changed to bright orange..” Max whispered under his breath. He remembered the last time that this had happened, and he was becoming frightened. He started to take several steps backwards. He was tempted to turn and run away, but his loyalty to his team, his sense of responsibility for them, kept him standing in the room despite the imminent danger.

Buzz managed to free his beak at least and surveyed the scene. Oscura wasn't moving from her spot. Her eyes were locked on Moynihan. Oscura didn't look particularly angry or happy. Rather, she looked more curious than anything else. Buzz looked over at Moynihan and quickly took notice in her change in behavior and the change in her eye color. His eyes widened. 'Guys...' He said in a frightened voice. 'I think we should get out of here...'

Moynihan started to stumble towards the kids. Her footing was so off that the students expected her to slip and fall to the ground. They were surprised that she still managed to get towards them. Moynihan lowered her head, putting her muzzle close to Max's. The jock gritted his teeth in fear. He and the others wished that they were outside where they would be safer. Max prepared to transform his hands in an attempt to defend himself. Moynihan then pulled her head back. Her body was trembling and she forced her self to take a step backwards. 'R-Run kids...please...run now...!' She cried out desperately. She lowered her head and shook it rapidly. She was getting a powerful headache, or that's what she would normally think. But she knew better. It wasn't a headache; it was her dinosaur mind taking control. She looked at them one last time and gave a final warning. 'RUN!' Just then, her eyes shifted to red.

Fiona gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. That's the exact same color Moynihan's eyes were glowing right before she had attacked her. She looked over at the others. “Guys! Let's get out of here! Now! Or she'll attack and kill us!”

Rodger looked at her. “Do you think we can outrun a Velociraptor?”

“We've got to try. Trust me.” Fiona responded, who had started to back up slowly, heading towards the exit of the room.

Moynihan let out a roar and started stalking her way towards the students. Buzz had transformed back and went back to the others as they slowly made their way towards the exit. They were afraid that if they made any sudden movements, Moynihan would dash towards them. The students kept their eyes on the Velociraptor as they made their way towards the stairs. They had to get outside where they could easily fight Moynihan. As much as they didn't want to, they had no choice but to fight her. They had to subdue her and try to administer something to help her calm down. They also needed to treat the Troodon bite before the bacteria could kill her. But how were they going to subdue their teacher without hurting her?

* * *

As Moynihan was keeping the Dino Squad busy, Oscura quickly slipped away. She sensed that she was close to the room and she needed to get those weapons. After all, Moynihan was likely not going to keep the Dino Squad busy for long. So she needed to work fast. 'Now to find that weapon...'

* * *

RRRAAAAAAAAARR!!

The Dino Squad suddenly burst through the door leading to the outside. Not far behind them, Moynihan followed in hot pursuit, snapping her jaws wildly in the air. As she passed through the door, her massive body size cracked the sides of the door way, nearly taking the wooden door itself with her. The Dino Squad rushed out onto the grass and quickly looked back. Moynihan was still following them, holding out her claws to try to slash them when she got close enough. In order to protect themselves, they quickly transformed into dinosaurs. In their dino modes, they were larger and stronger than Moynihan, but they were also slower. Max jumped in front of his friends and let out a loud roar at Moynihan, hoping to discourage her from getting any closer.

Moynihan paused for a brief moment. She glared up at the Tyrannosaurus Rex standing before her, as if she were trying to judge his strength from what she saw alone. Moynihan hissed and took a step back, and for a moment, Max thought she was giving up. But then Moynihan suddenly lunged forward, splitting her jaws open wide. Before Max could react, he felt the razor sharp teeth of the green raptor bite onto his head, dangerously close to his left eye. Max roared in pain and lifted his head up, Moynihan hanging on by her jaws and claws, which she was digging into the skin on his head and neck. Max shook his head, trying to free himself from Moynihan.

Alarmed by what was going on, Buzz took to the air. He circled above Max a few times, waiting for the right moment to strike. When he saw the opportunity, he dove down towards Max. When he got close enough, he brought out his legs. Extending his talons, he gripped onto Moynihan's long, thick tail. The raptor hissed and released her jaws from Max's head, although her claws were still dug deep into Max's head. She twisted her head around and tried to bite Buzz's feet. But her head couldn't extend that far. The only way she was going to be able to bite him was if she jumped off of Max and towards Buzz. Buzz flew back as hard and as swiftly as he could, yanking Moynihan off of Max.

Feeling the claws scraping across his head, Max let out a loud roar of pain and stumbled backwards. Buzz was shocked and felt bad, but there was no time for apologies. Down below him, Moynihan was struggling in his grasp. She was constantly trying to pull herself up and snapping at his feet. Buzz struggled to hang on to the tail, but the struggles were causing Moynihan to slip through his claws. Buzz was tempted to toss her into the ground in an attempt to defend himself. But he didn't want to hurt Moynihan and resisted the temptation. Instead, he dove down towards the ground and pushed Moynihan into the ground several feet away. He released her and flew back towards the others. Moynihan pushed herself up with her dinosaur hands and shook her long head. She glanced back over at the time and let out a loud hiss. She got up and ran back towards them, not willing to give up so easily. The Dino Squad prepared for her next attack, bracing themselves for whatever move she might make.

Moynihan lunged forward again, this time aiming for Fiona. Her jaws locked onto Fiona's neck and the force of the impact managed to knock Fiona onto her side. The Spinosaurus struggled, letting out several cries of pain and pleads for help as Moynihan sank her teeth further into her neck. In desperation to save her, Caruso stepped in. Despite the pain in his mouth, he bit down onto Moynihan's left leg, knowing it was a weak spot. Moynihan released Fiona, her eyes wide with pain, and twisted her body around, aiming for Caruso. Before Moynihan had a chance to bite into his head or neck, Caruso pulled on the raptor's leg, causing her to fall onto her back. He then threw her across the floor, watching her crash into the ground. A sense of guilt rose up inside of him. He wondered how badly he had hurt her. But at the same time, he knew he didn't have any other choice. Moynihan just wasn't in control of her self, not anymore.

'What are we going to do?' Caruso asked as Moynihan started to walk towards them again. She just wouldn't give up. 'No matter what we do, she just keeps coming right towards us!'

'We kind of noticed.' Buzz responded sarcastically.

'It's not in a predator's nature to give up easily.' Rodger said, his eyes narrowed. 'Some predators will wait a very long time before finally giving up. And I have no idea just how determined Velociraptors can be, but if I want to judge from Veloci's determination, well...' He lowered his gaze. 'I'm afraid it doesn't look very good...'

'We can't give up, guys!' Max stated. 'Professor Moynihan is counting us to save her from this terrible spell..We can't let her down!'

As Moynihan made another lung towards them, Fiona swung her tail around, knocking Moynihan away before she could do any damage. 'Yeah, but who is going to save us from her?!' She said, slightly irritable.

Moynihan shook her head rapidly. She growled in frustration and glanced over at the Dino Squad. She licked her lips in anticipation. She slowly approached them again. She drooled, saliva dripping along her jaws. She swished her tail back and forth as she eyed each of the five dinosaurs, trying to find the easiest targets. Her sickle claws clicked into the ground several times in anticipation, her hands shaking slightly as she tried to figure out where the best places would be to slash these dinosaurs to kill them quickly. Her red eyes narrowed dangerously as she pulled her lips back, exposing her razor sharp teeth at time. The Dino Squad prepared for her next attack.

But then Moynihan lifted up her head, pointing her muzzle towards the sky. She took in a few sniffs and suddenly she caught a scent. It was faint, almost nonexistent, but she detected it anyway. It didn't smell as appeasing as the dinosaurs she was currently facing, but one thing that attracted her more to this smell than to the smell of the dinosaurs' was that it smelled very weak. Whatever creature this scent belonged to, she sensed it was weak, a very easy target for her. She felt her stomach growling and her mouth salivating as she continued to smell this scent in the air. Desperate to get something to eat, Moynihan turned away from the Dino Squad and made a mad dash towards the road that led into the city.

Briefly stunned by this sudden change of events, the Dino Squad quickly recovered, realizing what was happening. They quickly rushed forward, hoping to stop Moynihan before she disappeared from sight. But Moynihan had moved too quickly and had taken cover in the foliage. The team stopped at the edge of the forested area. While they wanted so much to follow Moynihan and stop her, they knew that if they continued to run towards the city, they would be spotted. And Victor Veloci might detect them if they went into the city in dino mode. He might be able to organize an ambush and quickly find them. They couldn't risk it, especially after what happened to Fiona and Caruso on their date. They changed back into human form and looked at each other nervously.

“What are we going to do now?” Buzz asked, glancing over at the trees. “We can't follow her in dino mode without Victor finding out or risking the public seeing us... And we can't go in human form either. We'll never catch up to her and we won't have a way to defend ourselves...”

“But we were in dino mode in public before and...” Fiona started to say, but quickly stopped, feeling a little foolish.

Max glanced over at her. “It is indeed too risky to go out in public in dino mode, especially during the day time. Who knows who will see us and who knows what they will do. For all we know, they might try to shoot us!” But then he lowered his head. He couldn't help but feel going dino is the only way to stop Moynihan. It was risky, but what else could they do? If they went in human form to try to capture a green Velociraptor, people might become suspicious. They might even jump to conclusions and say that they were in league with the raptor. While it was technically true, they couldn't risk such an exposure. “But I do agree with you, Fiona. Going dino is...the only thing we can do...”

Buzz looked over at Max in shock. “Are you crazy? What if someone sees us?”

Max looked over at him. “Buzz, we've gone dino in public before. Of course we made sure no one saw us..but we were still dinosaurs in the city. I'm sure we can pull off finding Moynihan with minimal to no people seeing us...”

“But you just said..” Buzz started to say.

“I know what I said Buzz. I know I said it was risk.” Max said quickly. “But while I know the risks, I also know that if we don't go dino, we won't be able to move quickly enough to find Moynihan before it's too late.”

“What do you mean?” Buzz asked.

“He means..” Rodger chimed in. “...either she will cause havoc in the city, perhaps even kill some people, or...” He closed his eyes. “She'll die...”

Buzz's eyes widened. “Die...? You mean like..people shooting at her?”

“Either that, or the poison will get to her first.” Max said, eyes narrowed.

Buzz was confused at first, but remembered how Moynihan was bitten by Oscura. He remembered the effects of a Troodon bite and felt sick to his stomach as he recalled how he felt after Oscura had bitten him. He realized the seriousness of the situation, and how more dire the situation had gotten all because of a single bite. He looked over at his friends, a concerned look on his face. “And what are going to do now?” He asked again. “If the people don't get her... the Troodon poison will...”

“We'll find her.” Max said confidently. “Don't worry, we will...”

“Are you sure?” Buzz asked. “I mean, this isn't like before... When Veloci had her, it was a sure-fire thing that he would take her to Raptor Dyne. But now she's out in the city, doing who-knows-what... How are we going to find her...?”

“With this, of course.” Rodger said, holding out his tracking device. “I'm surprised you forgot about it.”

Buzz rubbed the back of his head nervously, feeling silly that he had forgotten about the tracker. It was the same tracker that helped them find Caruso. But he still didn't feel too confident. “Still...I can't help but feel that we won't be able to find her in time before something goes very wrong...”

“Don't say those things, Buzz!” Fiona said. “We can't just give up! Remember when Caruso was captured? We kept on despairing, thinking we won't ever see him again, but we persevered and we managed to find him. As Max said, Buzz, we'll find her, and we'll save her. You've got to believe that.”

Before anyone else could get a word in edgewise, Max quickly walked forward, moving ahead of the others. “Come on you guys! We've wasted enough time as it is!” With that, he transformed into a T-Rex and stormed off in the path that Moynihan had taken. The others glanced at each other and nodded. One by one, they each also transformed and quickly followed Max.

* * *

Moynihan paused, standing between two large buildings. She made sure she remained in the shadows as she moved her head forward just enough to see what she had scented. Humans, a good number of them, were walking along the sidewalks, no one noticing that she was there. Of course, with her human mind now shut down, she couldn't recognize what creatures they were. All she knew was that they were completely vulnerable and should be easy for her to kill. She purred softly and lowered her body slightly, waiting for an unsuspecting human to get within striking distance. She lowered her tail and kept it still for fear she would knock over one of the trash cans close by and sound the alarm. After a few minutes of hiding, someone did come in close to her. Moynihan narrowed her bloodshot eyes and tightened her leg muscles, preparing for the attack.

As soon as the human came within striking distance, Moynihan was about to jump towards the human. But then it turned away quickly, disappearing inside the building next to her. With her primitive dinosaur mind in control, she thought it was some sort of magic trick or perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her. She shook her head, thinking she simply saw an illusion. She then turned her head and watched the other humans pass by. The chances of another human passing by this way were slim, but she had to remain focused. She eyed the humans and slowly licked her reptilian lips. She inched her way forward a little further, careful not to allow the tip of her muzzle poke into the light of the day. Her green and purple colored body did little to camouflage her here.

Then Moynihan spotted another victim heading in her direction. She was not going to mess this one up. She prepared herself for the attack again as the human drew closer and closer within striking distance. Once that distance was closed and the human could easily be pulled into the darkness without being seen, she lunged forward. She quickly snapped her jaws around the arm of the person, who was a man, and pulled him into the alley. The man slammed into the wall and slid to the floor. He rubbed his head, slowly shaking it. He wondered what had happened. It all occurred so quickly he wasn't able to make sense of what was going on. When he noticed what was standing in front of him, his eyes went wide and his face went pale.

“N-No..you're supposed to be dead...” The man whispered as the green Velociraptor slowly approached him, her leering red eyes boring through him mentally like a chain saw.

* * *

The Dino Squad arrived in the city. They kept to the shadows, hiding behind buildings. They weren't able to avoid being spotted by a couple humans, but luckily for them, no one took their claims seriously and they just foolishly walked off, feeling stupid. But the shadows weren't going to protect them for long and they knew they were going to have to get out in the open at some point. For now, though, they stuck to the shadowy parts of the building, keeping themselves as far back as they could while still being able to see the streets of the city. They were cautious as they walked along the back parts of the building, keeping their heads as low as they could and watching where they stepped. Buzz was having the most difficult time with this. To keep himself from being spotted, he was forced to walk along the ground. But being a creature of flight, this was a very difficult task for him and took much of his will power to keep himself from taking to the air.

Most of the time, they kept their eyes glued on the streets. They could see several people walking around, entering and exiting periodically, a few of them carrying bags in their hands. So far, they hadn't seen anything abnormal. No one was acting like there was a Velociraptor around. No one looked like they had been attacked or threatened by a Velociraptor. And they didn't see Moynihan anywhere, nor did they hear or smell her. It was almost like she had vanished into thin air, but the team knew that she was somewhere in the city and they had to keep looking. They had to move as quickly as possible; time wasn't on their side. They didn't know how long they had before Moynihan would succumb to the sickness, and another fear also welled up inside of them. Would Moynihan spread the bacteria if she had bitten anyone? And if so, what would they do about it?

Buzz clenched the fingers on his wings as if they were fists and glanced up at Max. 'Dude, why can't I just fly up? I promise I'll be careful not to get spotted!'

Max shook his head. 'Sorry, Buzz. But no flying.'

'But why?! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find something walking along the ground?' Buzz asked.

'Hey, we do it all the time.' Fiona said, her mouth opened up lightly in a dinosaurian smile.

'Yeah, so quit complaining.' Rodger said, glancing quickly at Buzz before returning his gaze towards what was in front of him. He didn't want to bump into anything.

'But it isn't fair! My dinosaur form is designed to look for things in the sky!' Buzz said, complaining. 'I'm useless on the ground!'

'My dinosaur form isn't suited for thick forested areas.' Caruso explained, glancing up at Buzz. 'And yet, I still managed to navigate through a forest on several occasions. If I, a huge herbivore dinosaur that's supposed to be out in the open, can handle being out of my element, I'm sure you can handle walking on the ground for a short time.'

Buzz sighed. 'Okay, fine...'

Just then, Fiona caught some kind of scent. She lifted up her nose and took in a few sniffs. It smelled familiar and yet different. She quickly determined it was unlikely to be Moynihan, but she suspected that they should investigate it anyway. She looked over at Max. 'Hey, do you smell that?'

Max lifted up his nose as well, sniffing the air. He caught the scent as well. He snorted in disgust. 'Yes, and it smells horrible!' But he did recognize what it was. He had scented blood, and that gave him a sickening feeling in this stomach. No matter what it turned out to be, it definitely wasn't good news. 'Blood...I smell blood...' He said in a soft tone.

Caruso's eyes widened. 'Blood? Like..how much blood..? Where?'

Fiona took a couple sniffs again and pointed her muzzle in the direction of the smell. 'Over there!' She lifted up a dinosaur hand to point in the direction where the smell was coming from. It was an alleyway that was close by. Although she couldn't see anything, she knew that something or someone was back there.

'And from what I'm smelling, there's a good amount of blood...' Max said.

Caruso groaned. 'Do..do we have to go over there?' He glanced over at the alleyway and he felt his heart racing from fear.

'Just because there's blood doesn't mean that it's anything that...' Max started to say, but he couldn't think of how to continue. He managed to think of something else to say. 'Look, why don't we just check it out? It might help us figure out where Moynihan had went.' With that, he walked in front of his friends. Being the leader, he felt responsible for their safety. If there was anything dangerous in the alleyway, he would at least be between his friends and the danger. Although the others were reluctant, they still followed close behind Max. Once they reached the alleyway, the others hung back as Max cautiously entered the alleyway.

'Be careful.' Rodger said, looking up at Max.

Max nodded his head, glancing down at the Styracosaurus. 'Don't worry..I will.' With that, he turned back towards the alleyway. He paused briefly, and slowly moved forward. He couldn't see anything yet. The alleyway was pretty dark and Tyrannosaurus Rexes weren't night hunters. But his strong sense of smell helped guide him to the spot where the scent was coming from. At first, he couldn't see anything except what looked like a lumpy mass on the ground. He slowly lowered his nose to it and sniffed it. He pulled his head back and shook it rapidly. There was that horrible smell again and he almost gagged. He looked down again. Holding his breath, he pushed his nose against the mass. It still felt warm and he could have sworn that it moved. But it didn't feel like a dinosaur or any kind of animal he knew of. That meant it could only be one other thing. 'It's a..it's a person!'

'What?!' Fiona cried out in horror. She quickly moved forward to try and see what Max was looking at. 'Are you sure?'

Max glanced at Fiona and then looked down at the body. 'Yes..I'm sure...' He said, his voice filled with regret. At his feet was a human body, although still alive. They could see the person was still breathing, but they looked badly injured. Upon closer inspection, they noticed that it was a man. He had several cuts on his body and his clothing was covered in blood. He looked like he had put up a good fight. Whatever had attacked him didn't finish the job and left to try again somewhere else. They could only assume that it was Moynihan who had attacked the guy. The man stirred a little, but quickly fell limp again. Fiona and Max looked at each other, confused as to what to do with the guy. They couldn't just leave him there to die, and yet they couldn't take him with them. If they did, he might wake up and panic and sound the alarm.

'What are we going to do?' Fiona asked, glancing back down at the body. She found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the sight.

Max lowered his head, frowning slightly. He had to make a decision and fast. What could he do that would be best for the team? How was he going to be able to help this guy out while at the same time keeping their dino identities a secret from him? Then he got an idea. He turned around and walked up to Rodger. 'Hey Rodge..? Could you do me a favor?'

Rodger tilted his head. 'Sure, what?'

Max looked back over at the man on the ground. 'Could you change back to human and get that guy some help? He's seriously wounded and needs treatment right away.'

'Sure, but..what do I do after that?' Rodger asked, eyes narrowed slightly.

'Just come find us.' Max said. 'But don't go dino until you have found us. We don't want to risk anyone spotting you, especially alone when you'd be an easier target.'

Rodger glanced over at the man. When he saw the injuries on the man, he looked shocked. But he was also relieved that the man was still alive. He looked back up at Max. He nodded his head once. 'Okay then, Max. I'll see you guys later.' He moved himself in front of Max and switched back to human form. He rushed towards the man's side as the rest of the team quickly moved on to find Moynihan. Rodger put his hand on the guy's shoulder and gently shook him. The man shuddered and stirred, slowly opening up one eye. Rodger said, “Hey...are you all right?”

As the man started to sit up, Rodger moved away to give him some room. The man stretched a little and rubbed his head. He closed his eyes again, his hand staying on the top of his head. “I..I don't remember much of what happened. I just remember...red eyes, and then..I think I saw claws.” The man muttered softly. He looked over at Rodger. “How..how did you find me? I thought no one was going to find me.”

Rodger smiled slightly. “Well I don't think your body would have been too difficult to find considering it was in a public place with no covering.” Then his face turned serious. “My..uhh..dog found you and he led me here.”

The man quickly looked around. “A dog? Where? I'm allergic to dogs...”

Rodger quickly said, “Well he..ran off. But I can find him later. He won't get into trouble.”

The man looked back at Rodger. “Are you sure that he's not here?”

Rodger folded up his arms and smiled. “Are you sneezing?”

“Well..no...I...” The man started to say before he cried out in pain as he tried to step onto his feet. He quickly fell back to the ground. His legs were pretty badly cut up.

Rodger quickly rushed over and knelt by the man. “Do you remember anything else about what had happened? What did this attacker look like?”

The man closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could. He was uncertain if he should say anything or not. He couldn't help but feel this young teenager was going to think he was crazy if he told him what he thought had attacked him. He reopened his eyes and looked at the teen. “You're..you're not going to believe this, but...”

“But what?” Rodger urged the man on. “Tell me what you saw. I promise I won't laugh at you. Just tell me what you saw.”

The man glanced down on the floor. He still wasn't sure if he should tell Rodger anything, but there was something about the look on his face that told him that he could trust him. “Well, it was a dinosaur..I think...”

“A dinosaur?” Rodger asked, trying his best to sound surprised. He tilted his head in curiosity. “What kind of dinosaur?”

“A Velociraptor, I think..” The man said, confirming Rodger's suspicions. Moynihan had been there. But now one question was on his mind: where was Moynihan now..?

* * *

A loud beeping sound rang through the laboratory. Victor, who was sitting in his chair, head resting on his hands as he pondered what to do next, quickly looked up. There was several readings showing up on the scanners. He smirked when he realized what they were: perfect dinosaur signatures. He could only see four, but he was certain that he saw a fifth one earlier. The Dino Squad must have transformed and, according to the scanners, they were located in Kittery Point, which didn't surprise him too much. He chuckled and slowly shook his head. He didn't know why the pathetic group of teenagers even bothered going dino when they probably knew he'd know exactly where they were. Well, not all the time. There have been occasions where he would not notice them after they transformed, but this was rare.

Victor pondered just ignoring the signals for now. He had already developed a plot to get all five of the 'perfect dinosaurs'. He didn't need to go after them now, and if he didn't go after them, they might get a false sense of security, believing that he had either lost interest or was not able to see them in dino mode somehow. And if their sense of security was high, their guard might be lowered significantly, and with a low guard, he'd more likely be able to take them by surprise. But even if he didn't have the element of surprise on his side, he would still make sure that he'd capture all the 'perfect dinos'. There would still be a way for him to succeed, even if the answer wasn't very obvious right away. After all, how difficult could these children be to capture?

Then Victor noticed another blip on the screen. It was slightly different from the Dino Squad's signature. But it didn't take him long to realize who it was. Moynihan was in raptor mode and she was prowling the city, it looked like. At first, he wondered why she would be wandering the city, especially in dinosaur mode. It wasn't like Moynihan to be in dinosaur mode for extended period of time as of recently. Then he realized something else. His chemicals must have taken over her mind successfully. Perfect, he thought as he began typing on the computer to bring up the two avatars he had looked at earlier. Much to his delight, the two had completely switched colors and were both flashing a dark red color. That meant that the suppression of Moynihan's human mind was a success.

Victor immediately got up from his seat. It was time for him to recruit Moynihan. She was going to work for him once again, whether she wanted to or not. His telepathy should be enough to take control of her and force her to follow his commands. And since she no longer had a human mind, she would not be able to question his authority or challenge what he believed in. As of now, she was nothing more than a mere wild animal waiting to be tamed by him. But he had to get to her before the Dino Squad did. If he failed to reach her in time, those pathetic human monkeys may convert her back to their ways, stripping her of her dinosaur heritage once more. He couldn't allow that to happen.

As Victor headed towards the door, he heard someone behind him. He groaned softly. He just knew it was going to be Kista, probably to nag to him about where he was going or something. But when he turned around, he saw that it was not Kista, but Adam. “What is it, Adam?” He asked.

“Where are you going, sir?” Adam asked cautiously, hoping that he wouldn't offend Dr. Veloci.

Victor narrowed his eyes. Humans were rather curious creatures. And that curiosity might one day kill them all. Then again, Victor, at times, hoped that it would happen just so that his dinosaur domination plan would not be hindered by pesky humans like the Dino Squad. “I'm going into Kittery Point to investigate some dinosaur sightings.”

“Dinosaur sightings?” Adam questioned. “You mean the Dino Squad, sir?”

Victor nodded his head. “Yes. Well them and...an old friend of mine.”

Adam nodded his head in return. He was tempted to ask more questions, but decided it was best not to push Victor any further. He already looked annoyed enough as it was. So Adam decided to ask something else. He glanced over at the table where the scientists, who were currently on break, would be working on some of the latest experiments for Dr. Veloci. “What should I tell the others, sir?”

“Just tell them I'm going after the female Velociraptor that I had detained here before.” Victor explained, narrowing his eyes at Adam as if he thought he were stupid.

Adam had already known that would be Victor's response. He knew that he would be expected to inform the workers of his absence. But he still didn't know one thing. Realizing that his question was too broad, he decided to be more specific. “What should I tell the workers who aren't..enlightened, so-to-speak?”

Victor thought for a moment, and then said, “Tell them..I went to a meeting.”

* * *

At the school, classes have recently been dismissed. Only a few teachers, some students, and one of the school janitors remained behind. The remaining students were either studying or participating in some kind of meeting, usually sports related. The remaining teachers were either just cleaning up, preparing to leave, or they were grading papers. The principal had already gone home, so there was no one really in charge anymore, at least for the remainder of the day. The janitor was sweeping one of the many empty classrooms. He picked up a moist rag and wiped off the chalkboard and he then proceeded to wipe off each of the desks. Whenever he would find gum stuck to their underside, he had to clean them off. Then after that, he had gotten out his broom and started to sweep the room again.

Once he was done, he wiped his brow and leaned on the broom to survey his work. He wished that people would appreciate the working man more. It was a difficult job keeping the rooms as clean as possible each and every day. And it was frustrating to know that, no matter how hard he tried to keep the rooms clean, the very next day, the clumsy, rowdy, and messy teenagers would just ruin it all over again. If only they knew how difficult this stuff was to clean, maybe they would think twice before making such a mess and then leaving without cleaning it up. The working man was such an under appreciated person. Perhaps one day, he could change that.

Then he started to hear a sound behind him. He realized he had left the door open, so it was probably just one of the students trying to scare him. He smirked to himself. Perhaps he should just play along and let them approach him. And once they got close enough, he could turn around and scare them. That would teach them to appreciate him more and to not mess with him. So he waited, hearing heavy footsteps behind him. He thought that was a little unusual, but perhaps it was one of the heavier students. When he felt a hot, steamy breath hit the back of his neck, he smirked again. It was time to pull his little trap.

The janitor quickly whirled around, prepared to let out a scream to frighten the students, but he suddenly froze, his eyes widened in fear. Standing before him wasn't a student, but something much bigger and more terrifying. It looked like a Velociraptor, green with an off white underbelly and purple stripes. The eyes glowed a hideous red, glaring at him hungrily. Drool dripped from the jaws and a low hiss emitted from its jaws. “No...it can't be possible... You can't possibly be...” Then suddenly a loud roar rang through the room, followed by a scream of pain.

* * *

The scream and the roar mixed together, creating one loud, unpleasant sound, and it echoed throughout the school. It reverberated off the walls, intensifying slightly in volume, and then decreasing in volume almost just as rapidly. Some students and teachers perked their heads up at this sound, but they quickly disregarded it as something that they had just simply imagined. They immediately went back to their work.

But not everyone simply ignored the sounds. Wandering through the halls as well were four of the Dino Squad members. They had remained in dino mode as they entered the school, confident that there would be little chance for them to be spotted, and at least this way, they could still defend themselves in case they'd have to attack Moynihan. They weren't in the school for much more than a couple minutes when they heard the horrible sound. Despite the fact the sounds were intermingled together, they almost immediately recognized Moynihan's 'voice' in that garbled mess of a sound. And even if they didn't hear it, Moynihan's scent was still fresh in the air. Fiona and Max were the first ones to pick it up and were following the trail.

Buzz shuddered at the horrible sound he and the others had just heard. 'That didn't sound too good.. You think Moynihan had managed to..kill someone?'

'Yeah...' Caruso said, his eyes widened. 'Maybe we shouldn't do this...'

'The only way to find out is to investigate.' Max said. He and Fiona still continued to move forward. They were frightened by the sounds, but they still pressed themselves on. They needed to find Moynihan before Victor did and cure her before he could make her do horrible things. And they also needed to find her to save her life. She needed to be treated and fast. Max glanced down at Caruso and Buzz. 'And need I remind you that she's been bitten by Oscura?'

Fiona nodded her head, backing up Max. 'Yeah..if we don't go after her, she could die...'

'I know...But I still can't help but feel that this mission is too dangerous for us.' Buzz said, although he felt guilty about he said. He turned his head away from Fiona, not wanting to look at her and Max in the eyes. He glanced over and noticed Caruso seemed to feel just as guilty about wanting to leave.

'But are you sure we could take her on? I mean without hurting her?' Caruso looked up at Max. 'Is there a way we could detain her without actually hurting her?'

'Why are you so worried, Caruso?' Max asked, tilting his head to one side. 'Of course there's a way. Trust me.' Caruso nodded his head and turned his gaze away. But Max was able to notice that he still looked unsure about going after Moynihan. The T-Rex frowned slightly and turned his head towards Fiona. Perhaps she would be able to understand a little more as to why Caruso was acting so nervous about this plan. 'Hey, what's wrong with him?'

Fiona slowly shook her head. She was a little frustrated that Max didn't seem to understand why Caruso was acting like this. Was he not aware that maybe Caruso was suffering flashbacks from when he was captured by Veloci? Or that maybe he was worried that Moynihan was going to attack him? She glared at Max, taking him by surprise, and spoke in a slightly darkened voice. 'Why are you even asking that?'

Max blinked. 'What do you mean?'

'Have you forgotten what he's been through?' Fiona asked him coldly. 'Have you forgotten what Victor did to him? Have you forgotten the pain and suffering he had to endure? The nightmares he suffers through nowadays?'

Max lowered his head in shame. 'I'm..I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come off as such a jerk. I...' He slowly exhaled, pondering what he was going to say. He felt like a real idiot at that moment. He hadn't actually forgotten what Irwin had suffered through; he just didn't think of it until Fiona reminded him of it. He was so concerned about catching Moynihan that he had disregarded how Caruso might have felt about this situation. He felt guilty for not asking the boy if he would like to say behind with Rump. He glanced back at Caruso and realized just how nervous he looked about finding Joanne, how scared he looked. Buzz didn't look any different. He looked back at Fiona. 'I'm so sorry about what I said..really I am...'

Fiona slowly shook her head again. 'Just..don't worry about it...' She closed her eyes. 'Besides, I don't think I'm the one you should be apologizing to.' She looked over at Caruso and gave him a sympathetic look. Despite the fact that they were using telepathy, they could hear each other just fine; nothing could be kept secret from the other if they were within range. Caruso had heard everything Max had said, and Fiona could tell that he looked a little hurt by what Max had said.

'Caruso...?' Max asked, glancing over at the Stegosaurus. 'I'm sorry.'

Caruso didn't bother looking up at Max. But he did acknowledge what he had just said. 'I know you're sorry.. I didn't mean to feel upset. I know you weren't trying to be a jerk, just like how I know you didn't mean to yell at me that one day...' He quickly stopped himself, knowing he had hit a sore spot with Max. The jock probably still felt terrible about what he did, and reminding him of his mistake wasn't going to make himself feel any better. 'I didn't mean to bring that up...I....' He was about to say something when he noticed movement, although very quick, flash before his eyes. He quickly stopped in his tracks. 'Did..Did you guys see that?'

'See what?' Max asked, his mind now focused on the task at hand. He looked around the hallway, but couldn't see anything, not even a student that may have stumbled their way over here. 'I didn't see anything...'

'It moved by so fast..I couldn't tell what it was..' Caruso explained, biting his dinosaur lip nervously.

'I saw it! It went over that way!' Buzz said, moving his wing in one direction, indicating where he had seen the blur.

Fiona quickly looked up at Max. 'It's probably Moynihan! We should go after her and...' Before she could move forward, Max moved his tail in front of her, preventing her from going after the blur. She took a few steps back and glared at Max. 'What's your problem?' She asked angrily. 'Don't you want to find Moynihan? That's what you said you wanted to do...'

'But we need to be careful. We don't have to be careless and walk into a trap.' Max tried to explained. He glanced from Fiona towards the end of the hallway where Buzz claimed to have seen something. Then he looked back at Fiona. His tail was still raised out in front of him and her, to make sure that Fiona wouldn't walk out in front of him. 'We have to keep our guard up if we are to follow that sound, Fiona.'

'Yes, I know that. But how can we even begin to figure out what it is if we just stand here and do nothing?' Fiona asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. She looked down at the tail that was blocking her path. Part of her wanted to bite the tail to force Max to lift it up so that she can rush forward towards the sound. But another part of her told her that would be wrong and helped keep herself in check, preventing her from making a terrible mistake.

Max slowly lowered his tail and walked out in front of the time. He lowered his head, putting himself in a horizontal posture. He slowly started to walk forward towards the sound, doing his best not to make a sound. 'Follow me guys. Stay low and don't make a sound.' He warned them. Fiona was the first one to follow him, lowering her head to be nearly level with her body. Buzz and Caruso followed behind. Caruso didn't need to lower anything; his head was already close to the ground. Buzz tried his best to keep his body in a similar posture as Fiona and Max, but it was starting to give him a backache. A Pteranodon form wasn't made to bend like this, Buzz thought.

The team made it to the end of the hall. Max looked over at Buzz and gestured for him to come forward. Buzz came forth and glanced down the hallways. He searched his mind to try to remember exactly which direction he had seen the blur flash by. He quickly pointed in the direction, to the right of where they were currently standing. He looked over to see if he could see anything, but the hallway looked completely empty. Max stepped up and lifted his muzzle upward to take a few sniffs. When he caught the scent that he and Fiona picked up earlier, he knew Buzz had found the right path. He nodded his head to Buzz and then to the others. They continued on their way, walking as quietly as they could as to not alert whatever it was that Buzz had spotted.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a door slamming open. The team froze in their tracks, preparing to face whatever it was that was coming at them. Within a couple seconds, they were shocked to see a human running towards them. He didn't look like he was trying to attack them. He looked rather frightened, as if he had just seen something terrible. When he got closer, they could see that he was the school janitor and he was covered in blood and his clothes looked torn. It didn't take long for the team to realize that the man had been attacked by Moynihan. There was nothing else that it could have been. The only thing that they could think of that could inflict wounds like that was a Velociraptor.

The janitor continued to run towards them, his head turned back to see if the dinosaur was following him. He quickly looked out in front of him so he could see where he was going. When he noticed what was in front of him, he suddenly screamed and halted in his tracks. He looked up at the four dinosaurs in the hallway, his body shaking uncontrollably. A Pteranodon, a Spinosaurus, a Stegosaurus, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex were staring at him with glowing yellow eyes. “This..this cannot be happening...” Unable to take the shock of being attacked by a raptor only to be confronted by four other dinosaurs, the janitor's face went pale and he fainted, tumbling to the floor.

Buzz blinked a few times and looked up at Max. 'You killed him.' He said in a joking manner.

Max glared down at him. 'Shut up, Buzz.'

The team didn't have time to think about what to do with the janitor. Almost immediately after Buzz cracked his joke, there was another loud sound coming from where the janitor had come from. A door was suddenly knocked down, straight off its hinges. A large, green figure jumped forward, landing a few inches in front of the collapsed door. It was quickly revealed that it was Moynihan. There was blood on her claws and on her mouth as well. For a few seconds, her head was turned away from the team, looking down the hallway to see if her prey had run in that direction. Then she turned her head over, her blood red eyes narrowing as she spotted not only her prey, but the Dino Squad as well. She let out a loud hiss, bringing up her hands threateningly as she slowly approached the team.

'Moynihan!' Max called out, trying to get through to her before they had to fight. He took a step forward. The green Velociraptors' eyes widened in shock and took a step backwards. At first, Max thought that Moynihan was coming to, but, much to his disappointment, he realized that she was just merely reacting naturally to the presence of a larger predator. She had expected him to attack her. Once she realized that Max wasn't going to bite her, she resumed her aggressive posture and stalked towards him, baring her teeth. 'Moynihan, please stop this! It's us! Your students! Don't you remember us?'

Moynihan responded with a loud hiss. Fiona took a step backwards. 'She doesn't recognize us, Max! We have to get out of here!' She called out to Max desperately. When Max remained where he stood, Fiona started to panic. 'Max! Get away from her!'

Max shook his head. 'I'm sorry, but I..I can't. Not now. We have to help her...'

'How can we help her if she just wants to kill us?' Caruso asked, lifting up his head slightly, tilting it to one side in confusion. 'If we get too close to her, all she's going to do is try to tear out our flesh. I agree with Fiona on this. We have to get out of here before she can hurt us.'

'As much as I agree with you guys..' Buzz said as he walked forward slowly. 'How are we going to help her if we can't even get near her?'

'Come on, you guys. There has to be a way to do this..' Max said, standing his ground as Moynihan continued to walk towards him. She let out several hisses at him, likely a ploy to chase them away or to frighten them. Max realized that Moynihan was trying to get them away from the janitor. She likely saw them as a threat and was going to try defending her 'kill'. Max quickly moved in front of the janitor, blocking Moynihan's access to him. Just as he suspected, Moynihan grew angry about this and let out several loud roars. Then she lowered her body briefly and then lunged forward. She brought her foot claws forward, preparing to slash Max.

'Max! Look out!' Buzz cried out, his eyes wide with fear.

Reluctantly, Max turned to his side and struck Moynihan down with his massive tail. Moynihan crashed into the ground, but quickly recovered. She shook her body slightly, trying to regain her senses. She quickly glared up at him and let out another roar. 'Moynihan! Try to remember who you are!' Max called out to her, hoping to get through to her. But Moynihan refused to listen. When Max moved his head a little too close to her, she snapped her jaws at him, just barely missing him. Max quickly pulled his head away.

'It's no use, Max!' Fiona called out to him. 'We should have brought our Chillers with us!'

Caruso swallowed hard and took a few steps forward, positioning himself next to Fiona. He looked up at her. 'Well we didn't. Now what do we do?' He turned his head to look at where Moynihan was. His eyes widened when he saw her lunging again, this time towards him and Fiona. He growled softly and let out a bellow as he turned his body to one side and struck Moynihan, knocking her away. But he was so close to Max that he almost struck him as well. Moynihan hissed as she got up to her feet again. She turned her head towards the janitor and then looked up at the four dinosaurs standing before her. Her lips curled back and she turned her head from one side to the other, hissing loudly. 'She wants the janitor? But why?'

'Because the janitor is meat. And Velociraptors eat meat.' Fiona said, dipping her muzzle down to look at Caruso. 'I thought you would have known that.'

Caruso felt like smacking himself in the head for forgetting that. But he didn't have time to say anything when Moynihan charged towards them again. This time, she lunged towards Fiona. 'No! Look out, Fiona!' He called out. Fiona looked over, but it was too late for her to react. In a split second, Moynihan's teeth and claws would be inside her neck. But before Moynihan could make contact with her, Max reacted quickly, slamming his jaws on Moynihan's tail. He held her in his jaws for a few seconds and then tossed her across the floor, careful not to throw her too hard because he didn't really want to hurt her. 'Perfect timing!' Caruso said, sounding impressed.

'Yeah...' Fiona said, glancing at where Moynihan was. She looked up at Max. 'Thanks.'

'Don't thank me yet, Fiona. We still need to get her out of the school somehow.' Max replied.

'How are we going to do that?' Caruso asked. 'From what I'm seeing, she's not exactly in a talking mood.'

Max tilted his head. 'Well yes, you've got a point...'

Then Fiona got an idea that might just work. 'What about meat? Velociraptors eat meat. Maybe we could lure her outside with some steak or something.' She looked at her friends. 'Do you guys think that would work?'

'Yeah.' Buzz said, moving his wings up slightly as if he were shrugging them. 'Do you have several pounds of steak handy?' He said in a sarcastic tone of voice.

'The meat idea could work.' Max said. He let out a roar to try to keep Moynihan away from them. He felt that Moynihan was less likely to attack them if they stayed in the small area. But Moynihan was still brave enough to approach them and attack them, even though she knew she would likely fail each time. She had no advantage here. 'But how do we get to the kitchen?' He looked at the situation he and his friends were stuck in. Moynihan was blocking their path towards the lunch room. They would have to move in past her in order to gain access to the lunch room. But how were they going to do that?

Before Max could think of anything, he suddenly saw someone rushing towards the Velociraptor. Max's eyes widened as he realized it was Liam. How did Liam find them so fast? How did he know they would be here? Max watched in shock as Liam called out towards Moynihan. “Over here, you reptilian bird ancestor!” Moynihan turned her head and spotted Liam. She licked her lips and started to approach him.

'Liam! No!' Max called out in horror.

Liam looked at Max and gave a small smile. “Do not worry about me, Rolf Maxwell! I will be fine! Get away while you can!” As he said that, Moynihan lunged towards him. Liam reacted quickly and ducked down, allowing the raptor to sail over him. He quickly straighted himself back up and turned to face his attacker.

Caruso let out a bellow of shock. He couldn't believe what Liam was doing. Earlier, Liam had risked his life to save him from Kista. Now the boy was laying his life on the line once again, this time to save them all from Moynihan, who had gone into feral mode. What was the boy thinking? Didn't he realize the danger he was putting himself in? Was he not aware of what could happen to him if he was unable to save himself from the Velociraptor? 'Liam! You idiot! Get out of here! We can handle her!' Caruso shouted without stopping to think.

'Why are you doing this?' Buzz asked, his mouth open in shock as Liam continued to lure Moynihan towards him. He didn't know if the boy was brave or just plain suicidal. He had no means of defending himself against the raptor. If anything, they should be the ones protecting him from her.

“I do not want to see you guys get cut up by her sickle, razor sharp predator claws.” Liam said as he backed up slowly, Moynihan slowly moving towards him, licking her chops. “While I keep her preoccupied with myself, you can get out of here and be safe. Do not worry about me; I can handle myself on my own. Just go!”

Just then, Moynihan let out a loud hiss. Liam screamed in fear and he turned and ran down the hallway. Sure enough, the enraged raptor took off after him, stimulated by the thrill of the chase. The Dino Squad could only watch in horror as the two disappeared down the hallway, vanishing completely from sight. The Dino Squad wanted to chase off after them, but their larger size hindered this. They were too large to run in the hallway together unless they went in a straight line, and that would interfere with how fast they could likely be going. In order to have a better chance at running in the direction where Liam and Moynihan disappeared into was if they reverted to human form until they found them. The team transformed back into human form and were about to take off after Moynihan and Liam when they were suddenly interrupted by someone behind them.

“Yo!” A voice sounded out from behind. The team jolted in shock and turned around to see Rodger standing there. Rodger smirked lightly and said, “Man, you guys scare so easily..And I thought I overreacted when you pulled that one prank on me about..a year ago I think?” He chuckled.

Baring her teeth angrily, Fiona stormed over to Rodger. “Don't ever do that again!”

“Yeah!” Buzz said. “You scared the heck out of us! Why did you sneak up on us like that?”

“Call it a mean streak.” Rodger said jokingly before waving his hand dismissively at his own statement. “Just kidding. I didn't mean to scare you guys, really. I apologize.” He walked over to Max. “I did what you asked of me. I was able to take that guy to someone who agreed to take him to the hospital. After that, I tried to track you guys down. Took me a little while to reach the school, so I apologize for my late entry.”

“Well, better late than never.” Max said, smiling. “Just to make sure, that guy didn't see any other dinosaurs, right? He didn't see us wandering around the city?”

Rodger shook his head. “No. He had only seen Moynihan, and no one else. He even started questioning his sanity and wondered if it was actually a dog that had attacked him. I sort of..helped him along and sort of convinced him that it was a dog.” He shrugged his shoulders. It was a relief to him and the team that the man started to think it was a dog that had attacked him. That would help keep the dinosaur encounter a secret, especially from Dr. Veloci or any of his men. Rodger then remembered the other mission they had come out here to do: finding and capturing Joanne Moynihan and bring her back to the safety of the lighthouse before Victor found her. But he couldn't see her anywhere, although his scanners indicated that she was here. “Where is Ms. Moynihan?”

The team looked at each other awkwardly, and then looked back at Rodger, who had started to suspect something was wrong and got a worried look on his face. Max glanced down at his feet for a few seconds and then looked back at Rodger. “She's here, Rodg, yes. But...so is Liam...”

“Liam?” Rodger asked. “What is he doing here? I didn't know he stayed here after school..”

Max shook his head. “Neither did I, not from what I can remember. But yes, he's here.” He glanced down the hallway. “And Moynihan had just took off after him. Liam deliberately got her attention and had her chase him instead of us.”

“He was trying to help us.” Buzz said. “But that was..that was just crazy! I can't believe he would do something like that..”

“WHAT?!” Rodger screamed in horror. “Why didn't you go after him? Why aren't you doing that now?!”

“Well we were until you surprised us.” Fiona said, narrowing her eyes.

“B-But even s-so...” Caruso stammered. “H-How are we g-going to help Liam in human f-form?”

Rodger smiled and held out a Chiller. The team felt a little silly that they hadn't noticed it before. The Chillers aren't exactly very small and were quite noticeable. “I was able to get a hold of this. Before I came back out here, I did stop by the lighthouse again. Oscura was gone, but it didn't look like she had raided anything. I picked up one of the Chillers and came back into town as fast as I could.”

“Great!” Max exclaimed. “Now let's go find Moynihan!” With that, he and the others took off in the direction where Moynihan and Liam had disappeared, hoping they'd be able to get to Liam before Moynihan killed him, and reach Moynihan before Victor could get his filthy claws on her.

* * *

Liam continued to run down the hallway, his heart racing from both fear and exhaustion. He looked behind him, trying to see if the raptor was following him. He started to wonder why he had decided to lure the raptor away from the Dino Squad. He started to regret it, realizing how he had put his own life in jeopardy. He turned his head back around so he could see what was in front of him. He realized he was coming at a dead end. His eyes widened slightly. What was he going to do now? Then he saw the doors to one of the classrooms was open up. If he could only get inside and quickly shut the door before the Velociraptor could catch up, maybe he'd have a chance. Quickly, he rushed inside the room, thinking it was completely empty, then turned around and slammed the door shut. If he's lucky, the Velociraptor has no idea how to open up a door.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” Liam flinched at the sudden voice that called out to him. He turned around and saw McFinn sitting in the room. Liam guessed that he probably had detention and the teacher was probably out somewhere, perhaps just going to the bathroom or something. The teacher was likely going to return soon, which concerned Liam. What was going to happen to the teacher if the raptor found him? And what would happen if the teacher opened up the door and the raptor took that opportunity to come in? McFinn, annoyed by Liam's lack of response, called out to him again. “Hey, I was talking to you! Why are you in here?”

“Why are you in here?” Liam echoed back. “Why are you sitting in this rectangle-shaped room writing on a thin piece of wood with a stick of wood with charcoal at the tip? Are you in detention or something?”

McFinn cocked an eyebrow, feeling slightly weirded out by this student. “You're really weird, you know that..?”

Liam nodded his head. “Yes I know. My parents say I have Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological condition that makes me think differently form others.” He quickly said.

“I didn't ask what you had.” McFinn responded, folding up his arms. “I had asked you why you were back here. Did you get detention?”

Liam shook his head. “No I did not. I came here because my fight or flight response made me run until I could find a place to hide.”

McFinn looked confused. He couldn't understand what Liam was trying to tell him. McFinn scratched the top of his head. “What are you talking about? Fight or flight response? I don't know what that is...”

“It's a natural response to danger or other stressful stimuli.” Liam explained in his usual fast-paced way of speaking. “It prepares an organism, such as a human being or a wild animal, to either fight for its life or run away.”

McFinn blinked a few times. He was still a little confused, but he thought he sort of understood what Liam was trying to tell him. “So you are saying you are..getting chased?” Liam nodded, and then turned around and looked out the window of the door, probably trying to see if he was still being followed. McFinn shook his head. From his point of view, it seemed likely that another student staying after school was just picking on Liam and was chasing him and that's why he was here. “Listen, if it's a bully problem you are having, I'm sure the teachers will be able to help you.”

Liam shook his head. “No, it is not a student.”

“Then what is the problem?” McFinn asked, now more confused than before. If it wasn't a student, then who could be chasing him?

“Dinosaur.” Liam responded, his voice taking a slightly more serious tone.

“A dinosaur...?” McFinn whispered in fear. In normal circumstances, he would have laughed at Liam and dismiss him as a crazy person. But after seeing a dinosaur going after the lighthouse were Buzz usually goes after school, McFinn was reluctant to dismiss Liam's claim of seeing a dinosaur. He could very well be telling the truth. And what reason did he have to lie? If he simply wanted attention, why would he call out about a dinosaur, an extinct animal? Well, an animal that was supposed to be extinct that is, he thought to himself. “Where..?”

“The dinosaur is following me. That is why I came here, to try to protect myself from it. I have no idea if its hands are nimble enough to open this door. That is why I'm standing in front of it.” Liam explained. He continued to look out of the door's window. So far, he couldn't see anything. But the Velociraptor wasn't far behind him. It was only a matter of time before the dinosaur caught up to him. “I suggest you find some way to prepare. The dinosaur could be here any second.”

McFinn immediately jumped from his seat. Deciding to take Liam's advice, he rushed over to the teacher's desk and grabbed the long stick, usually used to point at stuff written on the blackboard. He lifted it up with one hand and quickly rushed over. He positioned himself behind Liam, adopting a somewhat aggressive posture. He was still frightened, but if a dinosaur was going to attack him, at least he wouldn't go down without a fight. Meanwhile, Liam continued to watch for the dinosaur. Just then, something flashed in front of his eyes, something green and purple. His eyes widened and he suddenly pushed himself against the door. Before McFinn had time to ask what was going on, something suddenly pushed against the door with such force that Liam almost fell over. When McFinn looked up, he could see a scaly, green face looking at them through the door's window.

“Is that..is that the dinosaur?” McFinn asked fearfully, pointing a trembling finger towards the door. Liam looked back at him briefly and nodded before turning his attention back to the door. McFinn gulped as he watched Liam struggle to keep the door closed. He could tell the boy was having a hard time with this. His feet were slipping on the floor constantly. Realizing Liam needed help, McFinn swallowed his fear and quickly rushed over. “I'll help you!” He pushed his back against the door and began to lean on it as hard as he could. He could feel his feet slipping forward, but he kept pushing back, hoping that the combined strength of him and Liam would be enough to deter the Velociraptor.

But the Velociraptor wasn't going to give up. She continued to push against the door, hissing in frustration as each passing second went by without her being able to open the door. Moynihan peered through the door. She could see two little morsels inside that would be very easy to take care of. Much easier than the janitor that she had tried to kill earlier, so there wouldn't be as much of a fight this time. All she'd need to do is knock down the door and sink her teeth into the scrawny creatures' necks. It wouldn't be too hard to simply snap their necks. After a few minutes of pushing, she hissed loudly and took a few steps backwards, a ploy to try and trick her prey into false security.

McFinn was confused by the sudden stillness of the door. He turned around and tried to look through the door's window. He couldn't see the Velociraptor anywhere. Had the dinosaur just given up and went somewhere else? “What did it go? Did we manage to make it leave?” He looked up at Liam.

Liam shook his head. “I do not think so. I think it is just trying to make us lose our guard. We must remain alert because it could come back at any second and...” Suddenly, a great force struck the door. This time, without McFinn's assistance, Liam went flying back as the door was forced to open up wide. Within a couple seconds, a large green-skinned Velociraptor stepped into the room, looming over them with drool dripping from the jaws.

“It's inside..!” McFinn whispered in a frightened tone of voice. He glanced down at the stick he still held in his hands, and then glared in the direction of the Velociraptor. He knew what he must do.

Moynihan stared down at the two boys. One of them looked really large and she wondered how she was going to handle killing him. The skinny one looked easier to kill, so she aimed for that one first. Before Liam could get up off the ground, Moynihan pressed her foot onto his stomach and pinned him down. She lowered her body and positioned her jaws over his neck. Liam shuddered as he felt the dinosaur's hot, steamy breath on his neck and tried to push her jaws away, but Moynihan was too strong and soon she had her jaws clamped around his neck. But before she could apply any pressure, something a little thin but hard smacked her over her forehead. It didn't hurt much, but it still stung her. She lifted up her head and shook it. Then she turned her red eyes towards the source of the attack. There, in front of her, she could see the fattest of the two humans holding some sort of weapon, wielding it, lifting it in the air, threatening to smack her with it again. She snorted and got off of Liam.

McFinn's eyes widened in horror as the Velociraptor started coming towards him. He continued to hold the stick up high, prepared to strike the dinosaur if she got too close to them, but his hands were starting to shake terribly from fear and he found it increasingly difficult to hold onto the stick. The raptor seemed to notice his fear as well and suddenly rushed forward. Her head collided with his chest and stomach and he was sent flying backwards. McFinn grunted in pain as he crashed onto his back. The stick was knocked clean out of his hands and was now out of reach. McFinn looked up and screamed when he saw a set of jaws coming down at him. Thinking fast, he quickly brought his hands forward and gripped the mouth, one hand on the lower jaw, the other on the upper jaw, and used as much strength as he could muster to push the head back to keep the dinosaur from biting him.

But Moynihan was too strong for him. With a jerk of her head, she managed to get free from McFinn's grasp. She glared down at him, looking annoyed at his pathetic attempt in trying to defend himself. She took a step forward, opening her jaws wide over his head. McFinn trembled in fear and put his arms over his face in a last ditch effort to protect himself. But that didn't faze Moynihan and she prepared for another attack. She opened her jaw as wide as they could go and suddenly lunged forward, expecting to tear into flesh and blood. But instead, she was met with something very different. Suddenly, she felt something hard in her mouth, something that was preventing her from closing her mouth. She lifted her head up and staggered back, struggling to remove whatever it was in her mouth.

McFinn looked up to see why the Velociraptor hesitated in attacking him. He stared in shock when he saw the raptor struggling with the long, wooden stick stuck in her mouth. She struggled, trying to bite her jaws tightly enough to snap the stick into two pieces. McFinn wondered how that stick got in the dinosaur's mouth, and then quickly realized who it had to have been. He looked over to where Liam was standing, next to him, glaring at the Velociraptor. “You..you saved me...!” McFinn whispered softly.

Liam nodded his head. “That should bide us enough time. Come on, get up before the dinosaur snaps that piece of wood in its mouth and comes after us again.” He bent down and helped McFinn to his feet. They then prepared to rush out the door, but suddenly the Velociraptor jumped in front of them. The stick in her mouth had been snapped and they could see some blood in her mouth where the stick had scratched her. The Velociraptor let out a loud roar, lifting up her hands and showing her claws to the boys.


	30. Taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Just then, before Moynihan could make another lunge at the boys, her eyes widened suddenly as something hit her, something very cold and almost moist. She lifted her head up and let out a loud screech as though she were in pain. She quickly turned her head over and she almost immediately noticed a large dark-skinned human behind her. She hissed angrily and turned around. Liam and McFinn slowly backed away, hoping that the raptor wasn't going to notice them as they put more distance between them and the dinosaur. Moynihan licked her chops as she glared down at Rodger with her glowing red eyes. Her movements, however, were becoming more and more sluggish and she started to shiver.

Rodger continued to spray the green Velociraptor, a few times taking a few steps closer as if he could spray more of her if he were closer. Moynihan's feet started to wobble as she was slowly losing energy. As she started to slump forward, Rodger closed his eyes and whispered, “I'm sorry, Ms. M...I didn't want to do this, but you left me with no choice.” As he said that, Moynihan finally lost consciousness and fell to the ground, curling up and sleeping as if she was just stopping in this spot to take a nap. Rodger then looked over at Liam and McFinn. He was confident that they didn't overhear him when he had identified the raptor. McFinn was glancing down at the Chiller, looking confused. “Hey, are you two all right?” Rodger called out.

“Yeah, we're okay..” McFinn said. He glanced down at the raptor nervously, thinking that she was going to spring up and attack them at any second.

“Don't worry. She's completely knocked out.” Rodger explained, hoping to ease McFinn's mind a little. “She's going to be asleep for a few hours.”

“So what are you going to do with her now?” McFinn asked. “Kill her?”

“Kill her?” Rodger echoed. He quickly shook his head. “Oh no, sorry we're not. We didn't come here to kill this Velociraptor.”

McFinn was confused. “But why not? That monster might attack someone else!”

Rodger shook his head. “No, McFinn. She's not a monster. She's just an animal running on instincts. It would be wrong to kill her for simply following instincts.” He glanced over his shoulder. The team should be catching up to him soon. He had run out in front of them. He didn't know what was taking them so long. He glanced back at McFinn. “We already have plans for the raptor. Don't worry, you won't be seeing her again. So you can relax now.” He looked over at Liam. “You too, Liam.”

McFinn couldn't tear his eyes away from the sleeping Velociraptor. “I still don't feel too comfortable with her being this close to me, asleep or not...”

Rodger chuckled. “Don't worry so much, okay? She can't hurt you while she's asleep, unless you accidentally cut yourself somehow. But I don't see you being stupid enough to put your hand in her mouth or on her claws or anything. So I'm pretty sure you're safe.”

McFinn nodded his head, looking up at Rodger. “Well, you do have a point. But still...” He gulped and glanced down at the raptor again. “I'm not going to let my guard down...”

Suddenly, there was a loud crackling sound and something shot through the air, pale yellow in color, and it was heading straight towards Liam and McFinn. Before the boys could move out of the way, the energy slammed against them. Their eyes shut tightly and they started screaming in pain. Rodger watched helplessly as the two boys were thrown back against the wall and slumped to the floor. They twitched a few times before finally falling limp. Rodger rushed towards them and gently nudged them with one of his feet. But the boys weren't responsive. At first, he thought they were dead, but he checked their vitals and found they were still alive; they were just knocked out. Rodger turned around to see the source of the attack and remained frozen where he stood.

There, standing in the door way with an evil smile on his face, was Dr. Veloci himself. In his hands, he held a dinosaur-like gun. It was a pale green color with what looked like black stripes. The face of it was shaped like a Spinosaurus and it looked a little longer than the Chiller and the Spiller, but it also looked thinner, suggesting it was more lightweight compared to those two weapons. Rodger could see a little smoke swirling out of the muzzle of the gun, indicating that it was recently fired several times. That meant that Victor must have used it earlier. Rodger felt his heart skip a beat as he imagined Victor shooting his friends with that. Gritting his teeth in anger, Rodger took a fighting stance, completely forgetting about the slight chance that Victor might not know he is a member of the Dino Squad.

Victor stared at the boy and chuckled darkly. He lowered the gun at his side and took a step forward. “Yes, try to fight me. I know you want to...” Rodger just narrowed his eyes further, his hands clenched into fists. “But I'm not sure if you want to do that. I already used this Zapper on your friends. And I have to tell you it works really well..”

Rodger's eyes widened in shock, then he narrowed them again. He pointed a finger roughly in Victor's direction and shouted in a demanding voice, “What have you done with my friends?! If you hurt them, I swear, I will..!”

Victor walked a little closer to Rodger, the Zapper still resting at his side as if he didn't plan to use it again. “What do you plan to do about it? If you must know, they are fine. But they won't be if you defy me..”

“What are you saying..?!” Rodger said, his eyes starting to glow.

Victor simply closed his eyes and leaned back slightly, looking almost proud of himself. “You didn't think I would come here alone, did you? I brought some of my men along..but then again..” He lowered his head and narrowed his eyes. “With how long you and your friends have been getting in my way, I'm sure you've already known that, am I right?” Rodger growled under his breath, but he didn't have a response for that question. Victor just smirked and chuckled. He glanced down at the Zapper and said, “I knocked out your friends with this weapon, but they will be fine. But if you defy me, I am going to have my men kill them before they regain consciousness.”

Rodger gasped in horror. “No!” He called out and he started to run towards the door.

Quickly, Victor moved in his way, blocking the boy's path. “I'm afraid you're not going anywhere. And just to show you how serious I am...” Victor pulled out his radio and held it in his mouth, but the button to speak wasn't pressed down, so his men would not hear him speak. “Try to defy me again and your friends will die...” Rodger stood there in shock, his hands now relaxed and shaking as he realized how dire the situation has become. “Now, step away from the Velociraptor and I will be taking her and I'll be on my way.” Victor did think of killing Caruso, but decided to wait.

Rodger's mind had gone into a blank. He couldn't think of what he could do. He didn't want to let Victor take Moynihan away. But at the same time, he didn't want Victor kill his friends. Rodger gritted his teeth in frustration. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He was in double lose situation. No matter what he could think of, it would only end with him losing someone. Victor had worked him into a corner now and he had to decide what was best for the team. Should he save Moynihan or should he save his teammates? What would they have wanted him to do? Then Rodger glanced at the radio and the weapon and got an idea.

Rodger took a step back, attempting to fool Victor into thinking that he was surrendering. Victor probably thought that he wouldn't go dino if he felt his friends were in danger. Victor smirked and started to walk forward. He held the gun up again, pointing it at him. Rodger suspected that Victor was going to make sure that he didn't try to stop him from taking Moynihan. Rodger waited until the right moment the strike. Victor then hooked the radio onto his shirt just in case he needed to access it quickly again. He then got out another gun and Rodger recognized it as one of the guns that shot out nets. Swiftly, Victor netted Moynihan.

As soon as Moynihan was netted, Rodger made his move. While Victor had his head turned away for those precious few seconds, he quickly transformed. He charged forward, but quickly slowed down. His intention wasn't to kill Victor. No, he had something very different in mind. Using his horns, he first knocked away the radio. It hit the ground several feet away, but remained in tact. Then with the other horn, Rodger knocked away the Zapper. Quickly he also knocked out the other weapon that Victor had. Now having no weapons or a way to call his men to order them to kill the other Dino Squad members, Victor found himself being pushed into the ground by the mad Styracosaurus.

Rodger glared down at Victor, putting his beak as close to Victor as he could in an attempt to intimidate him. But Victor just glared up at Rodger as if he wasn't even fazed. Rodger narrowed his eyes. 'You are not going to hurt my friends! Not while I can still fight!'

“Oh really?” Victor said, his voice calm and yet intimidating at the same time. “Am I supposed to be afraid of you? I defeated you in battle back at the lighthouse, or do you not remember? I could have killed you...”

Rodger snorted. 'That was just sheer luck you were able to get on my back!'

“Luck? Oh no...” Victor shook his head. “It was sheer luck that your Pterandon friend was able to knock me off when he did. Otherwise, I would have killed you.”

'You wouldn't have had the guts to go through with it!' Rodger said boldly. He almost immediately regretted saying that, realizing what a terrible mistake it was going to be.

“Don't underestimate me, boy.” Victor said in a darkened voice. “You will regret it. Your friend, Caruso, he regretted it..” Rodger bellowed in anger and he tried to attack Victor, but was suddenly knocked off by some unknown force. Victor had transformed into a Velociraptor and had managed to knock the dinosaur off of him. Rodger didn't go far, just enough so that Victor could get up off the ground. Victor lunged backwards, landing next to the net weapon.

When Victor changed back, Rodger realized what the man was going to do. 'Oh no you don't!' He charged forward, hoping to reach Victor before it was too late, but he reacted too late. Victor swiftly grabbed the weapon and shot out a net towards him. Rodger collapsed to the ground. He struggled frantically to get himself free. But every minute he struggled, he just continued to get even more entangled. 'No! Let me go!'

Victor ignored him and shot out another net. Rodger bellowed in shock as he felt the weight of another net land on his back. He tried to get up off the ground, but the net caused him to slip and fall. Victor smirked at Rodger's struggling. In an attempt to make sure that Rodger would not be able to get out in time, he shot several more nets at him until Rodger was now covered in about five nets. When he was sure that Rodger was completely entangled, he started to approach him, an evil smile on his face. Rodger looked over at him, his eyes narrowed in anger. “I told you not to defy me, boy..” Victor said in a cool voice.

Rodger shook his head, trying frantically to slice the nets open with his horns. But it was no use. He just couldn't seem to cut the net that was now encasing him with his horns. Combined, the nets were too thick for him to cut with his horns, and the nets were weighing him down so much that his neck was tiring out quickly. He eventually rested his head on the ground, unable to stand back up. 'You..you won't get away with this, Dr. Veloci!' Rodger said with what energy he had left from the struggling.

Victor only laughed. “I already have, little boy. I already have...” With that, he picked up the radio. Rodger's eyes widened in horror. Was Victor going to tell his men to go through with killing his friends? But to Rodger's surprise, that is not what Victor was doing. “Bring in the chopper. Now!”

A few seconds after Victor gave out his command, Rodger heard something loud, and then saw debris falling to the ground. He tried to crane his head up, but it was no use. Instead he rolled his dinosaur eyes towards the source of the sound. There was a large hole in the wall now. Rodger's eyes widened as he saw Victor's men rush in. Rodger tried to stand up, but he only fell back down again. He could only watch as Victor's men grabbed the net Moynihan was trapped in and started to drag her away towards the opening. 'No...No!' He called out.

Victor looked over in his direction, still smiling evilly. “Don't worry, I'll take good care of her...” He said in a menacing voice. With that, he grabbed his other weapon and started to walk towards the opening.

Rodger shifted back into human form. “Come back here...you rancid reptile! You can't do this!”

Victor bared his teeth and he turned his head back towards Rodger. “What did you just call me..?” Rodger gulped and realized his mistake. Before he could react, Victor leveled the Zapper with him and within seconds, a wave of yellow energy collided with him. Rodger screamed in pain as the electricity surged through his body before he finally collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Victor glared at him for a few seconds before turning his back to Rodger and walking through the opening. “Humans are just weak little creatures...and not very smart either.”

Victor climbed inside the helicopter as his men continued to pull Moynihan on board. There wasn't much room to put a large, green Velociraptor, but they managed to make room. Once she was on board and secured, one of Victor's men immediately got into the control seat of the helicopter. He turned over to Victor and said, “Subject has been secured, sir. We're ready for take off.”

Victor smirked. “Take us back to Raptor Dyne.” With that, the red dinosaur-like helicopter lifted up into the air and quickly headed off into the distance. Victor closed his eyes, deep in thought. Was it really wise for him in letting the Dino Squad go? After all, they could prove troublesome. He pulled out his radio. “Ground team, move in and take those students in the hallway back to Raptor Dyne, and take the african-american child in the nearby classroom as well.”

* * *

Terri glanced outside. It had gotten dark out already and she could see starts starting to glow in the sky. She then glanced down at her plate. Her mother had made some pork chops and potatoes today. Normally she would be reading a book or being forced to eat by her mother or father. But today, she didn't feel much like eating or reading. One of her books was sitting next to her on the table, but its cover was closed. She glanced at it and thought of picking it up, but decided against it. She held a fork in her hand and started to play with her food. But she didn't feel like eating. Her mind was too troubled for her to do much of anything at this point.

Terri's mother, Nevina, noticed her daughter's distress. She put down her fork and knife that she was using to cut up her meat and leaned forward on the table, her head resting on her hands. “Terri? Is something wrong, dear? You hadn't touched your food..or your book.”

Terri lowered her gaze. “It's..it's nothing, mom...”

Then Bryant, Terri's father, spoke up. “Listen here, young lady. You can't fool us about these things. We can tell something is bothering you. If you want to talk to us about it, your mother and I are right here for you.”

Terri exhaled deeply and smiled softly. She knew her parents would be willing to help her. But she wasn't sure if they could help her out with this problem. She turned her head towards the window, hoping to see her sister returning. But a few minutes had passed by and still no sign of her. Terri started to fear the worse. “It's Fiona. She isn't back home yet and dinner's almost done.”

“Now now..” Bryant said as he held a piece of potato with his fork. “..just because your sister isn't back yet..” He put the potato in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “..doesn't mean that anything is wrong. Maybe she and her friends got tied up with something and they're going to be late.”

“Your father's right, dear.” Nevina said sweetly. “I'm sure everything is just fine. Give your sister more time and before you know it, she'll be back, safe and sound.”

Terri wanted to believe her parents, but something inside her told her something was wrong. She glanced out the window once more. There was still a little light outside, but it was quickly vanishing. Terri swallowed hard. She looked back at her parents. “I hope you guys are right...”

Bryant leaned back in his seat, a big smile on his face. “Why, I bet you they are probably having a lot of fun catching more of those mutantsaurs!”

* * *

Fiona groaned softly. She felt a pounding in her head, a headache like she never experienced before. She slowly opened up her eyes. Her vision was extremely cloudy and blurred. She couldn't make out any shapes, just a blend of colors. She weakly shook her head, trying to clear up her vision. When she looked again, he vision had become more clear. It was still blurry, but slowly she could make out shapes. There didn't seem to be too much around at first. She could see a few desks nearby. She could see what looked to be funnels in the distance. She saw something large and white on the walls. And for some reason, almost everything had a shade of red to it.

Suddenly, Fiona's eyes snapped wide open. Her vision had sharpened up completely and she became aware of where she was. She recognized this room. It was Raptor Dyne! She looked around. She could see the desks where she knew his scientists worked. She even recognized the computer where that one scientist tried to get a blood sample from her and her friends. The funnels she had seen where Victor's tubes where he had kept his failed experiments, or so it seemed. And the large white thing that she had seen was Victor's monitor, which was a good distance away. It was near the area where Moynihan had originally been shackled the last time Victor had captured her.

When Fiona tried to move so she could find a way to get out of here, she realized she couldn't move her arms. Her heart started to race when she realized that her arms, outstretched completely from her sides as if she were a cross, were clamped to the walls by metallic rings. She tried to move her legs and to her relief they were still free. She glanced down and saw that there was a larger metallic ring pushing up against her stomach, pinning her to the wall. Fiona would have tried to go dino, but she had quickly realized that the metallic rings were spiked. She could feel them pushing against her skin, although they weren't doing any damage. She realized that if she went dino, she would slice her hands and her stomach and it could be fatal, depending on the circumstances. She glanced over at her friends. They were still knocked out. Just like her, they, too, were clamped to the wall by spiked, metallic rings, each one fitted to fit their size. She was relieved that they were still alive at least. But how long was that going to last?

Then she felt something on her neck, something funny that wasn't supposed to be there. She tried to glance down, but she quickly realized there was no way for her to see whatever it was on her neck. She wanted to try to feel it with her hands, but they were clamped far from her sides. Despite her situation, Fiona tried to struggle against her metal bonds, hoping that, by some miracle, the rings were weak from fatigue. But to her disappointment, they were rather strong and she ended up expending her energy just trying to get free. Fiona then heard footsteps and looked over to see who was coming.

Victor chortled as he approached the girl. “I see you are finally awake.”

Fiona bared her teeth. “Where are we?! What have you done to us?!”

Victor threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, my little girl...” He reached out and gently gripped her chin. “You should already know that by now. You're in Raptor Dyne, of course. And what have I done to you? Simple. I captured you. After all this time, I finally got all of you 'perfect dinosaurs', or should I say the Dino Squad?” He chuckled. Fiona just glared at him. “It was only a matter of time before I managed to catch you all. You should have known you wouldn't have been able to dodge me for very long...”

“Let us go, you creep!” Fiona struggled again, but once again felt something on her neck. She glanced down, somewhat curious to know what was on her neck. She glanced up at Victor and glared at him softly. She knew that he would explain to her what it was.

“I see you are curious about what I put on you teenagers.” Victor said, a smirk on his face. Fiona glanced down again, frustrated that she couldn't see what it was. “It's really quite simple. I can't have you teens disrupting my work here, even though you aren't going to be here long..” Fiona looked confused by his statement on how they weren't going to be there long, but she decided not to ask him about it. “And that's why I put shock collars on you and your friends. If you do anything to disrupt me or defy me, you and your friends will receive a rather..painful electric shock.” Fiona's eyes widened with fear as she looked down again nervously. “So if I were you, little child, I would hold my tongue.” Victor said in a threatening tone. With that, he released his grip on her and took a step back.

Fiona looked at Victor, her eyes still wide with fear. She could have sworn she saw what might have been the button for the shock collars. She opened her mouth to speak, but, remembering the shock collars, immediately closed her mouth and lowered her head. Usually, she would be able to come up with some kind of plan to get her and her friends out of messes like this. But this time, it was different. They were all completely restrained, all wearing shock collars, all vulnerable to being hurt. What good would she be in helping her friends, with her arms bound like this? She couldn't even transform. She was useless.

Victor smirked as he watched Fiona start to despair. It was a fitting comeback for all the times these children have humiliated him and outsmarted him in the past. This is what they deserved after their constant interruptions of his precious experiments. They should have just kept their noses out of his business. They should have never crossed paths with him. Now they were going to regret ever going against him. He would have killed them already, but he felt like he wanted to make them suffer a little, make them regret ever going up against him. Whether or not he'll go through with it, he wasn't sure. But he wouldn't have to deal with them for too long. Once he was finished getting their DNA, he was going to kill them all.

Just then, the elevator doors opened up. Victor glanced over to see Oscura stepping out, holding a weapon in her hands. Victor smirked as he immediately recognized the weapon as he one that he had sent Oscura out to get in the first place. The weapon was yellow in color and had a mouth that resembled a Troodon's. It was similar to the Zapper, but lacked the stripes. Oscura walked over and handed the weapon to Victor. “It was a piece of cake getting it.” Oscura said, sounding quite pleased with herself. “And the Dino Squad was....” She glanced over at the wall and noticed all five members of the team chained to it. Oscura chuckled. “Well well well...look at what we've got here...”

Fiona glared at Oscura and tried to lash out at her, but she was too far away and her binds were too strong. Oscura couldn't help but laugh at the girl's pathetic attempt at attacking her from this distance. Oscura looked at the other students, expecting them to try something stupid as well. But she was mildly disappointed that they were all knocked out. Oh well, they would be awake soon, and when they wake up, she was going to have a little fun with them, especially Caruso. The little coward would probably have a heart attack when he finds out where he is. Oscura couldn't wait to get his claws into him.

Victor noticed the way Oscura was looking at Caruso and quickly but lightly smacked her on the head. Oscura growled and rubbed her head, looking up at Victor with a confused look on her face. “I already have plans for that boy. Kista is the one who shall take care of him.” Victor looked up over at Caruso and narrowed his eyes. “Although I should have gotten rid of him when I had the chance. I was a fool in letting him live...” With that, he started to walk towards the young boy.

Fiona's eyes widened and she started to struggle frantically. She was not going to let Victor hurt her boyfriend! She was not going to let Caruso suffer through the same pain as he did weeks ago! She was not going to let anyone get near him! “No!” She shouted as she thrashed against the wall. “Don't you dare touch him!”

But Victor decided to ignore the girl's words. He was tempted to shock her, but he decided to save that for later. Within a few seconds, he reached Caruso. The boy was still knocked out, but after a few more seconds, Victor started to see him stir and his eyes started to open up. Victor smirked. He immediately reached over and grabbed Caruso by the jaw, more roughly than he had with Fiona, and pushed his head hard against the wall. The sudden sensation caused Caruso to immediately open his eyes to see what was going on. When he saw Victor, he started to whimper, but was too frightened to speak. “Hello, little Caruso...” Victor said in a somewhat playful tone.

“Leave him alone!” Fiona shouted, trying to kick at Victor with her legs.

Caruso started to tremble in fear, and he could feel his heart racing. He hoped that this was all just a terrible nightmare and that he would wake up at any moment. But when Victor dug his claws into his face and Caruso felt the sharp pain of the talons digging into his skin, he realized this was no dream; it was reality. This made him feel even more frightened. It was almost like the nightmares he had been having were coming true. He had hoped and prayed that he would never had to face Victor again while feeling helpless, but here he was, chained to the wall with no way to defend himself. He winced in pain as Victor continued to dig his claws into him, drawing fresh blood from several small puncture wounds. Unable to take it anymore, Caruso jerked his head way. He managed to free his face, but Victor's claws slashed his skin, making several small cuts on his lower jaw. He cried out in pain.

Hearing Caruso's cry, Fiona became even more frantic and determined to save him. “Get away from him, you monster!” She yelled at Victor. This time, as she kicked towards Victor, she managed to land a blow. It was more of a grazing shot, but she still managed to hit him. Caruso was right next to her, so there wasn't much distance between her and Victor. She lashed out again, but this time she missed.

Although it didn't really hurt him much, Veloci growled softly, annoyed with the pesky human trying to kick him. He slowly turned his head over and stared at Fiona, who had a scowl on her face. Victor chuckled softly. He couldn't imagine how Fiona thought she could actually hurt him given the situation she was in. He thought of teaching her a lesson, doing something to her to make sure she didn't try to attack him like that again. He glanced back at Caruso, who trembled in fear. Victor couldn't help but smirk at the boy. His spirit had already been broken. He didn't really need to do anything to make sure the teen remained submissive towards him. Now it was time for him to break the boy's friends, and he'll start off with this feisty little girl.

Victor stepped away from Caruso and walked back over towards Fiona. The girl narrowed her eyes into slits and Victor could see a faint glow in her eyes. She tried to kick out at him again, and this time Victor was prepared. He immediately seized her leg with a strong, red-skinned hand with claws instead of fingernails. Fiona was momentarily surprised by the swift movement. Slowly, she started to feel afraid, realizing what situation she was now in. She struggled to free her leg from the mad scientist's grasp, but his grip was iron tight. Fiona tried to kick out with her other leg in order to free herself, but Victor grabbed that as well and he squeezed tightly. Fiona closed her eyes and grunted in pain. Victor contemplated breaking both of her legs but decided against it. Instead, he decided on something else.

He released her legs. Fiona let out a sigh of relief as she brought her legs back, but then started to feel worried when she saw Victor reaching over towards the device she had seen earlier. Victor pulled it out and aimed the somewhat long rod that stuck out of one end of the device at her. She leaned back and gulped, not sure what to expect. Victor smirked evilly as she pressed a button. Almost immediately, Fiona felt a painful wave of electricity run through her body. She through her head back and screamed loudly as Victor held the button down for a few seconds and then released it. Fiona hung her head and panted heavily, her eyes wide with both fear and pain. She looked up at Victor, her body twitching from the electric jolt.

Victor held the device up so that Fiona could see it. “This, my dear, is the remote that controls the electric shock collars you and your pathetic friends are wearing. Tempt me again, and I will turn the collar back on, and I promise you it will be longer and a lot more painful the next time..” He leaned in a little closer to Fiona and whispered in a harsh tone, “Do you understand me?” Fiona pulled her head back as far as she could go and nodded slowly. Victor smirked. “That's more like it...” He turned and walked away from her.

Fiona looked over at Caruso, who had his eyes on Victor, afraid to tear them away. Fiona felt terrible that she couldn't do much to comfort him. But she had to at least try to. “Caruso...” The blue-haired teenager slowly turned his head to face her. “We'll...we'll get out of this. You'll see...”

Caruso wanted to believe her. He truly did. But his gut was telling him that she was wrong. He should know. He had been here before and he had tried to escape, but failed. He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I-I am sorry, F-Fiona...” He looked at her with a remorseful look on his face. “B-But there is no-no way to escape...”

Fiona looked shocked. “How can you say that? We were able to rescue you...”

“O-Only because y-you weren't already c-c-captured.” Irwin said, frowning slightly. “I-It's different when you were c-captured. T-Trust me... I tried to escape myself, but.. I-I failed...” He hung his head. “I-If you g-guys hadn't come..I-I would have b-been V-V-Victor's prisoner forever...”

Fiona wanted to say something to cheer him up, but she couldn't think of anything. She glanced down at her feet. She started to think to herself. Could Caruso be right? Could there really be no way out of here? She and the others had been in here before and they escaped. But things were different back then. They had broken into Raptor Dyne to save Moynihan. They had thought of a plan ahead of time, and they were able to succeed. But this time, they were all captured and chained and Moynihan's mind was completely altered. She wouldn't be able to help them this time, and without away to get free, they couldn't escape anyway. And none of their families knew were they were and neither did Liam, McFinn, Mrs. Krell, or anyone else that they knew outside of their families. And even if they did know, what could they do to help? They had little to no experience against Victor. Fiona closed her eyes. It all seemed hopeless. But she couldn't just give up. There had to be a way. There just had to!

* * *

“Oooooo...” Max groaned and slowly opened up his eyes. A few minutes had gone by and Victor had left the kids to go check on something. Max took a moment and glanced around. He tried to move his arms, but discovered they were clamped hard against the wall. He started to pull on them as hard as he could, but he couldn't break free. And the jaggedness of the metallic rings prevented him from going dino to get free. He looked over and noticed Fiona and Caruso were awake, and Rodger and Buzz were starting to come to. “Fiona...” He said softly. “We're in Raptor Dyne..aren't we?”

Fiona looked at him. “Yes. I hate to say it, but yes...”

Rodger groaned softly as his eyes slowly fluttered open. His binds were larger and thicker than the others to support his weight since he was the physically largest and heaviest among the team. When he realized he was chained to the wall, he struggled, but only briefly. He had noticed Max, Fiona, and Caruso were awake and he thought that if they couldn't get free, he wasn't likely to have any luck himself. He looked over at Buzz, who was chained next to him. “Hey...Buzz. Are you awake?” He asked.

Buzz shook his head slowly as he opened up his eyes. He looked around and seemed confused. “Where...where are we...?” He asked groggily, struggling to keep his eyes open.

“We're at Raptor Dyne.” Rodger said, narrowing his eyes slightly. “Victor must have taken us here while we were knocked out.” Rodger could never forget the horrible pain that Victor put him through when he had shot him with that stupid Zapper gun.

Buzz's eyes snapped wide open and his head jerked up. He looked over at Rodger, his face filled with shock. “Raptor Dyne?! We're at Raptor Dyne?!” Rodger nodded his head slowly, the soft glare still on his face. “Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get...” Then Buzz realized his arms were pinned against the wall. His eyes widened. “What's..what's this...? We're chained to the wall...”

“Thanks for that news flash...” Rodger said sarcastically, shaking his head slowly. Then he felt something around his neck. He tried to glance down to see what it was, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see it. “What's this..around my neck?”

Max looked over. He saw something around Rodger's neck, sort of blackish grey in color. But he couldn't tell what its function was. “I'm not sure, Rodg. It looks like some sort of collar. But why would Victor put a collar on us?”

“That's because it's not just a collar.” Fiona spoke up.

“Why is that, Fiona?” Max asked, glancing over at her.

Fiona looked down at her feet nervously. She wasn't sure how to tell them the bad news. “They're..shock collars.” She said after a few moments of silence. She heard the boys' gasping except for Caruso. She couldn't bare to look at them. With her eyes still averted, she said, “Yeah..it's true. Victor had shocked me earlier while you guys were still knocked out.” She shuddered at the memory. “It..it was horrible.. and Veloci said that he could do so much more damage if he wanted to.”

“He electrocuted you..?” Max said, his eyes widened slowly. Anger started to well up inside of him and he growled, “That monster...”

“Well what are we going to do now?” Buzz said, his face filled with despair. “None of us are strong enough to break from these binds. And even if we do get free, if that lizard brain catches us, he could just use these shock collars to subdue us.”

“Wh-What if we went d-dino?” Irwin suggested. “W-Wouldn't that b-break the collars?”

Rodger shook his head slowly. “Not unless they are adjustable, Caruso. Victor might have designed them that way because he might have wanted to prepare in case we did get free. Even if we went dino, the collars would likely still be there, doing as much, if not more, damage as before if Victor activates them.”

“You just had to ask, didn't you?” Buzz said bitterly, glaring over at Caruso.

Caruso hung his head. “I'm sorry, B-Buzz...”

Buzz's expression quickly softened up and he started to feel guilty. “It's..it's all right, Caruso. I didn't mean to snap at you like that.” Caruso didn't look back at him. Buzz sighed and hung his head as well. How did things get this bad? Ever since that darn invasion at the lighthouse, things just continued dropping downhill for him and the others. And now it got as low as it could have gotten: they were captured by Victor Veloci. There was no one left who had capable of rescuing them. Sure, there were a few people that knew of Victor, but what could they do? They didn't have dinosaur-morphing powers or the right equipment. And even if they tried to tell people what happened, who would believe them? In the majority of humanity's eyes, Victor was a humanitarian trying to better mankind. They wouldn't believe he was really a monster out to destroy them all. “The dude's got us this time...” Buzz muttered softly.

“Don't give up hope, Buzz.” Max said, glancing over at the punk teenager. “We've been in bad situations before and we always managed to get free.”

Buzz nodded his head, glaring softly over at Max. “Yeah, only because we had outside help or luck...” Buzz didn't really mean what he said and he knew Max knew that. He was just so confused and distressed over what has happened that he didn't know what else to do.

Rodger narrowed his eyes as he stared down at his feet. He started to feel angry with himself. He could have stopped this. He could have prevented Victor from taking them away to this wretched place. And yet he allowed himself to be shot by Victor and allowed himself to be captured. He was their last hope! And he had let them down! “I-I'm sorry you guys...”

Fiona looked over at Rodger. “Why? What for?”

“For letting you all down.” Rodger said in a soft tone. His eyes widened slightly as he looked at each of his friends the best that he could. “I was the last one standing. It was up to me to save you guys. I could have stopped all of this. But instead I let you all down. I'm so sorry...” He lowered his head again, trying not to cry. He could feel his guilt eating him up inside.

“Rodger, don't beat yourself up over this.” Max said sternly. “It wasn't your fault this had happened. None of us could have known it would happen.” He offered Rodger a smile in hopes of comforting him. “I hate to see you like this Rodger. I'm sure you did a fine job trying to protect us back there. You at least tried, and that's good enough for us.” To back up Max, the others all nodded their heads and agreed with him.

Although he was still feeling upset with himself, Rodger managed a small smile. “Thanks, you guys...” The others smiled back.

* * *

Several minutes later, the doors started to open up again. The Dino Squad looked up briefly, but they already knew who it was going to be. It was just another Raptor Dyne member. They looked away, not wanting to look in the eyes of another enemy. They didn't want to see the look of mockery that Veloci's men would have on their faces. They were certain that they would scoff at them and mock them, stating how easy it was to capture them when they weren't hiding behind the guise of a dinosaur. Since Victor's men knew that they were now human, they suspected that Victor's men would not be as intimidated by them. It would take more than just a dinosaur to frighten them away.

Stepping inside the laboratory was a familiar face: Michelle Brown. She had heard of the Dino Squad's capture and had come to see them. She had to choose her timing just right, however. If Victor or Oscura, or anyone, caught her talking with the enemy, she might get into big trouble. So she specifically chose a time when she was certain no one would be around. There was not going to be much time for her to converse, but it was still precious time she could use to talk to them, perhaps help them find a way to escape. That is, if they allow her to help them. Michelle looked back to make sure that she wasn't being followed and then continued to walk towards the teenagers that were hooked to the wall.

Once she had gotten within a couple feet, it was Buzz who first noticed who was approaching them. Buzz's eyes narrowed angrily. “You..what are you doing here?” He struggled against his bonds but to no avail. “Haven't you caused enough trouble for us? We're all captured now. What more can you take from us?”

Michelle was taken aback by this accusation. Was Buzz saying that she had planned all this? Did he really think that she was involved with their capture? She narrowed her eyes back and took a slightly hostile posture. “Now you listen here, bird brain! I did not plan any of this! I took no part in your capture! How can you blame me for this? I didn't take any part of this plan! I was here at Raptor Dyne! How could I have been one of those who captured you?”

“You could have given Victor some advice..” Buzz muttered angrily under his breath. “You had fought us before. You could have told him how to defeat us.”

Michelle scoffed and put her hands on her hips. “And he's faced you more times than I have. So wouldn't it make more sense that he'd follow his own advice and not mine?” Buzz had no answer for that, but still continued to stare at her in a hostile manner. Rodger was doing the same, but he wasn't saying anything. Michelle turned her head towards Max, knowing that he was the most understanding of the team. He was the one who let her go before. Perhaps she should talk with him first. “Umm..hello there...” She said nervously.

Max looked at Michelle, his expression soft, neither happy nor sad. “Hello, Michelle. What brings you here?”

“I..heard about what had happened.” Michelle lowered her head in shame. “I wish I could have stopped it.” She looked back up at the team. “I didn't want any of you to get captured.”

Buzz scoffed. “Yeah right...”

Max shot a glare at the punk teen. “Buzz!” He then looked at Michelle with a soft expression on his face. “It's quite all right, Michelle. There wasn't much you could have done...” He lowered his head. “But now I'm not sure how we can escape. I don't want to give up hope, but with these chains and electric shock collar...how can we hope to get out of here..?”

Michelle frowned slightly and tried to think of a solution. There just had to be a way for her to help them to escape. She didn't have the keys with her and she couldn't remove the shock collars herself. There had to be another way to help them. After a couple minutes, she did think of something that might work. It was tricky, but if she pulled it off, she could free them from both the chains and the shock collars. But she would need their cooperation as well. And she realized that she could use her claws to pick the lock on the shock collars; she didn't need keys to do so. She leaned in closer to Max and said in a soft tone of voice, “I know how I can get you guys free. But you need to listen to what I'm about to tell you and follow my advice without question. Got it?”

Max nodded his head. “Yes, I got it.”

“Okay, first, I'm going to pick the lock on each of the shock collars. I am not going to take them off, though. I don't want Victor to think that someone helped them, so they'll still be fitted around your neck. They'll be loose, but it'll still look like they're clamped around your neck.” Michelle explained. She looked at the students to make sure they were following what she was saying. She continued, “After that, I will try to convince Victor to unleash his three new mutantsaurs on you and...”

“See? She's just going to try to get us killed!” Rodger shouted, interrupting Michelle. He tried to struggle against his bonds so he could face Michelle, but he only ended up digging the spikes into his skin. “If it weren't for these spikes, I would be going Styracosaur on you!” He yelled at Michelle.

“Rodger, please!” Fiona yelled back. “Don't act so childish!”

“The spikes were where I was getting at actually.” Michelle spoke up, smiling briefly before she frowned again. “You see, the spikes can actually be pushed in. They're sort of retractable. That's how Victor keeps the edges sharp. There is a button for that.” She glanced over at the computer. “It's over there. Once I press the right button, the spikes will retract. Unfortunately, there is a code I would have to put in to make sure they stay in permanently. I do not know this code, so the spikes will only be withdrawn for a few seconds. Within that amount of time, go dino. You'll break free.”

Max's eyes widened slightly. The plan did seem a little risky. And yet it also seemed genius. Michelle had come up with a solution for all their problems in how they were going to get out. If Michelle managed to free them, he would be eternally grateful. “Do you think it could work?”

Michelle nodded her head. “Yes. With your cooperation, it could work.”

“How do we know this will work..?” Buzz said, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. He wasn't sure if he and the others should trust Michelle. For all they know, she might just be giving them false hope just to mock them.

Michelle looked over at him. She let out a soft sigh. “You will just have to trust me.”

“Trust you?!” Buzz hissed. He bared his teeth at her, looking insulted that she would even suggest that after all she had put them through. How could she expect him to believe her now?

Michelle nodded her head. “Yes.”

Buzz just looked away. “I'm not sure if I want to believe you. After the way you tricked me online..the way you had fooled all of us, the way you had almost killed Moynihan, and other things..” Buzz's expression softened up and he closed his eyes. “I just find it hard to trust you.”

Michelle looked at him sympathetically. “I'm sorry to hear that. I apologize if I had hurt you that much.” She said softly. But there was no time for her to carry out a conversation with Buzz. She started to hear footsteps and she knew that Victor was returning. She said quickly, “I'll be back later! Don't worry, I'll help you out of this!” With that, she quickly ran off.

After Michelle left, Victor, chuckling to himself, approached the students. The Dino Squad decided to keep quiet about what Michelle had told them. Even Buzz and Rodger, who trusted her the least, agreed amongst themselves that it was best that Victor didn't know about what happened. When Victor was within a few feet of the students, he couldn't help but smirk at them as they lay helpless in front of him. He could easily slit their throats if he wanted to, but he refrained himself from doing so. “Now what should I do with you kids now..?” He asked, but didn't expect an answer. He glanced over at Caruso, who cringed from his sight. Victor turned his gaze over to Fiona. He had already dealt with her. When he looked over at Buzz, his eyes widened slightly as he suddenly recognized the boy. “You...” He said softly as he walked over to Buzz.

Neil growled as he looked over at Victor as he approached him. “..what?” He asked in a darkened voice. Then Buzz's expression slowly changed into a more fearful look when Victor's eyes started to glow and he leaned in a little closer to the teen. “What? What did I do?”

“I remember you.” Victor said. He extended one claw and pressed it under Buzz's chin, tilting the boy's head upwards slightly. “You're Neil Buzmati, one of the pathetic students who got nominated for that stupid scholarship.”

Buzz growled. “It's not stupid!”

“Whatever.” Victor rolled his eyes. Then he made another realization. One of his workers, the one that he had punished not too long ago, his last name was Buzmati. Was this his son? It must be. He carried a scent a little similar to his ex-worker. An eerie smile spread across his face. “Are you familiar with someone named Drew Buzmati?”

A feeling of anger welled up inside of Buzz. “Yeah..he's my no-good father who betrayed me! He told me that he worked for you and he knocked me out and took my blood!” Buzz shouted, turning his head away. “I thought he cared about me...”

Victor couldn't help but laugh. “You humans are so naive. Little boy, your father did not betray you.” Buzz looked up at him in surprise. “He betrayed me. He couldn't stand the thought of what he did to you, so he tried to keep me from getting he DNA.” Buzz's eyes widened as Victor told him this information. “He destroyed the vial that had your blood in it. But he won't be any trouble for me anymore... “ Victor closed his eyes and smiled. “I've dealt with him personally...”

Buzz felt his heart race. He started to feel guilty that he had jumped to conclusions about his father. And he was feeling angry and fearful for what Victor might have done to him. His body trembling slightly, Buzz shouted, “What have you done to him?!”

Victor chortled softly. “Wouldn't you like to know...”

Buzz jerked his head away from Victor. “Tell me what you've done to him, you horrible creature!”

Victor narrowed his eyes. He lifted up his hand, claws fully extended. Instinctively, Buzz closed his eyes and turned his head away, waiting for the blow. Victor contemplated on striking him, but then decided against it. Smirking, he lowered his hand. “Now you understand your situation. Don't cross me, and you won't get hurt...” He looked over at Caruso briefly. If only that boy had learned his lesson as quickly as his little friends. “Now then, as for your stupid father, he's become a lucky volunteer in my latest experiment.”

“What do you mean?” Buzz asked. “Another one of your primordial ooze experiments?”

Victor nodded his head. “Precisely, young lad. And some mind control too.” He chuckled. “Of course, I already knew the mind control part would work. I tested it on your friend, Caruso, before and it worked, although not as well as I think it could have. Your teacher was introduced to a stronger, although slower dose.” He took a step forward. “So your father received a combination of primordial ooze and a version of my 'mind control' chemical.” Buzz was about to speak up, but quickly shut his mouth. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed Michelle to get out of here. “Your father was transformed into a mutantsaur, along with Zoom and O'Ryan.”

Buzz's eyes widened in horror. He couldn't believe what he just heard. Buzz lowered his head, trying to make sense of everything that was going on. Buzz had been angry at his father earlier for betraying him, and how he realizes that his father still truly loved him and had risked his life to keep Victor from exploiting him. And now his father had paid the price for his actions and was nothing more than a mindless slave. Buzz started to shake, trying to hide his tears of guilt, feeling terrible for condemning his father so quickly. But he couldn't hold them back any longer and a single tear started to stream down his face.

Victor sneered as he brought a claw towards Buzz's face. He carefully pressed his claw under the boy's eye, catching his tear. Then he pulled it away and stared at the tiny drop of salty liquid on his claw. “Hmm.. you humans are so emotional..” Victor wiped the tear from his claw in disgust. “You weep and cry over stupid things like this because you allow yourselves to become too attached.” Buzz glared harshly at him, but didn't say a word. Victor returned the glare, baring his sharp teeth, but didn't do anything to Buzz. “You disgusting little creature..” Victor whispered under his breath. Then Victor straightened up and looked up towards the ceiling. “Oh and you can forget about de-oozing your father, or whatever it is you humans call it.. I'm testing out a new batch of primordial ooze that's been modified to be resistant to those devices you were using to de-ooze my mutantsaurs.”

“Wh-Why...?” Buzz asked coarsely. Victor cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. “Why...are you telling us this..? We're only going to develop stronger machinery to counteract it...”

Victor shook his head slowly. “No you're not. You see...” He leaned in so close to Buzz that the green-haired boy could feel the villain's breath hitting against his face. “After I am doing getting a blood sample from you and your friends, I am going to kill you.” Buzz's eyes widened in shock. Victor couldn't help but laugh. “And I'm personally going to get the job done. So if I were you, little boy...” Victor placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. “I would squeeze in as much living as I could within the next couple hours. I'll be taking your blood in about two hours. Then after that, I'll end your lives. That way, you pesky Dino Squad teens won't be able to interfere with my plans anymore!” Victor started to laugh. His dark laughter reverberated and bounced off the walls, echoing throughout the laboratory.

* * *

About an hour later, Terri had managed to force herself to eat her meal. She glanced out the window yet again. She still couldn't see Fiona returning from whatever mission she was likely to be on. This only made her grow even more concerned. She looked over at her parents. They were trying to keep cool about the situation, but she could tell even they were starting to worry. Fiona had never been out this late before unless something was seriously wrong. But even though they were all worried about her, there was little to nothing they could do. They couldn't call the police because it was too risky; they might discover the truth about Fiona and her friends. They couldn't go out and find her. They didn't have the right equipment and they would only be putting themselves in danger. They couldn't even contact Fiona to see if she was all right. If they called her at the wrong time, they would only put her in grave danger.

Terri wasn't sure how long she would be able to stand remaining in the house without trying to do something to find the Dino Squad. She was becoming rather restless, fumbling around with her fork even though there was no more food on her plate. She hadn't gotten up from her seat for the past few hours. She hadn't even touched her book. Most of the time she was either looking out the window or staring off into the distance, running several thoughts through her mind. What should she do? Part of her wanted to go find her sister and her friends. But another part of her told her not to. She remembered the last time she had tried to help them. It had ended in disaster and she was temporarily banned from the lighthouse. She couldn't risk making the same mistake twice.

Then something caught her eye. There was movement outside the house. Terri felt her heart race. Could it be her sister finally returning home? But when Terri looked outside, she was gravely disappointed. There were two people approaching the house. They didn't wear the distinct outfit that Victor's men were usually seen wearing. Instead, it was a man and a woman. The man was blond while the woman had dark bluish hair that seemed eerily similar to Caruso's hair. She wondered if these were his parents. The couple approached the house and a couple seconds later, she heard them knocking on the door.

“Coming!” Nevina said as she quickly walked over to the door. With a smile on her face, she opened up the door and made a welcoming gesture. She recognized the couple as Caruso's parents. She had seen them before, although never got very acquainted with them. “Please, come inside.” Nevina said as she stepped aside. Amanda and Jack smiled back and walked into the house. They made their way towards the kitchen and took a seat.

Bryant noticed the two new people sitting at the table and came over to greet them. “Oh why, hello there. What brings you two over here?” He asked, a gentle smile on his face.

Jack frowned slightly, looking both worried and concerned. Seeing this, Bryant and Nevina's expressions also changed to that of concern. Jack said, “Well..it's about our son, Irwin.” Jack looked up at Bryant and Nevina. They looked at each other, almost as if they knew what Jack was going to say. They looked back and waited for the man to continue. “Well..you see..he's disappeared again. And the last time this happened, Ms. Moynihan had called to tell us what had happened.”

“But this time around, no one contacted us. We thought that everything was fine and within a few hours he'd come home. At worse, he'd probably be very late.” Amanda said. “But after a while, we grew concerned, so we called up the lighthouse. But..but no one was picking up.”

Bryant's eyes widened. “No one? What of Ms. Moynihan? Didn't she pick up?”

Amanda shook her head. “No. She did not.”

“That's strange...” Nevina commented worriedly. “She usually stays behind on missions and she's usually at the lighthouse at this time. She lives there, doesn't she? Surely she would be home.”

“That's what we thought.” Jack said, nodding his head. “That's why we are starting to become very worried about Irwin and his whereabouts. Tell me...” Jack leaned forward, now glancing down at Terri. “..did you see your sister return yet?”

Terri bit her lip. “N-No, sir.. I hadn't seen her since this morning.”

Jack nodded his head. “The same with our son.”

Nevina glanced up at her husband nervously. “You don't suppose something happened to them, do you?”

Bryant didn't have much of an answer. “I really don't know, dear. I suppose we can head down to the lighthouse and see if anyone is there. Maybe they're just working on something and they haven't been able to hear the phone ringing.”

“For hours?” Terri spoke up, getting up from her seat. “I find that hard to believe. If Fiona was going to be this late due to a project, wouldn't she have called us up and told us?”

“Well..maybe...” Bryant tried to find a logical explanation, but nothing came to mind. He lowered his gaze, feeling bad for not being able to come up with anything to comfort Terri, his wife, or himself.

Terri took a step back and pushed in her seat. She then started to make her way towards the door. Nevina noticed what her daughter was doing and rushed over to try to stop her. “Terri, where do you think you're going at this hour?” She asked her daughter.

Terri responded, “I'm going to the lighthouse. Maybe something there will help clear up what had happened.”

Nevina gripped her daughter's shoulders. “No, you have to stay here, Terri. I don't want to risk losing you, too...” Nevina said, staring at Terri straight in the eyes. “If it comes to that, your father and I will go.”

“But mom...what if they aren't there?” Terri protested. “I know how to use the scanners there. I could track them down.”

Nevina frowned and looked over at her husband, trying to see if he had any input on this. Bryant glanced at her, then looked over at Terri. He wasn't sure whose side he was on in this situation. He didn't want Terri to get hurt, but he also trusted her. She was a very smart young lady and she was more capable than even he had expected. Perhaps he should trust her on this. And yet, when he got right down to it, she was just a little girl. Unlike her sister, she couldn't transform. What if she had gotten hurt? Bryant wasn't sure if he could live with himself if that had happened. But at the same time, they were only going to the lighthouse. What was the worse that could possibly happen?

Bryant left the room for a few minutes. When he came back, he had grabbed the keys to the car outside. He looked at his wife and daughter, and then looked over at Amanda and Jack. He gestured towards the door with his head. “Come on. We're all going to that lighthouse.”

* * *

“G-Guys...” Caruso whispered under his breath. “I-I'm scared...”

“Don't worry, Caruso. We'll get out of here...” Fiona said, trying to comfort him. But she was only fooling herself. How would they get out of this?

There was no clock in Raptor Dyne that they could see. As time slowly ticked away, they had no way of knowing when Victor was going to come back to take out blood. They had no idea how much time they still had left. And as each second passed by, the kids felt more and more dreadful feelings welling up inside of them. What about their families? How would they find out what had happened? Victor would probably talk to them and act like it was an accident. But the kids knew that Caruso's parents and Fiona's parents would not be fooled. They could, in theory, tell the other families what really happened. But would they believe them? There was a chance that the other families would think that they were crazy and completely dismiss it. But what would it matter anyway, if they believed them or not? It wouldn't change a thing.

The kids started to feel terrified of the idea of not being able to see their loved ones one more time. They would not be able to say goodbye to their parents and siblings. They wouldn't have the chance. Victor was going to deny them that. The kids couldn't being to imagine how dreadful the following day was going to be when their friends and families got word of their deaths. A single killing was bad enough, but a mass killing would leave too many emotional scars and it would be such a huge impact among so many people back in town. And worst of all, chances are was that Victor was going to get away with murder. He would likely frame someone else, perhaps a former worker of his, and they would be wrongfully charged with killing five students and a teacher. And Victor would be able to make a clean getaway and be able to continue his experiments without being hindered by the police.

Their only chance of getting out of this mess was if Michelle Brown was able to keep her promise. She had promised them that she would try to find a way to get them out of this. But their feelings about her were divided. Max, Fiona, and Caruso were all willing to give the girl the benefit of the doubt. There wasn't much worse that could happen to them right them. And Michelle hadn't tried to mock them or hurt them when she had came over, unlike Victor and Oscura. She also seemed really sincere when she said she wanted to help them escape. But Buzz and Rodger still remained uncertain about her. They still remained hostile towards her, but they refrained only because they had reluctantly agreed that she was their only hope. They were still worried that she was just going to lead them into another trap, but Max had brought up a good point to them. How could she trap them when they were already captured? Still, they didn't want to take any chances and were keeping their guard up.

Buzz closed his eyes softly, thinking about what Victor had said to him about an hour ago, or maybe it was two hours. He couldn't remember. Dr. Veloci had told him what had happened to his father. Buzz still felt terrible for what he had said about his father. He had pretty much called him a monster, and the man had risked his life to save his own. How could he have said that about his own father? Why did he so cruelly turn his back on him like that? Buzz shook his head slowly. There was no excuse for what he did, absolutely none. Buzz glanced over at Rodger. “I hope my dad forgives me...”

Rodger looked over at him. He had heard what Victor said about the boy's father and he felt sorry for Buzz. He nodded in agreement. “I'm sure he already has, Buzz.”

“I hope you're right.” Buzz said before looking away. There was something else he wanted to talk about as well, something that he should have brought up before. He turned his head back and tried his best to look over at Max. But he didn't need to see Max to know he was there. There was something he should have told Max, Fiona, and Caruso. He thought he had already told them what happened, but with all that's happened, he felt that they've forgotten. And Buzz didn't see anything wrong with reminding them of what he had said. “There's..something else I wanted to say.. I better say it before..time runs out..” He gulped, thinking about the deadline Dr. Veloci had told them.

“What is it?” Max asked, looking over at Buzz. “What did you want to tell us?”

“It's...the reason I've been so hard on Michelle.” Buzz said softly, lowering his head. “You see...it's not really..just her...that I'm mad at..”

“Didn't you already tell us this?” Max asked, tilting his head.

“I-I guess so..I don't know...” Buzz explained. He felt a little strange explaining the same thing again. “It's just that..after what she did to me..online... I just... Well I already told you that she reminds me of Victor, didn't I??”

“Then..why are you telling us again? We already know what happened.” Max said. After they had rescued Buzz, Moynihan had told them what Victor had done to trick Buzz.

“I had met her online.” Buzz explained. The team, except for Max, looked at each other, suddenly remembering when Caruso had joked about Buzz having a girlfriend online. They had almost forgotten that Michelle was that online girl. They couldn't believe that they had nearly forgotten this. “I admit..I had a lot of fun with her. She was a good fighter. She almost beat me too...” Buzz let out a soft sigh. “And when she came to the school, I thought that we would have been great friends. And when she was being 'attacked', I really wanted to help her. But when she tricked us like she had and helped to take Caruso away, well I...I....” Buzz didn't know how to finish.

“We understand.” Fiona spoke up. “And because of what Victor had done earlier, that must have been a really harsh blow... No wonder you find it hard to forgive Michelle.”

“I won't lie to you. I'm still upset with Michelle.” Max said. “After what she had done, it's hard to forgive her. But she is still trying to help us and we should at least give her one more chance to make up for what she did.” He looked at Buzz. “I understand that it must have been very painful for you to relive being tricked like that, not once, but twice, and I understand that it's hard for you and Rodger to forgive Michelle. But if you don't let go of those hostile feelings you have against her, you'll never feel better. It will only get worse and worse and you'll just feel miserable for a very long time.”

“But..how can I forgive her?” Buzz asked without looking at Max. “How can I just forget all the pain and misery that she had put us through?”

“I'm not saying you will forget what had happened.” Max said. “You will never forget. But you can still forgive. That's the first step to recovery, Buzz. Forgiveness.”

“Yeah, Buzz. It's terrible to hold a grudge for so long. I know it's only been a few weeks. But you should try to forgive Michelle soon.” Fiona said softly. “Like Max said, it's the first step to recovery. If you don't forgive Michelle, you'll never feel completely better. It will still continue to eat away at your heart and the emotional pain may end up being too much for you one day. Please, Buzz, for your sake and our sake, please don't hold this grudge against Michelle. I'm still mad at her too, but I want to forgive her. I don't want to continue hating her like I do.”

Buzz lowered his head. “I admit..neither do I...”

“Me neither.” Rodger spoke up. “I never admitted it, but I did feel a little bad for how I was acting around Michelle. I just couldn't help myself..” He looked at Buzz sympathetically. “Seeing how you reacted to her, seeing how angry and upset she was making one of my best friends, I started to feel..very protective... I didn't want Michelle to hurt any of my friends again and that's why I didn't want to give her another chance. I was afraid that she would just end up hurting us again...”

Caruso now spoke up. “I-I-I felt awful when I had g-given her away the library... I-I wish I hadn't done that.. She didn't even d-d-do anything to hurt me...” He lowered his head in shame. “I-I wish I could apologize to her for that...”

“I'm sure you'll get the chance.” Fiona said, smiling at the boy. Caruso smiled back, but he still had a saddened look in his eyes. Fiona lowered her head. She was no less guilty of how she treated Michelle than the others. But she didn't go as far as Rodger and Buzz. For a while, she didn't know completely why they were acting like that. And now she knew. “Perhaps, if we get out of this, we should all talk with Michelle and start over.”

“That sounds like a great idea, Fiona.” Max said as a broad smile spread across his face. “It's the least we could do...”

“But...but what if she isn't able to free us?” Buzz asked, his eyes narrowed slightly. “I mean, I know she works for Victor and all, but that doesn't guarantee that she'd be able to get us out of here.”

“But I thought she had a plan...didn't she?” Fiona asked.

“Yes, a rather risky one.” Buzz said as he tried to remember the exact details. “It could easily backfire on her. What if Victor spots her and stops her before she can fulfill her promise?”

“I guess all we can do is hope..” Max said as he glanced up at the ceiling. “Hope..and pray that we get out of here alive..” He didn't want to think of what would happen if Michelle was unable to keep her side of the deal. He hoped that she would be able to succeed. She was their only chance that they had left.

Just then, they heard footsteps. Looking over, they saw that it was Oscura. As much as it angered them to see her, they also couldn't help but be afraid for a few reasons. The main reasons that concerned them were that it was likely that she overheard them talking about Michelle and she could easily poison them if she wanted to. If she had heard them talking about Michelle, then she could easily sabotage the plan and have them all killed. And if she wanted to bite them, there would be nothing to hold her back. She could simply make them feel very sick so that when Victor came to finish them off, they would not be able to fight back, although they already couldn't fight back being bound to the wall like this. Oscura slowly walked up to them, eyeing the teenagers one by one, an evil smirk on her face. She hadn't said anything just yet. She looked like she just wanted to savor this moment. It made her feel superior compared to them. It made her feel empowered, that she could do whatever she wanted to them and they couldn't fight back.

“What do you want...?” Fiona said bitterly, not able to keep silent anymore.

“Have you come over her to mock us?” Rodger asked darkly, his eyes narrowed into slits. “I can tell from the look on your face..that's what you want to do.”

Oscura tilted her head to one side. “Oh what makes you think that? Can't I just come over here and talk to a couple of old friends..?”

“We're not your friends!” Fiona shouted. Oscura, though still smiling, glared in Fiona's direction. She walked over to the girl and suddenly seized her chin with dino-like hands, digging her claws in. Fiona let out a cry of pain.

“F-Fiona!” Caruso called out in horror.

“You should be more respectful towards your superiors.” Oscura said darkly in a manner that sounded so much like what Victor would say. She moved her other hand towards Fiona and, using a single finger, gently brushed a strand of hair from the girl's face. Fiona closed her eyes and tried to turn her head away. Oscura just smiled at her. “Otherwise, you could end up hurt.”

“L-Leave her alone!” Caruso called out, starting to struggle against his binds. He was frantically trying to get free to get Oscura away from his girlfriend. Oscura looked over in his direction. It amused her to see the boy trying to escape. She released Fiona and started to walk towards Caruso. The boy tried to act brave, glaring at her, trying to hide his fear. But his eyes gave away his true feelings inside. He was absolutely terrified.

“Do you have something to say to me, little boy?” Oscura said in a playful tone of voice. Caruso hesitated, but slowly nodded his head. Oscura leaned very close to Caruso. “Then why don't you say it in my face?”

“Why don't you g-go jump off a cliff...” Caruso said bitterly.

Oscura's eyes widened slightly at that statement. Then she slowly narrowed her eyes, pulling her lips back into a snarl. She clenched a fist tightly, trying to keep herself from striking Caruso and killing him right on the spot. As much as she would have loved to do that, she had to obey Victor's rules and refrain from attacking. He was already upset with her when she told him she had bitten Moynihan. Luckily, Victor was able to come up with an antidote so that Moynihan wouldn't get sick from the Troodon poison. But she still felt the urge to teach Caruso a lesson. Extending claws on both hands, she suddenly dug her claws deep into his arm, deep into the same spot where he had been slashed by Victor's sickle claw. Caruso screamed loudly in pain.

“Caruso!” Fiona cried out, struggling to get free.

“Stop that!” Buzz called out.

“Let him go!” Rodger demanded.

“Leave him alone!” Max chimed in.

But Oscura ignored their pleas. She just continued to drive her claws deep into the boy's arm, smiling in satisfaction as she watched him scream and writhe against the wall, watched him as he tried to get away from the pain but had nowhere to go. After a few seconds, she finally released him. Caruso hung his head, panting heavily, his eyes still wide with pain. Oscura reached forward and gently tilted his head upwards so that he was looking at her. “Maybe now you will learn to show respect against a superior, you insignificant little coward...” She glanced at the other members of the Dino Squad. “And may this be a lesson for you, too. I might not be able to kill you, but...” She showed them her claws. “..if you tempt me, you will be begging me to kill you...”

“Oscura, that is enough!” A voice sounded out from behind Oscura. The girl growled softly and turned around to see Kista standing there. Oscura was somewhat expecting Michelle since the last time she was messing with the team, it was Michelle who had stopped her. But she also wasn't surprised to see Kista telling her to stop. Kista had been given orders by Victor to make sure that Oscura behaved during the couple hours that the Dino Squad had left to live. Kista folded up her arms and walked towards Oscura. “Didn't Victor tell you to leave them alone for a few hours? Who difficult is that?”

“Oh don't talk.” Oscura muttered, staring up at the young woman with narrowed, dark eyes. “You know as well as I do that you would be doing the same thing, if you had the chance to.” She glanced over at Caruso. “I am certain that you want to finish him off.”

Kista sighed and looked over at Irwin. The kid looked at her in fear and started to shake. It was clear that he recognized who she was. Kista just smirked at him slightly, but she didn't make a menacing gesture towards him. What was the point? She was going to have her way with him relatively soon. She could wait until them. She looked back at Oscura. “I will kill him. But later on, when Veloci gives me the signal. Why should I waste my time messing with him now...” She bent her body forward slightly so she could put her face close to Oscura's. “...when I'll have the chance to later on?”

Oscura rolled her eyes. “You're just like Michelle. You're no fun at all...”

Kista just smiled and straightened herself up. “If you say so.” She then turned away from Oscura and looked over at the Dino Squad. She didn't come over here just to scold Oscura. “Veloci's sent me to ask you kids a question. Do you want to see Ms. Moynihan again before you have to die..?”

“What have you done to her?!” Max shouted, even though he already knew the answer.

“Me? I didn't do anything.” Kista said, slowly shaking her head. “But Victor has. He poisoned her mind, made her a Velociraptor once again. Wonderful, isn't it?” Kista said as she glanced up towards the ceiling. “Now finally we have another pure dinosaur ally... Finally, another dinosaur survivor.”

At first, the Dino Squad didn't know what Kista meant by dinosaur survivor. But the more they thought of it, the more they realized the meaning of that statement. Fiona was the first to speak up. She looked at Kista, her eyes wide with shock. “You..you mean that you're a...a...?”

“A real dinosaur?” Kista said as she glanced over at the girl. “Yes. I am just like Victor and your precious teacher. I, too, survived the mass extinction that wiped out the other dinosaurs.”

“But that's impossible! Ms. M said that only she and Victor survived!” Rodger shouted in disbelief.

“You idiot!” Kista growled at him. “Do you really think that your pathetic teacher would be able to know if all dinosaurs were wiped out? Trust me when I say this...” She walked over at Rodger and put her face close to his. “There are a lot more of us than she realizes...Living among you, in any place... I can guarantee you that no matter which country you go to, there'll be at least one dino survivor amongst them...”

“But if that was true...” Buzz said. “..wouldn't Victor try to recruit them? I mean, wouldn't he want to have all these dinosaurs on his side, helping him?”

“Ah, very true.” Kista said, scratching her chin thoughtfully. She had to admit, she hadn't thought of that before. Then again, it could be that Victor just didn't know about them. “Victor is a very busy man. Do you really think he'd have time to recruit everyone? Besides...” Kista glanced around the laboratory. “..Victor has more than enough help from the humans he has recruited over the years. He has more members here than you can possibly count.”

Max narrowed his eyes in disgust. “Why would anyone agree to work for that demon? Why would these people betray their own species?”

“Why would Moynihan betray her own species by helping you?” Kista asked, answering Max's question with one of her own. Max's eyes widened. He didn't have an answer for that. Kista continued, “Victor has been wondering about that for years. And yet there she was, your teacher, a sixty-five million year old Velociraptor, helping the two million year old human species, protecting them from Victor Veloci.”

“But still...” Max said softly. “It's..it's one thing if only one member betrays its own species. But...” He looked at Kista straight in the eyes. “Raptor Dyne has hundreds, maybe thousands of members, millions perhaps? How could Victor have convinced them all to turn against their own kind? How could they all agree to destroy the human race? How can they turn back on their own families and friends and everyone else?”

Kista blinked a few times. She hadn't thought of that before. Max did have a good point. Just how did Victor manage to do it? Kista hadn't really asked Victor too much about it. She wasn't really all that interested in knowing how Victor managed to pull it off. But he did at least tell her a few things of how he was able to get them to change sides. Kista turned her back on Max, clasping her hands behind her back as she let herself go deep into thought. Max watched her curiously, wondering what she was going to do. He almost anticipated her to suddenly turn around and attack. But he didn't know Kista too well. He wasn't sure what she was like, other than she was an assassin that would kill only when told to. After a few minutes, Kista turned her head back towards the boy, her eyes glowing slightly. “The reason Victor managed to recruit those people depends on the situation, my boy.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Well, for one thing, Peter, that Apatosaurus you kids faced..” Kista said. “He was recruited by Victor for revenge. You see, Peter had been kicked out of a company years ago for his failed experiments, or something like that, I don't remember the exact details. But Victor found him and offered him a chance at revenge at that company. And thus Peter agreed to work with Victor Veloci at Raptor Dyne, hoping that, one day, he would be able to strike down the very company that shunned him out.”

“So everyone here..is only here because they want revenge..?” Rodger asked softly, his voice laced with disgust. He knew there had to be a reason for why these people would turn against their own kind, and he knew that reason would be bad, but he never thought it would be like this. How selfish and cold-hearted could these men be to turn their backs on the human race all in the name of getting a chance for revenge?

“Not everyone.” Kista said, smirking. “From what Victor told me, many more members, but not the rest of them, are forced to work for him because he uses fear to control them, and threats. He tells them that if they don't work for him, he would kill them. But if they submit to them, they would survive the transformation of the planet.” She watched as the students looked at each other. They seemed almost surprised to hear this. Kista stifled a laugh. How could the children not know this? She guessed that they didn't know Veloci as well as she thought they did. Kista then lifted up her head and closed her eyes. She could hear Victor faintly calling out to her. He probably wanted her to feed the mutantsaurs again. “I've got to get going. I will see you kids later.” She turned to walk away, but not before looking over at Caruso one last time. She grinned at him, watching as the boy cringed back. Kista chuckled and then quickly disappeared into the back part of the laboratory.

* * *

Kista arrived in the room where Victor was keeping the mutantsaurs. The three mutantsaurs were standing in the middle of the room rather than in their cages. Kista rolled her eyes. This likely meant that her hunch was right; Victor did want her to feed them. Kista walked over, eyeing each of the creatures one by one, smirking at the chains that kept them from attacking her. She wondered what would happen if she were to release them. Would they get out of Raptor Dyne? If they did, what would they do in Boston? She was tempted to try to find out, but she refrained herself from doing so. Victor would have her head if she did something like that, at least not when things were still not ready. The mutantsaurs narrowed their eyes at her and one of them snapped in her direction. She merely stepped away and they missed completely. She then growled and her eyes glowed. The mutantsaur's eyes widened slightly and it cringed back and Kista just walked away with a smirk to find Victor.

One of the mutantsaurs was a wolverine, Drew Buzmati to be precise. He was the first one to be mutated and had been trapped in this room longer than the other two. He was the most ferocious of the three. He was the one who had snapped at Kista. He had only cringed back because he had sensed Kista's power. Other than that, he was almost fearless, willing to attack anything or anyone that came near him, except for Victor Veloci of course. He was still bound by his will. Victor could make him do almost anything that he wanted him to and he didn't have any choice except to obey his every whim.

The mutantsaur standing next to him was a cheetah who used to be Zoom O'Donnell. Zoom was larger than Drew in size, but was more timid. Cheetahs were naturally fearful around other predators due to their lack of strength, and Zoom really showed it. He was terrified of Drew and O'Ryan and his body was very skinny, although spiky. He had long fangs growing from his jaws like a sabertooth and his ears were long and pointed. His tail was long and thin and quite spiky. Huge claws jetted out from his paws, looking too large for his legs to carry. Although he didn't have as much strength or courage among the mutantsaurs, he had one thing they didn't: speed. Zoom would be able to move quickly enough to avoid the Dino Squad's attacks, allowing him to sneak in attacks without them being able to fight back.

And then there was the last mutantsaur, a bear, and it used to be O'Ryan. He was the largest amongst the trio and the most muscular. He had the general shape of a grizzly bear, but with several differences. His claws were larger and longer. His tail was thick and long, more like a dinosaur tail. He had large spikes sticking out of his back, almost like Stegosaur plates, but more pointy and sharp. His mouth was slightly longer and jagged teeth jetted out from his top jaw and overlapped his bottom jaw. His ears were pointed, but much smaller than Zoom's. He was also digigrade like a dinosaur instead of plantigrade like a normal bear. He could still rear up on his hind legs and a swipe of his paw could crush concrete. He could easily take down the Tyrannosaurus Rex with a single blow.

Kista smirked. With these mutantsaurs combined with herself, Oscura, Michelle, and of course Veloci and the newcomer, Moynihan, the Dino Squad wouldn't stand a chance if they ever manage to escape. But she remembered why she came over here in the first place. She didn't see Victor anywhere yet. “Hello? Dr. Veloci? You called me?”

“Yes, of course.” Victor said. His voice sounded slightly distant, indicating he was further down in the room. “I'm over here.”

Kista walked over near the back of the room where she found Victor leaning against the wall. He didn't seem to be doing anything very important. Heck, it didn't look like he was doing anything at all. She started to wonder why Kista called her out here. Maybe he just wanted her opinion on something, or maybe he was just going to make some snide remark. Kista would have rolled her eyes right then if Victor wasn't looking at her as she approached him. As Kista got closer, she started to realize that Victor was not alone. She could see a shadow of a second figure close by. Kista cocked an eyebrow. Now who could be talking with Victor back there? She hadn't seen any of the men come by this way, but it could be possible they had slipped in without her realizing it. When she got closer, she realized it was Michelle. Now that was curious. She wondered why Michelle was back here. Could it be that she got in trouble with Victor again?

“Why have you called me back here?” Kista asked as she walked up to Victor, stopping a few feet away from him. She put her hands on her hips and waited for him to answer. Victor looked down at her and smirked softly, but almost creepily. Kista cocked an eyebrow again. “What? Is something on your mind? You look happy..too happy...”

“Oh not much..” Victor said as he gave a sideways glance to Michelle. “I just wanted to ask your opinion on something.”

“Oh? Okay then..” Kista said, her eyes narrowed slightly. This was different. She had expected him to tell her to feed the mutantsaurs. But to ask for her opinion on something? That wasn't something the Velociraptor did very often. “What is it you wanted to ask me?”

“Michelle here has made a very..interesting suggestion.” Victor said.

Kista lifted her head up slightly. “Oh really? And what did that human suggest to you?”

“To sic the mutantsaurs on the Dino Squad.” Victor said, the dark smile still on his face. Kista looked at him in surprise and glanced down at Michelle. Did this little girl really make such a horrendous suggestion? Would Victor actually go through with it. She looked back at Victor, waiting for him to continue. “Yes, I know what you are thinking. But it would be a good opportunity to see how well my mind chemical really works...and it would also let me see just how good they are in battle. And who knows? Seeing the Dino Squad fighting in dino mode just might prove worthwhile...”

“So you're releasing them from their binds?” Kista asked curiously.

“Well not completely. You see, I still can't risk them hurting my mutantsaurs. If they prove valuable, I want them to be in perfect fighting condition. So I was thinking of just moving the teens, free to walk around but nothing else, into a large room, lock them inside, and let the mutantsaurs tack care of them.” Victor explained. “But I would like your opinion on that, Kista. Do you think it's a good idea to just sic the mutantsaurs on them? Or do you think I should give the Dino Squad a fighting chance to make things more..interesting?”

Kista thought about this. She was sort of mixed on this suggestion. One part of her was against the idea of not giving the kids a chance to fight back. That didn't seem very sportsmanship-like, but then again, they weren't sportsmen; they were dinosaurs. And the kids were a threat to Raptor Dyne. Perhaps they should just finish them off as quickly as they could. It might be to risky to give them a chance to fight back. And yet, still, Kista felt uneasy about it. She wanted a challenge. She wanted to be able to fight them. She had been looking forward to it for so long. To let the mutantsaurs kill them without getting a chance to fight, it just didn't seem very fair to her, or them. And yet, she also couldn't forget that the kids were the enemy. If they gave them any leeway, they could probably find a way to overcome them and get away.

“Well..sir...What did you have in mind? I mean, were you going to kill all of them with the mutantsaurs..?” Kista asked softly, rubbing the back of her head. “Because I'm still interested in fighting them.”

“But you already fought them.” Victor explained, his eyes narrowed slightly. “You've had your fun. But now's not the time for fooling around.”

“Yes..I know...” Kista muttered under her breath. “Well, could I at least kill Caruso? That is my job, isn't it? I would hate to let this job go unfinished.”

Michelle's eyes widened. This isn't what she had in mind. She wasn't expecting Kista to ask a question like that. She looked up at Victor, almost dreading the answer he was going to give. Victor was rubbing his chin thoughtfully, trying to come up with an answer for Kista's question. Then a twisted smile spread across his face. “Why..yes... You can...”

* * *

Terri was the first one to step into the lighthouse. She looked left, and then right. The lighthouse was not completely dark. She noticed that some of the lights were still on. That didn't set too well with her. Moynihan wasn't the type to just waste energy like this. Then again, she didn't know the woman as well as her sister did, so maybe she was just jumping to conclusions. But the lighthouse somehow had a eerie atmosphere that was making her feel uneasy. She heard her parents and the two other people walking in as well, all remaining completely quiet. They weren't sure if something was in the lighthouse or not. Terri looked over at the stares and noticed something strange about them. She moved in closer to investigate.

Upon closer inspection, she could see claw marks on some of the stairs. That was unusual. Her sister and her friends didn't usually go dino in this room. And Rump wasn't big enough, even in dino mode, to make claw marks this big. So what could have caused them? The only thing that would make sense was if something as big as a Velociraptor had come into the lighthouse. Terri's eyes suddenly went wide. She started to get a vivid idea of what might have happened in the light house. “Veloci.” She suddenly said out loud. Without thinking, she quickly ran up the steps, ignoring the reactions from her parents, Jack, and Amanda. She had to find out what had happened here. She just had to!

“Hello? Is anyone here?” Terri called out after she reached the top of the stairs. She quickly noticed the door to what she believed to be Joanne's bedroom was opened. That was strange, Terri thought as she approached the door. Usually it remained closed, no matter if Moynihan was inside or not. And it was rare for the Dino Squad to even go in here. It was Moynihan's private quarters in the lighthouse and they all knew that. So why was this door open? Terri was afraid to find out, but she didn't have a choice in the matter. Swallowing hard, she grabbed the door and slowly pushed it open a little wider and stepped into the room.

Terri gasped at what she was seeing inside the room. Things were all over the floor. There was several cracks and dents in the wall and in the ground. She could see something that she suspected was created by Buzz, but she couldn't tell for sure. Moynihan's bed and dresser were a mess, with things just laying all over the floor. She could see what she thought was blood staining the ground. There seemed to be some kind of struggle going on as well, but she couldn't tell for sure just what happened. She walked further into the room, horrified by what she was seeing. This confirmed her suspicions from earlier. Something terrible had happened here. If only she had left earlier to come here. Maybe there would have been something she could have done to help them. Maybe it would have made a difference. Now she had no idea where her sister or friends were. Terri could hear footsteps behind her, but she ignored them.

Then she heard something else. She thought she could hear whimpering coming from near Moynihan's bed. Curious, she walked inside. Perhaps someone had managed to stay behind. If so, that could help her and her family find out where Fiona and the others were. She walked up to the bed, trying to see if anyone was near it. She bent down, suspecting that they would be underneath the bed. “Hello? Is anyone underneath here? It's all right..It's just me, Terri!” She called out. She gently grabbed the bed sheet and lifted it up. The whining continued to get a little louder, almost as if whoever was underneath here was walking towards her. In the darkness underneath the bed, Terri could not tell who it was at first. But then she started to see somewhat glowing eyes and a small body coming towards her. It didn't take her long to realize who it was: Rump.

Without warning, Rump, who had gone into dino mode out of fear, leaped out from underneath the bed and pushed Terri onto her back, standing on her chest and stomach. Rump looked down at her for a few seconds before giving her a big lick on her cheek. Terri immediately wiped the drool away and managed to gently push Rump off of her. She immediately stood up and brushed herself off before looking back down at the dino mutant dog. She was a little disappointed. How was Rump going to help her find the others? But she was glad to at least to have found somebody, even if it was the rambunctious dog known as Rump. She bent down and started to pet his head. “You gave me a scare there, little guy.” She said to him. Rump just panted and looked at her with the best dinosaur smile he could give her. If Terri didn't know any better, she'd think that Rump was alone for so long that he was extremely happy to finally see someone else, even if it was someone he didn't often see at the lighthouse.

“Terri? Why did you run off like that?” Nevina asked as she stepped into the room. She immediately froze as she looked around the room, noticing what a mess it was. She looked horrified at the sight of blood, but was able to remain calm. She then noticed Terri petting Rump. “Is Rump all right?” Nevina asked as she took a few steps towards her youngest daughter and the dog.

“I am pretty sure he's all right...” Terri said. By this time, Rump had calmed down enough to change back into his normal dog form. “..but I can't help but worry.. I found him underneath the bed. Something must have gotten in here to frighten him. Rump doesn't normally hide underneath the bed, or anything, like that except during a storm. And there hasn't been a storm recently.”

“That is unusual.” Nevina said, thinking.

“Did you find anything?” Bryant had arrived in the room. Close behind him were Caruso's parents. The three of them were also shocked by the mess in the room. It looked almost like a twister had swept through it. “What happened here?”

Terri looked at him with a worried expression. “I..I don't know, father. I don't know...”

After a few minutes, Amanda suddenly heard something. It was faint at first, but she was able to figure out where it was coming from. “Hey..does anyone else hear that beeping sound?”

Terri lifted up her head and tilted her head in one direction, trying to see if she could hear it too. After a little while, she could also hear the beeping sound. Her eyes widened. She knew what the beeping was. Quickly, she stood up and made her way towards the room with the scanners. Her parents and Caruso's parents quickly followed her. Within about a minute, they reached the scanning room. The beeping had gotten much louder and, even though the lights were strangely still on inside the room, they could see a faint reddish flashing near one part of the room. As they made their way towards the flashing, they realized that it wasn't a warning that they thought would have been on there. They had expeced to see some sort of intruder alert and from there find out who had gotten into the lighthouse.

But instead, they saw something completely different. Flashing on one of the screens, they could see what appeared to be two large images. One of them looked like a Velociraptor while the one next to it appeared to be a human. One was a solid red color while the other was black. The background was a bright white. As the screen flashed, the two icons seemed to glow almost threateningly and the background constantly switched from white to yellow, hurting their eyes if they stared at it too long. Right above it, they could see a few words flashing as well: WARNING: TRANSFER COMPLETE. What did that mean?

“Warning: Transfer Complete? Do you know what that means, Terri?” Bryant asked.

Terri tried to decipher the warning, but she had never encountered a warning like this before. She had a feeling it was something Victor had done, but it didn't make any sense. What had Victor transferred? There was no indication to tell her what he had done. She would have thought it was sensitive information that he could use to take control of the lighthouse or something. But the two avatars flashing on the screen left her baffled. What did they mean? Did they have something to do with the warning message? “I..I don't know. I never seen something like this before. It's got me baffled.”

“Could it have something to do with Moynihan?” Amanda suggested, her eyes glued on the screen. “I mean, she is a Velociraptor disguised as a human, just like Veloci is. Could the computer actually be warning about her?”

“I'm not so sure. How would a computer know that?” Terri asked. But then she realized just what Victor was capable of. It didn't seem too far-fetched for him to develop the technology to create a system that could give a warning scan about a living person. But if that were the case, then what was the scanner trying to tell her about Moynihan? What had been transferred? She looked at the scanners, trying to think of what the answer could be. It had to be right in front of her, the answer, but she couldn't think of what it could have been. Then she took another look at the avatars and a sickening idea came into her head. “Oh no...” She hoped she was wrong.

“What is it, dear?” Nevina asked, feeling afraid of what her daughter might have been thinking. “Did you figure something out?”

“I think I have...” Terri said. “And I wish that I hadn't...”

“What did you figure out?” Jack asked. He had an arm around his wife in case she needed any comforting if Terri was going to confirm their fears. They both had an idea of what Terri was suspecting, but they didn't want to alarm anybody.

“I think Victor must have..somehow...” Terri said, her voice filled with dreadfulness. “..erased her human mind...” A sudden, uneasy silence fell upon the room.

* * *

The next hour had come too slowly and left too quickly. It felt like an eternity had gone by. In that time, there wasn't much talking amongst the Dino Squad. Their heads were filled with so many dreadful thoughts and questions. They wondered what would happen to them and what would happen to their families. Victor now knew their faces quite well and had even figured out their names, or so it seemed. Would he just leave their families alone? Or would he do something to eliminate a possible threat? They didn't know, and they weren't sure if they wanted to find out. Victor was probably going to tell them anyway, right before he would kill one of them. A couple of the kids looked over towards the place where they had last seen Victor walk out towards, expecting him to return any second now, with a needle in his hand.

“I just can't believe it...” Buzz said, breaking the silence. He slowly swung his unbound legs forward, allowing the heels of his feet bang against the wall. “I can't believe it's going to end like this... After all we have managed to accomplish, it all just comes crumbling down on us within a few hours.”

“I know it seems hopeless, Buzz..”Rodger said, trying to comfort the punk kid. “But there might still be a way yet. Remember, we can't give up on hope. There might still be a chance to...”

“What chance? What hope is there left, Rodger? We're chained to the wall. Our families don't know where we are, and even if they did, they can't help us. We can't go dino because of the spikes. We can't retaliate against Victor because of the shock collars. What is there left to hope for Rodger?” Buzz said bitterly, closing his eyes softly. Rodger just looked at him, flabbergasted at the boy's behavior.

“Buzz, he was just trying to help you.” Fiona said sternly.

“I know. But what's the point of giving ourselves false hope?” Buzz said without looking up.

“It would keep us from falling into despair.” Fiona said in a serious tone. She truly did believe that. If they kept telling themselves they would never make it out, wouldn't that just bring them down and make them feel worse? Even if it wasn't going to work out, why not try to convince themselves and each other that there was still something that could be done? That would at least boost their spirits up, even if just by a tiny bit. “Please, Buzz, don't let yourself loose hope. Remember, there is still one chance we have left to get out of here.”

“And what is that?” Buzz was now looking at Fiona. His face was stone, emotionless. “What could we possibly have left to hope for?”

Fiona spoke but one word. “Michelle.”

Upon hearing that, Buzz laughed almost coldly. “Oh please! Do you really think she'd be able to fulfill her promise? Victor would spot her in a flash and be able to stop her. And we will just end up getting killed.”

Fiona looked annoyed at the boy's negativity. “What is wrong with you, Buzz? You're never this negative.”

“Yeah. What's gotten into you?” Max inquired, cocking an eyebrow.

“Nothing's gotten into me.” Buzz said in defense. “Why do you guys think there's something wrong with me? I'm just looking at the situation realistically. If there's anything I've learned these past few weeks, it's never let any shred of hope bring you up too much, because if it fails, the blow will be all too painful.”

“Is that what this is about, Buzz?” Max asked. If his arms weren't bound, they would be folded against his chest now in curiosity. “Are you afraid of getting hurt again?” Buzz looked at him for a few seconds and then slowly nodded his head. “I understand, Buzz. It is hard to try something again, if that something had hurt you before. But just because of what happened two weeks ago doesn't mean that you should just give up on hope, or anything, Buzz. Remember, we're all in this together. So please, Buzz, for your sake, for our sake, please, do not give up.”


	31. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Before Buzz had a chance to respond, the team suddenly heard footsteps heading towards them. They didn't need to glance over to know who it was most likely going to be. They could hear Victor's chuckling as he made his way towards them. The team turned their heads away, not wanting to look at the mad scientist. They didn't want to see the smug look on his face. They didn't want to see him gloat his victory to them. They just wanted him to leave them alone. But they knew Victor wasn't going to leave them be. That wasn't way he operated. That wasn't the way he behaved. They all kept their mouths quiet as Victor positioned himself in front of them, glancing at them one at a time. They would have said something to him, but out of fear of him using the shock collars on them, they kept their mouths shut.

After a few uncomfortable minutes of silence, Victor decided to speak up. “Well I think you know what's going to happen now...” His arms are behind his back, hiding something from the children. The team just turned their heads to glare at him, except for Caruso who was trying to keep his gaze averted away from the madman. Victor chuckled as the other students tried to act so defiant against him, even Fiona whom he had shocked earlier with the collar to teach her a lesson. “The two hours are now up. I hope you little brats enjoyed your living while you can...” His eyes glowed. “Because after this, you will find out what it's like to be the prey...”

Victor decided the first one he wanted to take blood from was Fiona. He didn't need to worry about Caruso. He had already taken blood from the boy earlier. Even so, he did ponder if he should do Caruso anyway. After all, he doesn't know he already took blood from him. Yes, that's what he'd do. So with the other students, he decided to take twice as much blood from them so that he had about the same amount of blood from all five of them. Holding out the needle with one hand, he made his way towards Fiona. When he reached her, she was pushing herself as far up against the wall as she could, trying in vain to keep herself away from the needle. But it was no use. Carefully, Victor used his claw to cute a hole in the girl's sleeve. Smirking, Victor roughly seized the girl's arm to try to keep it as still as possible as he brought the needle's tip to the hook of her arm, where a vein was close to the surface. Without any preparation, Victor jammed the needle deep into the skin. Fiona yelped in pain and her body stiffened, afraid that if she moved too much, she'd end up causing more damage.

The tube, once clear, was now filling up quickly with dark red blood. Fiona turned her head away, not wanting to see this horrible sight. Within a few seconds, Victor had filled one vial up with blood. But he wasn't done yet. He removed the tube and immediately put a new, empty vial in. Between that time, some of Fiona's blood dripped from the needle down the floor. Victor completely ignored it as he hooked the new, empty vial in place and smirked as dark red blood began to fill that tube up. He continued to do this until he had eight vials of Fiona's blood. The loss of blood had a bit of an effect on Fiona. She was suddenly feeling a little tired and a little weak and she found her gaze was slightly blurred. But she was still alert enough to scowl at Victor as he walked away and placed the blood-filled tubes on the table.

Victor spent a few seconds wiping the tip of the needle with his red suit and then looked over at Fiona. “That wasn't so bad, now was it?” He asked her in a mocking tone of voice. Fiona bared her sharp teeth at him and jerked her head away. Victor just chuckled and then turned his gaze over to Caruso. He was now next. Victor smirked to himself. The boy was going to be pretty easy. Perhaps he wouldn't even need to restrain his arm like he had to with Fiona. Victor decided to use four larger tubes. It would look like he was taking as much as blood as Fiona, but really he was only taking about half. But the kids probably wouldn't know that, now would they?

Victor walked over towards Caruso. The boy cringed as far back as he could. Victor had to listen very closely, but he thought he could hear Caruso whimpering in fear. Victor reached forward and gently tilted the boy's head up slightly with two fingers. “I see your stay with me has taught you well, little one. You've learned to remain submissive towards your superiors..” Then he leaned forward, placing his mouth as close to Caruso's left ear as possible without actually touching it. In a harsh voice, Victor whispered softly, almost inaudibly, “And don't worry... After this is over, I'll make sure that your little girlfriend gets the quickest death. I can tell you care about her, so she'll be the first to die.”

Caruso's eyes widened in horror. “N-No...” He shook his head. “P-Please..don't... Please...”

Tired of hearing Caruso's whining, Victor covered the boy's mouth with one hand and whispered to him again. “Say one more word and I will kill her now. I already have her blood, so I won't show any remorse in ending her life now. Do you understand me?” Caruso, eyes wide as far as they could go, managed to nod his head. “Good.” Victor released him. Then he turned his attention to the boy's right arm. He gripped the boy's arm, more gently then he had with Fiona. He prodded the hook of the boy's arm a few times with his two fingers before finding a suitable spot. He got out the needle, the same one he used on Fiona, and jammed it in. Caruso his best to stifle his cry of pain. Although he tried his best not to, Caruso felt his eyes drift towards the needle embedded into his skin, and then his eyes drifted over to the tube, now filling up with his blood. He couldn't help but let out a soft whimper as he forced himself to look away and waited for it all to be over.

After a couple more minutes, Victor was done getting blood from Caruso. He gave the boy an evil smile as he turned and walked away, placing the tubes on the same table as he did with Fiona's blood. He was keeping them separated and the tubes were labeled so he knew which blood belonged to who. He cleaned the blood off the needle, making the needle look so clean that it was like he had never used it. He got a couple more tubes and turned his attention to Max. Smirking, he walked over towards the jock. Max glared at him, not trying to get away. Victor ignored the boy's expression as he made an incision in the boy's green jacket, exposing the skin underneath. Victor pushed the needle deep into the skin and began to draw blood.

Max flinched briefly, but the scowl remained on his face. “You..you won't get away with this!” Max declared, forming a fist with the hand on the arm that didn't have the needle stuck into it.

Victor smiled and looked at the boy. “I already have gotten away with it. You and your friends don't have anywhere to go. Tell me....” Victor leaned in closer. “..just who can save you now? You're far from your homes. None of your 'human accomplices' have the power to fight me. So tell me..how do you propose you stop me?”

Max growled. “You underestimate humans!”

“And you are underestimating me, boy.” Victor said. He gripped the boy's arm tighter, forcing the blood to flow a bit faster into the tubes. They were filling up quickly, a bit more quickly than Fiona's did, the same with Caruso. “You and your friends thought you would be able to defeat me. You thought that you would be able to keep your identities a secret. You thought that you actually had a chance against me, a Velociraptor who has had years of experience. How did you kids get it in your head that you could actually defeat me?”

Max narrowed his eyes. “I bet the other humans you faced couldn't turn into dinosaurs like we can!” He looked at his friends briefly before turning back to Victor. “I could have easily killed you in my dinosaur form!”

Victor chuckled as he put in a new vial to the needle so he could draw more blood. “And yet you did not. That's what I would expect from a species like you. You are so weak. When you are given the opportunity to be rid of your enemies, you choke up and run away like the cowards that you truly are!”

“That's not true!” Max shouted. Victor chortled again, but decided not to respond. When a couple minutes passed by, he was finished with Max. Victor took a long look at the eight blood-filled tubes, a dark smile on his face. He cleaned the needle once again and placed the tubes on the table. He then turned back to the Dino Squad. There was only two left: Rodger and Buzz. Victor got out eight more tubes and walked over towards Rodger.

“Looks like you and your punk friend are the only two that are left.” Victor said, his eyes narrowing slightly. Victor decided to do Rodger first, and then Buzz last. He stuck the needle into the large boy's arm, causing him to flinch in pain. But he didn't want to give into Victor and give him the satisfaction that he knew Victor wanted to see. Victor frowned slightly as Rodger looked at him defiantly, but didn't say anything. Rodger wasn't attempting to struggle, which made drawing the blood all the more easier. “You are wise not to struggle, my boy. This will go much faster now.” Victor said in a soft voice.

Rodger just glared at him. “Oh shut up, will you? I'm tired of hearing all your lies and your deceit! You will pay for what you've been doing all these years!” He wasn't sure if he could uphold his statement, but if he ever got out of here, he would certainly try. Victor was not going to get away with all that he's done behind humanity's backs. One way or another, Victor was going to regret his actions.

“If you say so.” Victor said dismissively. He just continued to draw blood from Rodger. After he was finished with Rodger and Buzz, he planned to bring out Kista and allow her to kill Caruso first. He had lied to Caruso when he said he would kill Fiona first. It was Caruso who would be the first to die. And he decided to let Rodger know first. He leaned in close to whisper into the boy's ear, “After I'm done with you and Neil over there, Caruso will be the first die.”

“What?” Rodger gasped. “No! You stay away from him!”

“What are you going to do about it?” Victor asked evilly. “You're chained to the wall. I can do whatever I want to you and you can't do anything about it.” To prove his point, Victor grabbed Rodger by ear and yanked on it hard. Rodger let out a cry of pain as Victor pulled the ear as far as he could without tearing it off. Victor laughed as she released the ear. Rodger tried to rub his ear, but he couldn't reach with his arms bound to the wall. All he could do was hang his head in pain and glare angrily at Victor. “See? I told you. So if I were you, boy, I would hold my tongue and watch what I say. After all, you are completely helpless here. You and your friends are lucky that I am showing mercy towards you.”

“How is chaining us to the wall with spiked rings and torturing us with shock collars classify as merciful?” Rodger asked in a dark tone.

“I could have just killed you all with the Zapper earlier, electrocuting you all to death. Or perhaps find another form of killing you slowly.” Victor explained, grinning evilly. Rodger looked up at him in shock, but didn't seem as shaken up as Victor had expected. Then again, this is probably due to the fact that the kids seem somewhat aware of what he's like. He chuckled. It seemed that Moynihan had taught them quite well. Too bad that she didn't teach them everything that they needed to know. After Victor was done with Rodger and had put the stuff away and prepared for the final victim, he turned to Buzz. “Now it's your turn...”

Buzz just frowned and looked away. “Oh, go ahead. Just do it and get it over with...” Buzz said in a bitter tone of voice.

Victor blinked a few times, surprised with the boy's attitude. But he quickly shook it off as false bravery. Buzz was trying to seem brave, but Victor could tell, by the look in the boy's eyes, that he was terrified, probably almost as terrified as Caruso. Victor walked over to Buzz and grabbed a hold of one of his arms. Like Rodger, Buzz didn't have any sleeves so it was easy for him to access the skin. Victor jammed the needle in quickly and began to draw blood. Buzz glared at him, but kept his mouth shut. For the next few minutes, there was nothing but silence except for the sound of everyone breathing and the occasional cough from one of the Dino Squad members. After Victor was done with Buzz, he put the needle down on the table and started to carry as many tubes of blood as he could to the back part of his laboratory to make sure they were in a safe place.

As Victor walked away, the Dino Squad looked at their arms in fear. Victor hadn't bothered to tie a cloth around their arms to make sure the bleeding would stop. What would have been the point anyway? Victor was going to kill them soon. It would have been a waste of time in Victor's eyes. From each of the kids' arms, blood rapidly dripped from it, staining the ground below them. Fiona was already feeling strange and was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She had lost the most blood and she had no idea how much more she'd have to lose before she would completely lose consciousness. Max grunted as he tried to free one of his arms in an attempt to stop the bleeding. But it was no use. All he and the others could do was wait and hope that the bleeding would stop on its own. But if the bleeding didn't kill them first, Victor would.

“Do you kids need any help..?” Michelle asked as she slowly walked towards them. She had waited until Victor was out of sight before she came up to the team. She quickly took notice of the blood that was quickly running from the kids' arms. Eyes widening in shock, she said, “What happened to you all?” But she had a feeling of who had done this.

“Victor Veloci..” Buzz said angrily, looking away. “That's what happened.”

Michelle took one look at Buzz's arm, noticing the blood pouring from it, and said, “Let me guess. He took tubes of blood from you all?”

“Yes. How did you know? You weren't even here.” Buzz said, slowly turning his head towards her. “Unless...did you suggest this to him?”

“What? No.” Michelle shook her head quickly. “I just took a guess from the puncture wound on your guys' arms. Anyway, hold on. I'll try to help the best that I can.”

“No thank you.” Buzz said bitterly. “How would you be able to help anyway? I don't see any medical equipment around here and...” Michelle pulled out a small box of band-aides from her pockets. “...oh... Why do you carry band-aides in your pocket?”

“I don't usually do this. I picked them up earlier when I was in the medical room because I had cut myself.” Michelle explained. “It was a good thing I brought them along.” She took out a handful of band-aides. If Victor asked her why she put band-aides on them, she'd have to think of some sort of lie. Perhaps she could tell him that they were tipped in poison, or maybe she could say that she didn't want a mess all over the floor. The first person she walked up to was Fiona. The girl's face was getting a little pale. Michelle figured that she was probably the first to have blood taken from her. Michelle gently pulled the tear in the white shirt open so she could see where the tiny hole was. Then she stood back and wondered how she was going to do this. “I wonder...”

“You wonder what?” Fiona asked, her voice sounding slightly groggy from the loss of blood.

Michelle didn't answer her. She grabbed the end of Fiona's white sleeve and began to pull it towards Fiona's body as quickly as she could. Fiona yelped in pain as the cloth slid over her small wound. Michelle quickly apologized as she continued to bunch the sleeve as far as she could go so she could have access to the small wound. Michelle looked at it briefly and got out a band-aide. She quickly placed it over the small wound and applied pressure to try to stop the bleeding. Fiona winced again. Michelle looked at her. “I need to stop the bleeding. You've already lost enough blood as it is.”

“Yeah, I know.” Fiona said. She didn't think that it would hurt this much just to have her arm treated. What was it about that needle that caused more pain? Was it serrated on the edge so that it would do more damage going out? She glanced down at her arm, seeing Michelle's fingers press hard against it in an attempt to make the bleeding stop. Fiona then looked away and towards the ground. She started to wonder where her family was right now. Had they noticed she'd gone missing?

About two to three minutes had gone by and Michelle had managed to finish all the students. She had moved as quickly as she could so she could stop the bleeding. She had placed a band-aide on each of the students after she applied a bit of pressure to help slow down the bleeding. She was cautious when she was putting a band-aide on Rodger and Buzz. But to her surprise, they didn't really give her a hard time. She could tell they still didn't completely trust her, but they didn't make any remarks to her as she helped to stop the bleeding. She guessed that the two had realized that she was their only hope in getting out and they didn't want to blow that chance. She assumed that they were going to go back to their usual selves after she managed to free them.

After she was done, she had walked a little bit away from the team to see if anyone was coming. Victor had been gone a decent amount of time. A few minutes might not seem much, but when there was something Victor wanted to get done as quickly as possible, he could move pretty fast, depending on the situation. And she had no idea when anyone else, such as Oscura or Kista, would show up. They could appear at any second and perhaps question her on what she was doing. She glanced back at the team. She had to fulfill part one of her plan with them. This was the only chance she was going to get, and if she blew it, the Dino Squad was going to die.

“I have to move quickly.” Michelle said as she quickly approached the first student, once again starting with Fiona. She looked at the collar, inspecting it as closely as she could without making Fiona feel uncomfortable. The collar had a tiny hole near the center. That's where the key was supposed to fit in to unlock and release the collar. Michelle didn't have the key with her and she didn't think she could ask Victor without arousing suspicion. So she did the next best thing.

Lifting up one of her hands and bring it close to the shock collar, Michelle grew a long, sharp talon from the pointer finger. Carefully, she lifted the claw up to the small hole and inserted it in. Biting her lip nervously as though she thought she was going to make a mistake, Michelle started to pick at the lock, twisting her finger every which way, trying to unlock the collar. It took only a few seconds for her to hear the familiar clicking sound of something being unlocked. The collar loosened up slightly, but it would require physical strength to pull the collar off. Despite being unlocked, the collar only looked slightly open. It didn't seem very noticeable. Victor would not likely suspect that the collars had been unlocked.

Michelle continued onto the next student, performing the exact same task in Caruso. This time, she had a bit more difficulty, probably because of her being so nervous about performing this task. She hadn't told the Dino Squad this one little feature, but the shock collars were tamper proof. If she made one slip up, she could end up killing them rather than helping. She knew that she could pick the locks and free the students without making the collars go off, but she had to be precise, absolutely perfect. She fought to keep her hand steady as she unlocked Caruso's collar. She succeeded after a few extra seconds. She made sure that the collar wouldn't slip off right away and then moved over towards Max.

Michelle moved as quickly as she could while trying to be as accurate as she could. She managed to unlock the remaining collars in around two minutes. And she hadn't heard or seen anyone approaching them, so she was making good time. Again, Rodger and Buzz didn't give her a hard time and they allowed her to approach them without any sort of mean or sarcastic remark. She had the hardest trouble with Buzz's collar and she thought that she almost shocked him due to a slight slip of the claw. But he appeared fine and she managed to unlock the collar. Once they were all finished, she double checked again to see if anyone was coming this way. When she was sure that it was still clear, she went back to the Dino Squad. She had to make sure they still understood the plan and to see if they had any other ideas on how to escape. But then again, how would they know of another plan of escape? The only plan that they knew of was the one that she had told them about.

“So are you all clear on what the plan is?” Michelle asked in a hushed voice. She tried to speak as loud as she could so that the five students could hear her, but at the same time, she made sure her voice wasn't too loud for someone who might be spying on her to hear.

Max nodded his head. “Yes, I'm perfectly clear on it. You're going to wait until Victor comes in and then you're going to wait until the right moment to pull a switch. That would temporarily pull the spikes on this metal rings back in.”

Fiona continued. “And then you want us to go dino right away so that we would break through our restraints before the spikes can come back in. Is that right or did we miss something?”

“No, that's pretty much it.” Michelle said. She glanced over at the scanner where she knew the switch was going to be. From memory, she was certain that the button would be labeled in Latin. She didn't understand a word in Latin, but she had seen Victor use it before and she was certain she remembered what it looked like, the color, the shape, and the location of it. She had only one shot at this and she hoped that she guesses right.

“I've got a question, though.” Buzz spoke up, taking Michelle by surprise. Since she started putting band-aides on them and unlocking their collars, he and Rodger had remained pretty much silent, along with Caruso. Max spoke once or twice and so did Fiona. Michelle wasn't expecting to hear anything from Buzz. “It's about this plan of yours...”

Michelle looked over at him. “Yes? What is your question?” She tried to sound as polite as she could. She was still worried that if she said something wrong, Buzz would get the wrong impression and chastise her for it.

“Wouldn't it make more sense to just..press that button or switch or whatever now...instead of waiting for Victor to come over here?” Buzz turned his head over to where Michelle was looking at earlier. “I mean, wouldn't that just save time? Why do you have to wait for him to come over before you press that button?”

Rodger blinked a few times, realizing this little loophole in Michelle's plan. There might have been a reason for why she wanted to wait, but he couldn't think of any. Buzz did make a valid point. Was waiting for Victor really necessary? She could easily just free them now with no problem. “Yeah..why don't you just do it now? And then we can escape faster.”

But Michelle still insisted on waiting. She slowly shook her head. “I know why you might think that. But there is a little problem.”

“Oh really?” Buzz asked, frowning slightly. “And what kind of problem could there possibly be that would prevent you, or anyone, from pressing a simple button?”

“The button itself.” Michelle pointed out. She gave a sideways glance over at where the button was. “You see, Victor knows that, unless he did something about it, almost anyone could easily use his equipment, whether or not they understood Latin. So quite recently, actually not long before Victor found out that the 'perfect dinosaurs' were actually teenagers, he had installed a system, and this system allows him to lock some or all of his equipment whenever he wants to. And I'm afraid he has the keyboard locked, including the button that would release you.”

Buzz's expression softened. “Oh...”

“Yeah. That's why we must wait until Victor comes to unlock the system before I can do anything.” Michelle said softly. “But it won't be long now, I promise.”

Caruso suddenly heard something and he turned his head. He saw something walking towards them, but at first he didn't recognize who it was. When he saw it was Victor, he quickly looked over at Michelle. “H-H-He's coming..!” He said under his breath.

Michelle looked over where Caruso had earlier and her eyes widened. She didn't think Victor saw her yet, so she immediately backed away and tried to act as if she had just come down. Giving a sideways glance at the Dino Squad, she said in a voice as calm as she could be, “Hello, Dr. Veloci. What brings you down here?”

“And what brings you down here, Michelle?” Victor said, putting his hands on his hips. “I thought I told you to stay away from the Dino Squad until later on.” Michelle stammered, trying to come up with an explanation. Victor sighed and decided to cut her a break, just this once. “Oh never mind. I'll just let it slide for now. You don't need to explain anything to me.” Michelle breathed a sigh of relief. Victor then walked up to the Dino Squad, giving them an evil grin. Michelle hung back, giving the team a fearful look, but wasn't able to say anything or thus risk blowing her cover. “So, are you little children ready?” He asked callously. “Your time...is up.”

Max started to struggle against his binds. “You won't get away with this!” He declared. He had already made that statement earlier and Victor didn't really believe him. And just like before, Victor didn't really pay any need to it, which only annoyed Max further. “Why do you act like you know everything?!”

Victor walked up to him and grabbed him by his chin, sinking his claws deep into it to draw blood. Max winced in pain, but he continued to glare at Victor, trying to act as if he wasn't afraid of him. But Victor knew better. Maybe in dino mode, Max would feel confident around him. But bound and in human form, he stood no chance. “I'm not naive, boy. But you are...you and the rest of your..”

Max struck out at Victor, his foot hitting its mark on Victor's stomach. The blow was enough to force Victor to let go of him and move back a few steps. “Shut up!”

Victor held his hand to his stomach for a few seconds, looking down at it as a frown slowly swept over his face. When he looked up at Max, the boy's eyes widened as he noticed Victor's sharp teeth were fully exposed, his eyes glowing so bright that he almost could not see the pupils. Victor lifted up his hand, ready to strike Max, but then got a better idea. Victor looked at his controller for the shock collars and an evil smile spread across his face. He looked over at Max with an insane look on his face. “Congratulations, kid.. change of plans... You're going to be the first one to die! I was going to let you live longer, but you leave me with no choice!” He pointed the remote at the boy, the thumb poised to push the button down to deliver a fatal shock.

“NO!” The team shouted in unison. Fiona, Rodger, Caruso, and Buzz could only look in horror as Victor was getting ready to push the button. Max gasped in horror and looked away, bracing himself for the unbearable pain that he knew he was going to experience within a few seconds.

“No...” Michelle whispered softly, too soft for Victor to hear her, and she ran towards the large keyboard. She didn't know if it was unlocked or not, but she couldn't wait any longer. She had only mere seconds to spare. She looked over at Max, he was still bracing for the blow. Michelle looked at the button and quickly pressed it, and a loud clicking sound could be heard.

Almost instantly, an intense glow filled the room. Victor's eyes widened in shock and he immediately stammered back, putting an arm over his head in an attempt to protect his eyes from the bright glow. “What's going on here?!” Victor hissed. He tried to see where what was around him, but the glow was filling up most of his view, giving him a headache. He could hear the sound of shattering metal and heavy footfalls. He didn't need to see to know what was happening. When the glow finally died down, Victor looked over, opening his eyes slightly to try to see the Dino Squad. He saw a flash of green, and then something hard and scaly impacted him. Victor hit the ground hard, grunting in pain. He shook his head and, supporting himself with his two hands, glared up at Max, who had turned into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. “So you're the T-Rex...” Victor said, chuckling. “I should have killed you when I had the chance back at the Arctic...”

Max let out a huge roar close to Victor, his hot breath pushing Victor's hair back. 'And you will not get another chance like that again!' Max shouted with confidence. He lifted up his foot and tried to pin Victor down to the ground.

But Victor just smirked. “Nice try, kid.” He transformed into a Velociraptor and leaped of the way. He then let out a loud hiss before lunging towards Max, his sickle claws brought forward. Max moved his head back and then suddenly lunged forward, his mouth wide open. He attempted to bite into Victor's body, but the raptor retaliated by slashing the T-Rex's head with his hand claws. 'You shouldn't underestimate a Velociraptor's capabilities, kid. You might be bigger than me...' Victor landed on the ground and immediately turned around, holding up his claws threateningly. '...but you aren't as fast as me.'

Max shook his head, trying to shake off the pain. He let out another roar. 'I don't need to be fast to defeat you!' He tried to attack again, snapping his jaws as close to Victor as he could. But the raptor had dodged yet again and Max felt his jaws slam down on nothing but air.

Victor turned his attention towards Michelle. She had just stood there, watching the scene in horror. If Victor didn't know any better, he'd think that Michelle was actually too afraid to fight. That sickened Victor. Michelle was able to take all five of the Dino Squad on before. So why was she chickening out now? But then again, there were five 'perfect dinosaurs' and Victor wasn't sure if it was wise to fight all five of them alone, even with Michelle's help. All five of the teenagers had transformed into dinosaurs, but only Max was advancing towards him. Victor deduced that this was because he was the leader. It made sense. The T-Rex was probably the most powerful dinosaur among the team. So if he were to take down the T-Rex, the rest would follow suit.

Victor barked an order at Michelle. 'Ms. Brown! Go get Oscura, Kista, and Peter! Tell them to come over here and help!' Michelle nodded her head and got ready to run down the hallway. But Victor thought of another order to give her as well. 'And bring the mutantsaurs and Moynihan as well!' Michelle didn't know why Victor wanted her to bring Moynihan. She couldn't control the green raptor. But to question Victor would mean putting herself at risk. So she carried out his orders without question and immediately left, hoping that the Dino Squad would be able to defeat Victor Veloci before the others arrived.

'We won't let you win!' Fiona shouted. As Victor was busy dodging Max, he didn't notice the Spinosaurus sneaking around him. Before he had a chance to react, he felt a long, tooth-studded mouth slam around his body. Victor roared in pain as Fiona lifted him off the ground, shaking him a few times. 'Max might be too slow for you, but I am much faster!'

'So you are..' Victor said, his eyes narrowing. He now wished he had gone through with the plan he discussed with Zoom earlier. If he had kidnapped this pesky girl, he wouldn't have had to deal with her. A Spinosaurus was going to be a problem as they had both speed and strength on their side. In retaliation, Victor managed to strike Fiona near the eye with his hand claws. Fiona shrieked in pain and released Victor. Victor fell to the ground and landed on his back. Then he quickly jumped back up and spoke to Fiona in a dark voice. 'But you still aren't fast enough to deal with me!'

'We'll just see about that!' Fiona said, quickly recovering from the attack. She charged towards Victor, her jaws wide open. Victor quickly dodged out of the way as Fiona snapped down close to him, hitting nothing but air. Then Victor quickly moved around her and sank his teeth into one of her legs. Fiona screeched loudly and lifted up her foot, desperately shaking it to get the raptor off of her. 'Let me go, you cretin! Let me go!' Fiona demanded. She tried to swipe at Victor but with the way he was positioned, she couldn't reach him with her dino hands. Instead, she placed the foot Victor was biting firmly on the ground and then lifted up the other. Moving it as close as she could, managed to strike Victor, just barely missing him. The blow was enough to make Victor let go, but did little to no damage to him.

'You cannot defeat me.' Victor declared as he lunged forward, this time hitting his mark directly on Fiona's tail. Once again, she screamed in pain and tried to get Victor off of her. She swung her tail frantically, but it was no use. Victor refused to let go.

'Fiona!' Caruso shouted. Swallowing his fear, he rushed towards her, opening his mouth, aiming for Victor. Once he was within striking distance, Caruso snapped his jaws tightly shut, sinking his teeth deep into Victor's long, flexible tail. Victor roared in agony as Caruso managed to pull him off of Fiona's tail and proceeded to through him to the side. Victor crashed into the ground and looked over. When he realized it was Caruso who had attacked him, Victor let out a horrible hiss.

'You fool!' Victor shrieked, drool dripping from his eyes. 'Do I need to reteach you some respect?!' With that, he charged towards the Stegosaurus, mouth split open as far as it could go. Caruso just stood there, shaking in fear as Victor now charged towards him. Caruso forgot about his tail, about his mouth, about any forms of defense. All he saw was his own death charging towards him. He suddenly felt helpless all over again, his legs shaking so badly he thought he was going to fall down.

Noticing Caruso's suddenly paranoia, Rodger stepped up to the plate. He charged forward towards Caruso's side. 'Caruso! Move!' He shouted. Suddenly Victor lunged towards Caruso. Thinking fast, Rodger put himself between Caruso and Veloci. Lowering his head, he caught Victor and then tossed him up into the air. Victor sailed over them and crashed into the ground several feet behind them. They quickly turned around to face him as he quickly got up and ran towards them again.

'We have to get out of here!' Max shouted as he managed to snag Victor in his jaws and toss him away. 'We have to find Moynihan and free her from this monster's control!'

'But how are we going to do that?' Fiona said, her voice filled with worry. 'We don't even know what chemical he had used to corrupt her.'

Buzz looked over at Caruso. 'But he was exposed to the same stuff. Maybe he knows how to cure it.'

Fiona shook her head. 'I seriously doubt it, Buzz. With what he's been through, I don't think he'll remember many details outside of..you know..'

'Yes, I know.' Buzz responded.

Victor managed to get back onto his feet. He knew that the Dino Squad were going to try to escape. But he couldn't allow that. He absolutely could not permit them to leave Raptor Dyne. They mustn't escape! After all this time, after finally capturing them, he was not going to let them just slip away once again! 'You humans are not going to escape! I'll be sure of that!' With that, he dashed towards them. He wasn't aiming at anyone in particular. He was just going to attack, knowing that he would strike someone if he moved quickly enough. He leaped int the air, letting out a loud screech as he brought his sharp claws forward. 'Now DIE!'

Reacting on instinct, Buzz dove down towards the Velociraptor. Using his long, sharp talons, he managed to snag Victor by the tail. Buzz almost fell to the ground due to the sudden added weight, but managed to carry Victor long enough to toss him into the ground. Fiona then rushed toward Victor as he was getting up. Once she was close enough to Victor, she struck out towards him with her massive tail. The tail struck Victor in the side with great force, knocking Victor against the wall where the shattered restraints were. His head smashed against the wall with a lot of force. After twitching slightly, Victor fell limp on the ground.

'Now's our chance to defeat him for good!' Rodger said, lowering his head so that his nose horn faced forward, out in front of him. He kicked the ground almost like it was dirt, preparing to charge towards Victor.

'No! We don't have time!' Max roared, quickly getting in front of Rodger, stopping his advance.

'What are you doing, Max?!' Rodger bellowed.

'Look, I know what you are feeling...' Max explained. '..but we don't have time to kill Victor now. We have to go grab Moynihan!'

'What do you mean we don't have time?' Buzz said as he landed on the ground next to Max, turning his head to look up at him. 'It wouldn't take very long to just...'

'Look, if we don't move now, those reinforcements are going to arrive before we can...' Max started to say, but he was too late. Suddenly he could hear rapid footsteps heading their way. Max quickly turned to face the threat. He spotted Michelle, who was now in dino mode, but hanging back as far as she could without appearing suspicious. Max could also see Oscura and Kista and they were closing the distance between themselves and the Dino Squad really fast. And then Max could also see something else, three other things to be precise. His eyes widened slightly. They were relatively large mutantsaurs! Oh that's just perfect, Max thought as he bared his teeth defensively. They had to deal with multiple opponents. Now how were they going to get out?

'Grab them!' Oscura shouted, as though she was in charge. 'Don't let them escape!'

'Don't worry. Those expeditive biennial set foot outside this facility!' Kista declared, positioning herself in front of Oscura. Immediately, Kista opened up her jaws and went for the nearest target: Rolf Maxwell. As her jaws clamped around his neck, with as much strength as she could muster, she suddenly threw him into the ground. Max hit the ground with a loud thud, Kista's jaws still clamped on the back of his neck. Max struggled to get up, but Kista just bit down harder, drawing blood. Finally, Max managed to get free by wrapping his tail around Kista's leg and pulling back as hard as he could, tossing Kista into the ground.

Buzz screeched as he hovered above Oscura. The Troodon hissed loudly back at him, swiping her claws in the air in an attempt to strike him. But Buzz managed to stay just high enough for Oscura to miss him. Then he dove down and grabbed Oscura by her body and then immediately thrust her away. Oscura hit the ground, grunting in pain. She rapidly shook her head and glared up at Buzz. She got back up to her feet and held up her claws threateningly at him. But Buzz just kept a distance from her, squawking at her is if he were mocking her. Oscura hissed angrily and then looked over at Michelle. What was she doing? She was just standing there, as if she didn't know what to do. Oscura narrowed her eyes. She would report this treason to Victor as soon as he woke up.

Suddenly, Oscura was knocked to the side with a single blow. She hit her head against the wall, but not hard enough to knock her out. She opened up her eyes and saw the frilled head of Rodger. He had charged into her, hitting her with his horn. There was a long gash in her side now. Despite the pain, Oscura managed to stand back up again, acting as if the attack hadn't even fazed her. She chuckled a few times and opened up her mouth to bite Rodger to disable him. She snapped her jaws forward. Rodger bellowed and reacted quickly. He pulled his head back, missing the bite just barely. He then reared onto his hind legs and slammed back down, knocking Oscura down onto the ground, one foot placed on her tail while the other on her side. Oscura screeched in panic as she looked up at Rodger, wide-eyed.

'So how does it feel, Oscura? How does it feel to experience fear?' Rodger said, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

'Shut up!' Oscura hissed back up at him, and started to struggle under Rodger's body. Memories started to flash through Oscura's mind, memories that she thought hat long forgotten. She could see images of her parents, the ones that she had vowed to forget a long time ago. They caused her nothing but pain and grief. It was from them that she learned to be who she was. It was because of them that she had turned into a cold-hearted monster. It was the only way to avoid getting hurt mentally. Oscura's eyes widened in genuine fear as she hallucinated about her father preparing to strike her with a broken bottle. She struggled more frantically underneath Rodger. 'No! No! Please, don't do it! Please!' Oscura shouted deliriously, eyes so wide that the veins in the eyes were visible.

Rodger cocked an eyebrow in confusion. Just what trick was Oscura trying to pull off? He'd never seen her act this way before. No one had he knew ever seen Oscura act like this. It was rather strange and suspicious. When he looked close enough, he could have sworn he saw tears streaming down the Troodon's face. But that was probably a trick, crocodile tears to get him to feel sorry for her and let her go. Well, he wasn't going to fall for it. 'Nice try, Oscura, but your lies won't work on me this time!' He declared as he lifted up one of his feet to strike Oscura. But that gave the Troodon the chance that she needed. Having come to her senses thanks to Rodger's retort, she snapped her jaws upward, nearly landing a blow on Rodger's neck. The Styracosaurus bellowed in shock and reared up to defend himself.

Oscura quickly scrambled away before Rodger could pin her down again. She smirked at him. 'You're so gullible...' She said, trying to sound as convincing as she could. She was still slightly shaken up by her sudden memory, but she was able to push it aside quickly enough to continue the battle.

Rodger narrowed his eyes, but then his attention turned to something else. He seen mutantsaurs heading their way but when he looked around, he couldn't see any of them attacking his friends, just Oscura and Kista. But why was that? Rodger scanned his eyes around the room and spotted the mutantsaurs. For some reason, they were hanging back, but why? Why would Kista and Oscura bring over the mutantsaurs if they weren't going to use them to attack them with? Then Rodger noticed Michelle was standing in front of the mutantsaurs. She wasn't looking directly at them, but her head was bowed. Just what was she doing?

Oscura also took notice to this and hissed loudly. 'Michelle! What are you doing?! Get away from those mutantsaurs and let them attack!'

Michelle couldn't allow the mutantsaurs to attack, not now. She had to buy the Dino Squad some time to get away. She was trying to emit the same kind of energy that Victor would in an attempt to fool the mutantsaurs into thinking she was Victor, and Victor was the only one who could truly control them. She was trying to get them to stay put, but she didn't know how much longer she could keep this up. She couldn't look away from the mutantsaurs but she managed to give a telepathic message, a lie in hopes of fooling Oscura and Kista. 'Victor told me to hold them off until he gave the signal! And since he's unconscious, I cannot allow the mutantsaurs to attack! Victor needs to be awake to completely control them!'

'If Victor is the only one who can control them...then how how are you controlling them?' Oscura asked in a suspicious tone of voice.

Michelle felt her heart racing. It seemed that Oscura was figuring her out, no surprise. Oscura always was a tough one to fool. Michelle searched her mind with an explanation that she could give to Oscura that would sound believable. Then she thought of something that just might work. 'Victor taught me how to do this! He taught me because of the possibility of situations such as this!'

'Oh really?' Oscura asked, baring her teeth. Who was Michelle fooling? It was going to take a lot more than that to trick her.

Kista shook her head, having recovered from the fall after Max tossed her down. She had also heard Michelle's telepathic message, but wasn't as skeptical as Oscura was. 'It makes perfect sense to me, Oscura. Victor isn't the type to take chances.'

'But...' Oscura started to say, but quickly gave up. What was the use in trying to argue with someone like Kista? Oscura shook her head. 'Oh all right..fine..I will believe you..for now....' She said to Michelle in a better tone of voice. She spoke again, her voice slightly darker. 'But let me tell you something, Michelle..if I find out that you have been lying, I will personally see to it that you die for your treachery! Do you understand me?'

'Crystal.' Michelle said. Although a bit frightened by Oscura's words, Michelle's first priority was to keep the mutantsaurs at bay. But once Victor woke up, she would have to back away and let him take over. If she tried to control the mutantsaurs while he wants to control them himself, he would get suspicious of her. And that's the last thing that she wanted.

'Max! Shouldn't we be, like, trying to get away?' Buzz asked, diving down to catch Oscura's attention once again. The female Troodon hissed angrily and tried to take a swipe at him. But just like before, she completely missed him. But Buzz knew he couldn't keep this up for very long. He needed to land on the ground sooner or later to rest his wings, and Oscura knew that. 'I don't know how much more of this I can take!'

Max tried to locate an exit, but if there was one, he didn't know where it was. They had come into Raptor Dyne before and managed to get out, but he couldn't remember just what path they had taken. Moynihan had to lead them out. Her knowledge of Raptor Dyne proved invaluable in their escape route. Sometimes, they had forgotten that they were ever at Raptor Dyne because they tried to put it behind them. But they could never completely forget what had happened. And Moynihan sometimes still blamed herself for the incident ever occurring. She said that she shouldn't have been so stupid, that she should have noticed Victor's men coming up to her and netting her while she wasn't looking. If she had only paid more attention, she wouldn't have gotten captured.

Max then thought he spotted something promising. The only way out of here seemed to be the elevator, but Fiona had said that they did not come through the elevator when they got into the laboratory. And it would make sense. Victor would need some way of transporting the mutants into his laboratory and he can't do that through an elevator. When Max tried to take a closer look, he noticed that there was a path down that way, opposite of where Victor had disappeared to briefly earlier. He suspected that it would lead them to a secret entrance of sorts. It was likely to be heavily armed, but he couldn't think of any other way to get out, not unless he and his friends were willing to change back into human and use the elevator. They were likely to be protected in someway, though. Max was certain that Victor took great measures into ensuring the absolute security of this laboratory.

'If we can just make it down there..that secret entrance we came through before when Moynihan was captured in the past..' Max said, lifting up his head as high as he could in order to try to see the exit. '..we just might be able to make it!'

'That tunnel?! But Max..that is probably crawling with traps and lasers and...' Buzz cried out.

But Max wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. 'I'm sorry, Buzz, but we don't have any other choice. Unless you can come up with a better route of escape..'

'What about the elevator? I'm certain that is not rigged with traps...' Buzz suggested, turning his long head over towards the elevator that he was certain Victor uses to access this laboratory.

'It won't work, Buzz.' Rodger said, shaking his head. 'If I know Veloci, he probably has that protected in someway, and it would deny us access to operate it. We're better off taking the route.'

'Too bad you won't have a chance to do that.' Kista said as she snapped her jaws close to Rodger's face. The Styracosaurus immediately moved his head out of the way and then charged into her side. Kista shrieked in pain as the horns slashed her side again and she fell to the ground. Letting out a hiss of her own, Oscura leaped towards Rodger, hoping to take a bite out of him. But suddenly, a long, purplish tail with spikes struck her with tremendous force, knocking her into the ground next to Kista.

Rodger was slightly surprised to see Caruso standing next to him, glaring at Oscura. He thought the boy was still too afraid to fight back. But he didn't have time to ask questions. 'Now! While they are still down! Make a break for that tunnel!' Rodger shouted.

Max was already way ahead of him. 'Follow me, guys!' He said as he headed towards the tunnel. The other Dino Squad members made a break for it as well. They still wanted to rescue Moynihan, but right now they had to get out. They would have a better chance at fighting out in the open, and they were certain that Victor would sic Moynihan on them once he came to and found them outside the facility. But as they ran down the hallway, looking left and right to see if there were any traps, there were two questions on their minds: Would they be able to succeed? And what were the consequences if they failed?

* * *

Terri sighed, leaning back in the chair. She, her parents, and Caruso's parents hadn't left the lighthouse. They had discussed, for the past hour, on what they were going to do. They tried to figure out just how to deal with the situation. After Terri had mentioned about shutting down the human mind, she almost immediately regretted saying that because Caruso's mother went nuts after that. She had began to explain how Moynihan had snapped at her a few times for no apparent reason and then she started going ranting on how Moynihan was going to kill the children if they did not do anything to stop her. Her husband had tried to calm her down, but it took several minutes before Jack could finally get her to shut up and calm down. But Terri's statement still had a longer effect on them. It increased their apprehension and fear of what had happened in the lighthouse.

Where had the Dino Squad gone? While there was signs of blood and a fight, they couldn't really find any bodies, not even a scrap of evidence. Terri deduced that Moynihan likely hadn't killed the others, that the others had escaped before she could finish the job. She theorized that they must have ran outside and possibly even ran into town to escape her. But that didn't make figuring out the mystery any easier. She still couldn't be too sure if that was the way they went or not, and even if they did go that way, what were the odds of successfully locating where they had gone? The city was a big place and if the kids had went into human mode, that would make tracking them even more difficult. Terri sighed, unsure of what she was going to do.

Amanda was feeling a little restless. She was constantly pacing back and forth across the room. Her mind was flooding with many questions. She felt an old anger towards Moynihan slowly rise inside of her. She couldn't begin to imagine what pain she might have inflicted on the children. Moynihan claimed to have no control over herself and she did apologize, but Amanda wasn't sure just how much of that she would believe. Moynihan was still a Velociraptor, after all. She was a carnivore, and it was in a carnivore's nature to try to kill another for food. Amanda regretted letting her child go to school today. If she had known something like this was going to happen, she would have forced Irwin to just stay home.

“I should have made him stay home..” Amanda said absentmindedly to no one in particular. “I should not have allowed him to go to school today.”

“Why not? You wouldn't have known that this would have happened.” Jack explained.

“If we had just kept him away from the school and away from Moynihan, he'd...” Amanda started to say. But Jack got up and walked up to her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

“Dear, remember what Irwin told us? Moynihan was sick and had to stay home.” Jack explained, his eyes narrowing slightly. “He also told us that Moynihan did not want them to go the lighthouse today because she didn't want to get them sick.”

“So why did they come to the lighthouse?” Amanda asked, turning around to face Jack. “Why would they come here if she didn't want them to?”

Jack was at a loss of words. “I-I don't know, dear...I don't know.” He said, lowering his gaze, feeling frustrated that he couldn't think of anything to say to comfort his wife.

“Well there has to be something...” Bryant spoke up. He and his wife were sitting at the nearby table, near the spiral staircase. “The children wouldn't have come here for no reason. Perhaps they got some sort of alert or something and thought Moynihan was in danger, so naturally they came to the lighthouse to try to save her...but from what I cannot say.”

“But how would they have known something was wrong?” Nevina spoke up, looking a bit confused. “If Moynihan was sick, who could have told them if anything was wrong? And if Moynihan didn't want them to come over, wouldn't she have...”

“Good point, dear.” Bryant said, nodding his head. “But someone must have told them to come, or else the kids wouldn't have come over at all.”

Just then Terri had a thought. She remembered something they had seen upstairs, not long after she found Rump hiding underneath the bed. She had noticed that the bird cage had been knocked over and she hadn't seen Cerulean anywhere in the room, although he might have just been hiding from Rump. She had heard the two didn't get along very well. But just how did the thing get knocked over in the first place? And what if Cerulean had gotten outside? If the bird knew Moynihan as much as she thought, Cerulean might have known where the school was, perhaps even recognize Max and Fiona or any other member of the Dino Squad. It seemed far-fetched, but could it be possible that Cerulean had been the one that alerted the team that something was wrong?

It did start to make some sense to Terri. Birds were smart creatures and Cerulean was certainly not an exception, although he was no genius. She had seen birds smarter than him. But still, Cerulean's very presence in the school would have been enough to make the team suspicious. Ms. Moynihan wasn't the type to just let the bird out of his cage. She took special precautions to ensure that Cerulean never left her bedroom unless he remained perched on her shoulder. So if Cerulean had appeared at the school, the Dino Squad would have thought that something was wrong with their teacher and would have found someway to get out of school to try to help her. And if that was the case, that would explain why the students had left and came to the lighthouse in the first place. But there was still something else that Terri was trying to think of. Why was the cage on the floor?

Moynihan would never knock the cage over if she could help it. Although if her theory was right and Moynihan had indeed gone crazy, it would make sense. But from what she had seen in the room, there was no evidence of Moynihan being close enough to cage to knock it over. That didn't really mean anything, though. She could easily be wrong with her suspicions and perhaps Moynihan had gone nuts and that was why Cerulean had fled the room and why Rump was hiding underneath the bed. Still, Terri felt there had to be more to what happened than just Moynihan going nuts. Then she realized something didn't add up. If Moynihan had gone crazy when Cerulean had left, wouldn't Moynihan had already left before the team arrived? Evidence in the room indicated that Moynihan was not alone in the room, indicating that someone had to be in there with her. And what of Rump? Wouldn't Moynihan have tried to attack him? There was no signs of blood on the dog or anywhere in the room from what she can remember. Yes, there had to be something missing in this puzzle.

Then it hit her. There was one thing that might have made sense, that would explain why the cage was knocked over and why Moynihan hadn't left the lighthouse until after Cerulean returned to the lighthouse. There had to have been an intruder at the lighthouse. Terri gulped. She recalled Fiona telling her how Ms. Moynihan was assaulted by someone in the lighthouse, tossed down the stairs like a rag doll and nearly killed, although luckily she only suffered a sprained ankle. But could this have been what happened this time? Someone else could have gotten into the lighthouse and knocked over the cage. In response, Moynihan might have been forced go raptor. Then Cerulean would have gotten to the school, the Dino Squad would have gotten suspicious, and came to the light house... Yes it made sense now, Terri thought. That had to be what had happened. It just had to be!

“I..I think I know what happened..” Terri spoke up, getting up out of her seat. The adults looked over at her curiously and waited for her to speak. “There must have been an intruder at the lighthouse. You know, like how there was another intruder two weeks ago that Fiona told us about?” She asked, motioning towards her parents.

Bryant nodded his head. “Yes, I believe she told us about that.”

“Maybe that same intruder, or someone else, got into the lighthouse.” Terri said. “They might have somehow knew Moynihan was sick.”

“And how would they have known that?” Amanda asked.

“They might have been spying on her.” Terri explained. “Or perhaps spying on Fiona or one of her friends and found out from them that she was sick, so they decided to take advantage of that and invaded the lighthouse while Moynihan was still vulnerable.”

Jack nodded his head. Terri was making some sense. It did sound plausible that someone got into this building and that also could be the real reason Joanne had gone dino. But it still didn't explain everything. “Well, that does make sense.. But..still, what about that scanner thing we saw up on the top floor? Didn't you say that indicated a mind switch?”

Terri nodded her head. “Well, yes, Mr. Caruso. I did. That could still fall into place with what happened at the lighthouse. Perhaps being in raptor mode triggered something in Moynihan's mind and she started to think more like a raptor. After all, she's almost never in raptor mode nowadays, so perhaps infrequent use of her dinosaur half had weakened her ability to control it.” Terri wasn't sure if she was making much sense to her parents or to Mr. and Mrs. Caruso, but she had to try to explain the best that she could. She couldn't think of anything else that would make sense. “The intruder came into the lighthouse and caused some havoc. They knocked down Cerulean's cage, either accidentally or on purpose. The intruder was obviously a threat, a big enough threat to make Moynihan transform into a Velociraptor in order to defend herself. The Dino Squad came back, but perhaps Moynihan had already been corrupted by her raptor mind and attacked them. That would explain why they aren't in the lighthouse; they were running from Ms. Moynihan.”

“And what of the intruder?” Jack asked.

“And what if you're wrong?” Amanda spoke up. “What if it was Moynihan and Moynihan alone that did all this?”

Terri shook her head. “No, I don't think so. Moynihan..the real Moynihan..she would never do anything like this on purpose. And if going raptor causes it, she wouldn't go raptor unless she was forced to. No, someone forced her to go raptor.”

“And who is this someone?” Nevina questioned.

Terri looked towards the ground. “I..I don't know...”

* * *

Victor groaned and opened up his eyes. His tail slowly moved back and forth, slowly, weakly. He placed a dinosaurian hand on his head, being very careful not to cut himself. His eyes seemed to lack a glow as he looked around the room groggily, wondering what had just happened. The last thing he could remember was facing off against the Dino Squad, and then all went black after that. Different scents started to fill his nostrils, arousing him into awareness. He slowly shook his head and lifted it off the cold, hard floor. Nearby, he could see Oscura and Kista, and after a few seconds, Michelle, although she was off in the distance. Why, Victor could not figure out. Oh well, he would find out eventually anyway.

Groaning again, Victor shook his head again and managed to rise up to his feet, albeit on shaky legs. Oscura and Kista looked at each other, looking almost like they were confused about their leader's behavior. Or maybe they were worried he would get angry. Victor didn't know how long he had been knocked out, but he was going to find out. His eyes slowly regained their usual golden glow, and he let out a long, soft hiss, although it wasn't a threatening one. He took a wobbly step towards Oscura, who immediately took a step back as if she was afraid that she was in trouble. Kista remained where she stood, although she, too, looked a little uneasy herself.

'What happened here?' Victor asked, his eyes drooping slightly. He was addressed Oscura specifically, his eyes locked onto hers. Oscura didn't answer right away and instead just gave him a blank stare. Victor growled softly. 'I said what happened here.' He repeated, the message sounding stronger than it did the first time.

Oscura bared her teeth nervously. 'You were knocked out.'

'I kind of figured I was...' Victor said, slowly shaking his head. 'The pounding headache that I have kind of hinted me to that. But what happened here? Other than that?'

'Well..we fought the Dino Squad and...' Oscura started to say, but was cut off by Victor.

'The Dino Squad?!' Victor cried out. It just hit him. He didn't see the Dino Squad anywhere in the room. He looked back behind him where he was and noticed that the shackles were broken. Well of course they would be broken, he thought to himself. Otherwise he wouldn't have fought them. But now where were they? He didn't see their bodies anywhere, although he did see some blood on the floor. The room was a bit of a mess from the fight, and yet he couldn't see any trace of the Dino Squad still being there. And from the way Oscura and Kista were acting, he suspected that they must have failed at their jobs. Victor hissed angrily. 'Did you let them escape?! And where are the mutantsaurs?!' Victor looked around, not seeing his newly created mutantsaurs anywhere.

'Michelle held them back.' Kista said, taking a step forward. Victor shot her a confused look, which only baffled Kista more. 'Why does that surprise you? She insisted that you wanted her to hold them back or something until you gave the signal. But of course she had to keep them at bay for a long time because you were knocked out...'

'I never told her to do such a thing!' Victor hollered, lifting his tail straight into the air as if he was going to attack.

'Ah ha!' Oscura screeched, turning her head towards Michelle. 'I knew you were lying!'

'But...but I really did think that Victor gave that order..' Michelle lied, hoping to get out of this mess. But she wasn't sure if she'd be able to fool Victor for long. She gave a sideways glance to Victor, hoping to make amends to him. 'I'm sorry, sir, I..I guess I just misunerstood your orders. I thought you wanted to control the mutantsaurs, so I thought you would expect me or someone here to keep them at bay until you wanted to take control of him.'

'Only I can control the mutantsaurs. How did you manage to keep them at bay?' Veloci asked, tilting his head to one side.  
'W-Well..I...' Michelle started to say, but she didn't know how to explain her method. 'I'm not sure how I can explain it to you, sir...'

'Whatever.' Victor then took notice that the mutantsaurs were there. They looked anxious, ready to fight. They seemed to be looking in one direction in particular. Victor followed their gaze until he spotted something. He saw what looked to be a few footprints, although they were hard to see; they were extremely faint. Then he picked up the Dino Squad's scent. He recognized that direction. He used the same one when he was bringing in the Spinosaurus. It didn't take long for Victor to realize what had actually happened. 'You three lost against the Dino Squad and you let them use one of our hidden routes to escape?!' He screeched in anger.

Oscura and Kista quickly backed away, not wanting to be close to the angered raptor. Oscura tried desperately to think of something to say. 'But..but sir..it was all Michelle's fault..' Oscura glared towards Michelle, who obviously couldn't see her because she was still trying to keep the mutantsaurs from running towards the exit. 'I-If she had only unleashed the mutantsaurs, we would have...'

'It doesn't matter if she unleashed them or not!' Victor hollered, stomping a foot down. 'You should have been able to handle them! You have a poisonous bite, Oscura. And what if you, Kista? I thought you told me the Dino Squad kids were easy to beat!'

'Well..they grew wise to my attack..' Oscura said. 'I wasn't able to get a bite on them. I tried, though.'

'I admit, they were stronger than I originally thought. But I won't mess up again. I promise.' Kista said, bowering her head slightly in submissiveness.

Victor bared his teeth. 'You'd better not..for your sake..' He then made his way towards Michelle. 'And as for you, young lady..' Michelle tried to look up at Victor, but was too afraid to even move. 'I could easily give you punishment for this...' Michelle closed her eyes, waiting for Victor to strike her. But for some reason, the blow never came. '..but I'll let it go for now. Just follow me. We're...' Victor realized someone was missing. 'Where's Moynihan? Didn't you bring her?'

Michelle's eyes widened. 'Yes, sir..I did...' When she took a closer look at the mutantsaurs, she realized that Moynihan was indeed missing. She felt her heart start racing. 'She must have ran off...'

* * *

The Dino Squad, still remaining in dino mode, were running through the tunnel. So far, they hadn't encountered any traps, or at least they hadn't tripped up any. They were surprised and confused. Where were all the traps? Shouldn't there be any? Victor is not the type to take chances, so surely there should be some form of traps here in the tunnels, or some sort of method upon which Victor can assure that access would be restricted. But why should they complain about that now? They took advantage of the supposedly nonexistent traps and continued to race through the tunnel. If they could just get out as quickly as possible, the less of a chance they would have to deal with any inconveniences.

The tunnel was a dark gray in color, although they could have sworn they could see a reddish hue in it as well. The pathway had a single row of lights overhead, somewhat dim but bright enough to illuminate the way. They could see pipes lining the walls as well as several cords. The gang figured that this might be part of Victor's power supply, and they considered severing it. But they couldn't take that chance. They didn't know for sure if that's what the material was for and they could end up causing more damage than they intended. Plus, they didn't know if Victor was behind them or not, or if anyone was chasing them. They had to get out of the tunnel and outside before they could continue to fight. Just then, they could see a large door that ended the tunnel. It looked rather large for human use, but just barely the right size for dinosaurs. It was probably meant for vehicle transport.

Flying overhead, Buzz noticed the door. He wanted to look behind him to see if anyone was following them, but he was too afraid to. 'Well that was really easy...' He said, although he spoke slowly in a suspicious tone. Something didn't feel right about this.

'Well at least we're out. Why complain about it?' Caruso asked, trying to sound more like his usual self. But there was a tinge of fear in his thought voice.

'Well, there could be some horrible trap waiting for us at the end of the tunnel.' Rodger explained rationally. 'There could be a hole that opens up with spikes at the bottom, some wall coming down to crush us, there could be mutantsaurs hiding, invisible barriers, lasers that could cut our limbs off...'

'That's enough!' Fiona called out, flinching slightly from disgust. 'I think we get the picture, Rodger..'

'Y-Yeah..I don't think I really needed to know all that.' Caruso said slowly, baring his teeth slightly in anxiety.

'Sorry guys.' Rodger said.

'But Rodger is right, guys.' Max said. They were getting closer and closer to the door with each passing second. Max wanted to slow down, but they've come too far now. Perhaps they would be able to escape, but on the other hand, they might just end up getting hurt, or even killed. 'There was no traps in the tunnel as we had expected. There is reason to believe that something might happen once we go through that door.'

'But what could happen?' Buzz asked, going a little lower in the air, but still high enough so that he wouldn't hit his friends.

'We'll find out!' Max announced. He ran as fast as he could, making sure that he remained in front of his team mates. He then lowered his head, preparing to smash the door that he would collide with within seconds. Suddenly, his head smashed against the hard door with full force. A searing pain swept through his head and he pulled his head back and let out a roar of pain. But the impact of his head against the door was enough to knock it from its hinges and it collapsed to the ground. Max shook his head, trying to shake off the pain. With an opening now available, he and the team rushed through the door, now entering a very familiar room.

The room was rather large in size, perhaps being even larger than Victor's actual laboratory. The walls were a teal in color, lingering more towards blue than green. The room itself was supported by large, dusty dark red arks that were positioned against, and even into, the wall. There were several rows of them on both sides. The room was mostly green in color, although there was a gray line on the edges of the room, almost like there was a giant carpet in the middle of the room. They could see large glass cages where mutantsaurs and where, they themselves, were kept at one point. It didn't take them long to recognize this as the same room where they were detained and where Caruso had to rescue them on his own.

The team never imagined they would be back in here. The site of the cages brought back unpleasant memories. The way they were kept like wild animals, locked up with no way to escape and not being able to change back into human form without exposing their true identities, it was a horrible memory for them. The worst off was Max. He wasn't in a cage like the rest of the team. He was detained with energy rings and had to hold still. The rings were very hot, he had said at the time, and if he moved, he would have burned his skin pretty badly. While Moynihan had stated, while they were trying to find Caruso, that Tyrannosaurs were more resistant to the heat, Max figured that Victor had turned up the heat on those rings so that it would hurt him.

Max looked around the room. He tilted his head upwards and could see a catwalk along the side, above where the cages that his friends were in. He then could see a rack straight ahead, and there he could see several duplicates of the costume that Victor's men were wearing. Recalling what Caruso had done, that gave him an idea, if only briefly. Should they do what Caruso did and disguise themselves as Victor's men? Max then shook the idea out of his mind. It probably wouldn't be a good idea and he had already decided that they were going to have to fight Victor. He turned his head to where he had seen the exit, but to his dismay, he spotted a problem.

The door was completely blocked. As Rodger had suggested before, large lines, red in color, covered the exit. There seemed to have been a new installation since the last time they were there. Max and the others don't recall the metallic structures, looking almost like those scanners placed in stores to keep people from stealing, being by the door. It reached all the way up to the ceiling, as if Victor had been expecting an intruder to be able to fly or something. The red lines made a buzzing sound and from experience, the team knew to be cautious of things like this. The lines seemed harmless enough, but they couldn't take that chance.

Buzz looked up at Max. 'Well now what are we going to do?'

'Maybe we can go through the lasers?' Fiona suggested. 'Maybe it's safe. Maybe that's just there to frighten people, trick them into thinking it's dangerous.'

Max shook his head. 'I don't think so, Fiona. That doesn't sound like Victor. I'm positive those lasers aren't there just for show.'

'So who is going to test them?' Buzz asked, looking at Max and Fiona. The two gave him a weird look. Buzz tiled his head. 'What? Someone has to test it to see if it's actually safe.' Buzz noted, landing on the ground and motioning towards the rings. 'And I call not it!'

'You can't call not it, Buzz!' Max shouted.

'Yes I can.' Buzz declared with a bird-like smirk. 'Not it! See? I did it again.'

'Stop it!' Max ordered him. 'This is serious, Buzz! We don't have time for your games.'

But Buzz continued on, thinking that a little fun was what they needed after being detained by Victor for so long. 'I am serious. Not it!' Max growled in frustration.

Fiona walked in between the two. 'Stop it, you two! Buzz, Max is right. We should be focusing on trying to get out of here, not bickering with each other.'

'Sorry, I was just trying to lighten up the mood a little..' Buzz said, lowering his head.

'Just forget it. Now how are we going to get out?' Max looked up at the obstacle. The lines were pretty close together. Even in human form, they would not be able to get out. There had to be another way, but what was it?

Just then, Max felt someone poking him, if he could even call it that, in his side. Max looked down and saw Caruso, looking up at him in fear. 'Hey..Max..?'

'It's okay, Caruso. We'll find a way out of here.' Max glared at the lasers in front of him and snorted. 'I'll make sure of that...'

'It's not that..' Caruso said softly.

'It's not?' Max looked surprised. 'Then what it is?'

Caruso turned his head around so that he was looking behind him, towards where they had originally came into the room. 'We've got trouble.'

'What kind of..' When Max turned to see what Caruso was looking at, he froze in position. There, standing in the now smashed doorway, was Moynihan. She was still in raptor mode and her eyes still had the horrible red glow to them. Drool dripping from her jaws, she let out a loud, horrible hiss. 'Oh no..'

'Moynihan?! Where did she come from?' Buzz called out, taking to the air immediately when he saw the green Velociraptor.

'She must have followed us!' Rodger exclaimed, lowering his head in self defense.

'Well no duh!' Fiona said, walking up next to Rodger. 'But what should we do? Should we fight her?'

Max turned his head back towards the exit. They had to find some way out of this room. But how? With Moynihan now present, it was going to be even harder trying to think of a way to get out. Max took another look at the metallic structures at each side and began to wonder something. What if they could cause some kind of explosion in this area? The blast should be powerful enough to blast open the door, hopefully. Max turned back to Moynihan. But what to do with her? He couldn't let her get too close to the door, otherwise she would be killed. Max strained to come up with a solution that could work.

Then something came to Max's mind. He quickly turned to Fiona and Buzz. 'Hey! Buzz! Fiona!' The two turned her heads toward him, although remaining alert in case Moynihan decided to charge them right then and there. 'Would you two be able to distract Ms. Moynihan for a while?'

'I think so..' Fiona said, nodding her head. 'But why? What are you going to do?'

Max looked over at the lasers. 'I'm going to try to create an opening for us.'

'Are you nuts?!' Buzz was horrified. 'You'll get massacred by those lasers!'

'That's why I'm going to try to create an explosion.' Max explained, then looked over at Rodger. 'Rodge, do you think it would be possible to overload that system enough to cause an explosion?'

'I'm not sure. I might be possible..' Rodger said, frowning deeply. 'But I don't have the right equipment with me to do so.'

Max looked over to another part of the room. He thought he could see tanks full of water. Would they work, so long as they kept a safe distance? 'What about water? Wouldn't that work?'

'It might..but we would need to be far away from the water so we don't get electrocuted.' Rodger explained. 'But I'm not sure how it would be possible to transport that water over here and then get out of the way in time.'

'Maybe Buzz could do it?' Max suggested. 'He can fly. He can remain up in the air and toss the water over and still be at a safe distance. While he does that, we just have to keep away from the water...'

'Perhaps..but..' Rodger said, trying to think about how the plan might work.

While Rodger and Max were talking about the plan, Caruso walked up to Fiona. He stared at Moynihan, his eyes wide with fear. It was like he was seeing himself from a few weeks ago, when Victor had tested a weaker version of this chemical on him. Moynihan stared at him, licking her lips. Caruso was quickly reminded of Victor now, and what he had done to him. Caruso took a step back, but forced himself to stay put. He had to be brave. He had to help his friends keep Moynihan at bay while Rodger and Max try to come up with a plan. Caruso narrowed his eyes and lifted his tail high into the air in a threatening posture, hoping that his sheer size and the spikes on his tail would be enough to deter Moynihan.

But the female raptor responded differently. Rather than running, Moynihan started to advance on the trio, hissing loudly as she took several steps toward him. Caruso's eyes widened in fear and he gave out several bellows, hoping to frighten Moynihan, but it didn't even faze her. It felt like someone was controlling her. Caruso couldn't help but think that if she were more like a natural raptor, she would have at least hesitated. But, despite his attempts and despite efforts from both Buzz and Fiona, who were screeching at Moynihan, she continued to advance towards them. There had to be a driving force behind it, but what? Then Caruso thought of something. Could Victor be mind controlling her somehow?

'How long do we have to do this?' Buzz asked, letting out another screech at Moynihan. But he was becoming more and more frightened as she got closer. She looked up at him and hissed, looking poised to jump into the air and bite into him. 'I'm not sure how long we can keep this up. Sooner or later, she is going to attack!'

'We have to wait until Max gives the signal, Buzz!' Fiona instructed him. Moynihan took another step closer. This time, in an attempt to defend herself and her friends, Fiona quickly moved forward in a mock charge. She let out a roar as she lowered her head, snapping her jaws close to Moynihan. In response, the raptor jumped back about a foot, but continued to face Fiona. Moynihan hissed back, swishing her tail excitedly from side to side.

Caruso lifted up his tail again, turning slightly to his side in an attempt to make himself appear larger and more intimidating to the smaller Velociraptor. To show Moynihan that he was not afraid to use his tail, he slammed it into the ground a few times and then started to move it slowly from side to side, threatening to swing harder if she dare get too close to him. But he wasn't sure if he would be able to strike quickly enough. He remembered his fight with Victor. He wasn't able to land a hit on the guy. The same could go for Moynihan. 'But Buzz has a good point, Fiona. How can we hold off Moynihan long enough for a plan to be..well..planned out?'

'We have to try, guys!' Fiona said. She was now positioned further in front of Caruso and Buzz. She bared her teeth at Moynihan and roared again. She didn't want to hurt their mentor, but if it came down to it, if she had no choice, she would attack her. Fiona snapped at Moynihan again, hoping to make her move away. 'If we don't try, then we'll never get out of here!'

'I know that, Fiona. But what are we supposed to do if...' Buzz started to say, but quickly stopped himself. Without warning, Moynihan head leaped into the air, opening her jaws as wide as she could. She was aiming at Fiona's throat. 'Fiona! Look out!'

Fiona reacted quickly. She opened up her own jaws. When Moynihan got close enough, she snapped her jaws around Moynihan's body and then tossed her away. But she had tossed her in the wrong direction and by the time she realized her mistake, it was too late. She watched in horror was Moynihan landed a close distance from Max and Rodger, who were apparently still discussing some idea. 'Max! Rodger! Look out!' Fiona called out, turning her body around to face them. 'Moynihan's heading your way!'

Rodger turned around just in time to see Moynihan in the air, her head very close to his with mouth split open, exposing rows of jagged teeth. Rodger bellowed in shock and wasn't able to react quickly enough. The jaws slammed shut, but luckily Moynihan had missed his mouth and instead bit down onto his horn. Rodger lifted up his head and shook it rapidly, trying to make Moynihan let go. He tried to ignore the pain as she started to dig her claws into him so she could hang onto him. Rodger finally jerked his head back as far as he could, exerting enough force to make Moynihan release him. She sailed through the air and crashed into the ground.

Quickly, Max turned his attention towards Buzz. 'Go get some water and bring it over here!'

'Why?' Buzz asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

'To short circuit the lasers!' Max responded.

'But..wouldn't that electrocute you guys?' Buzz was hesitant to follow this order.

'Just do it!' Max demanded. He looked over at Moynihan. 'We'll get Moynihan away from this area. You just do as I say and short circuit the lasers!'

Although he still was unsure whether or not it was a good idea, Buzz still trusted Max's instincts. Perhaps he had something going here. Maybe Max's plan was going to work. Buzz nodded his head. 'Okay, Max!' Buzz then flew over where the aquatic tanks were. He didn't know why Victor had them. Probably to hold water-based mutantsaurs, he thought. He knew that he wouldn't be able to lift the tanks up off the ground, so he had to think of a more clever way of transporting the water. He looked around, trying to find something that would be useful. He then tracked his eyes across the floor, slowly towards the arch-like structures on either side of the door. Then he looked back at the tanks. He started to wonder what would happen if he just simply knocked over the tank. Where would it flow and how fast? And would they be able to get away in time?

No, that idea wouldn't work, Buzz told himself. The water would be too shallow to cause any damage. He had to think of another way. Somehow, he had to pour the water directly onto the arch, but how was he going to do that? The arch attached to the wall, so there was no way he could fly over it. Buzz tried to think of a way, and then he thought of something. Thinking back to one of his video games, he recalled something similar to his in a video game. There was an arch, a bit like this, but armed. He couldn't attack too low, otherwise the arch would collapse on top of him. And he couldn't attack the top other wise the armed structure would still be in the way. He found that the best strategy involved attacking the middle, just enough to shut it down. That was where the energy source was that powered the thing in the first place. Buzz looked at this arch in particular, narrowing his eyes. He wondered something. Could the energy source for this thing be in the middle? He couldn't tell, but it was a possibility. Buzz looked over at his friends. They were doing their best to herd Moynihan as far away from the door as possible. It wasn't too difficult. All they had to do was attack Moynihan and she attacked back. Using well executed attacks and mock charges, they were able to get Moynihan into a deeper part of the room.

Once he was certain that the others were far away enough, Buzz looked down at the tank. He couldn't lift up the tank, but he did see something that he could lift, a smaller box, probably for the smaller mutantsaurs. Buzz grabbed it with both of his feet and then swooped down towards the tank. He set the box down and then used his beak to sheer through the top of the tank. He made a hole just large enough to fit the box through. He dipped it into the water, filling it up until it was nearly to the top. He pulled it out and carefully held the water in both of his legs. He flew towards the middle of the arch and hovered there for a few seconds. 'Okay, everyone. Brace yourselves!' Buzz shouted as he tossed the water onto the arch. As he heard the thing start to crackle and hiss, he quickly flew away towards where his friends were. Just seconds later, there was a loud bang and a series of crackles and pops, and then suddenly, total silence.

Buzz had his head turned away. When it suddenly became quiet, he looked over to see what damage he had caused. He was surprised there was not much of an explosion, but there was lot of damage. There was a loud of black charring on the two arcs, even a bit of slight melting and twisted metal. There were some exposed wires, ripped up so he could see the smaller wires inside, sparks flying everywhere, although thankfully were above the water. Smoke rose high up into the air, hitting the ceiling and then spreading out. There was also some charring on the door, but to Buzz's dismay, there was not much of a dent in the door. The water itself had flooded outside, although there was a couple inches of water around the arch itself, slowly draining out the door.

Buzz sighed and shook his head. He looked over to see where his friends were. Moynihan lay on the ground, unconscious. Buzz didn't see who hit her, but he suspected that either Max or Rodger had knocked her out, since they would probably be strong enough to knock Moynihan out with a single blow. But he didn't know how long Moynihan would remain knocked out. She could wake up at any moment and attack. He then looked over at Fiona and Caruso. Fiona looked like she was trying to comfort Caruso, both still in dino mode. Caruso himself looked rather frightened, but Buzz wasn't able to tell if it was from the loud bang or from Moynihan laying there, still stuck in a feral state even though she was currently out cold.

Max finally turned away from his friends and took a few cautious steps towards the door. He squinted his eyes, trying to see the extent of the damage. He was expecting a massive hole in the door and perhaps even a small fire if possible. But he wasn't prepared for what he saw. There was little damage to the door, although a lot of damage to the arcs themselves. The red lasers themselves were gone completely. The water had fried some vital part of the machinery, and with that damaged, the arch couldn't function properly. But still, the door remained mostly in tact other than a slight dent and burn marks. That wasn't what he and Rodger were hoping for. Max sighed in disappointment.

'It didn't work...' Max said softly. He looked over at Rodger. 'Do you know why the plan didn't work?'

Rodger took a look at the damage himself. After a few minutes scanning the scene with his eyes, he turned back to Max. 'Actually, I think the plan did actually work.'

'What do you mean, Rodger? There was no..' Max tried to say.

'Look, Max. Look at that scene very carefully.' Rodger ordered Max, taking a confident step towards him. 'Think about it... The arc is clearly not functional anymore..'

'What good does that..' Then it hit Max. He took another look at the destroyed metallic structures. He once again noticed there were no lasers, nothing that would hurt them if they tried to cross. And the door didn't look like it was very strong. In fact, Max thought he could destroy it as easily as he had the other door not too long ago. Max's eyes widened as he realized that the plan hadn't failed just yet. If he could only get that door open, they could get out in the open. 'Rodger, you're right... The arc isn't working anymore, which means...'

'That nothing is going to stop us from knocking open that door.' Rodger said as he lowered his head, kicking at the ground like it was dirt. Before Max could say anything, Rodger ran towards the door, confident that the sparks wouldn't hit the water. Max's eyes widened and he looked away, fearful that Rodger was going to get hurt. But then he heard the sound of sharp horns hitting the metallic door, and then a loud, scratching sound could be heard as Rodger twisted his head to one side, ripping a large chunk out of the door.

Max looked at what Rodger had done in shock. After a few seconds, he came to his senses. 'Uh..Rodger? You know we could have just opened up the door on our own..in human form, don't you?'

Rodger nodded his head. 'Yes I know that. But I thought that it would be more fun to get out this way.' He said with a smirk on his face. Well, the kind of smirk that was permitted with his beak.

'Okay guys!' Max said, craning his head to look over at the others. 'Don't worry! It's safe! Come in, let's get out before Victor and the others arrive!' With that, the team quickly fled outside of the building, out in the parking lot area. As they left, they didn't notice Moynihan's eyes snapping open, revealing a bright red glow. She noticed the team running out of the building. She growled softly and slowly climbed up to her feet. She stood there for a few seconds and then gave chase, mouth split wide open as she let out a hideous roar.

* * *

“Ahhh...Interesting..” Victor glanced up at the scanners. They indicated that Moynihan and the Dino Squad were close by. Moynihan had followed the students down the pathway and had apparently confronted them. And they somehow made an escape. Victor wasn't sure how they pulled it off, but they did anyway. The scanners indicated that Moynihan was attacking them just outside of the facility, although he could not tell who was winning. He did notice something unusual though. The team wasn't trying to escape. They were deliberately staying in the immediate area. Victor narrowed his eyes. This seemed suspicious to him. It was almost like they were expecting to fight soon, expecting him and his men to show up at any moment.

Peter had walked in a few moments ago. He wouldn't say where he had been, and if asked about it, he'd just say he was very busy. He wondered where Zoom had disappeared to and was almost immediately informed he was turned into a mutantsaur. Although horrified and guilt-ridden, he had to accept the reality and could not do a thing about it. He didn't try to protect against Victor, knowing that he could very well be next. Although his arm was still pretty much broken, he was still able to fulfill some duties, albeit slower than the uninjured workers. When he had heard that the Dino Squad was here and that they escaped, Peter was a bit angry because he wanted to have a chance at getting even with the kid who fooled him with the Chiller. When he saw that the kids were still in the immediate area, he was so tempted to go dino and attack them, but he held himself back. With a broken leg, he was not going to be of much use.

Michelle was also looking at the scanners, her eyes narrowing slightly as she hoped that the Dino Squad would leave while they can. She was growing ever more frustrated when they continued to stay in the area. She wondered if they were insane, waiting for Victor to attack them or something. Michelle kept herself a distance away from Victor. He was still a little mad at her for losing track of Moynihan and for lying to Oscura. He was starting to lose his patience with her, but her dinosaur form still made her a valuable member of Raptor Dyne and her past service more than made up for what she had done. Victor had warned her that one more slip up and she was off the team for good. This made Michelle even more nervous about the impending battle she knew was going to happen. How was she going to protect the Dino Squad and save her own skin at the same time?

Oscura was eyeing Michelle with a dark look on her face. This was all her fault and she knew that. Michelle had lied about the orders Victor had given her. Why the mad scientist would even want to give Michelle another chance is beyond her. But she did see a glimmer of hope in getting rid of Michelle. Victor had said that this was her last chance. If Michelle screwed up again, she was a goner. Oscura smirked. She was aware of the possible friendship Michelle had with the Dino Squad. If her theory proves correct and Michelle had been helping the Dino Squad, even helping them to escape their shackles earlier, then no doubt she would be trying to protect the Dino Squad in the fight she knew was going to happen. All Oscura had to do was wait until that moment comes. She would keep an eye on Michelle, and when Michelle does something that proves that she is a traitor, she can tell Victor about it and Michelle would be done for. Oscura chuckled in delight. Perhaps soon, oh so very soon, she will finally be rid of the little brat.

Kista was sitting down on a chair nearby, eyeing the scene with some interest. She was thinking back to the Dino Squad. They were just what she had hoped for. She was hoping for a challenge and she got it. Although they weren't quite as strong as she hoped they would be, they were still good fighters, despite the fact that they were humans. In some ways, they reminded her of Michelle and Oscura, who were also teenaged humans who can turn into dinosaurs. Kista didn't really believe that a human could completely master a dinosaur form. Just like Victor, she felt the only way to unlock a dino's true potential, one would have to have always been a dinosaur since they were born, and this is something that is only true with her, Victor, and Joanne. She glanced over at Victor and wondered what his next move was going to be.

Victor spoke up again. “This is rather unusual...” He said to no one in particular. He began typing away at his keyboard again, as if he were trying to find something.

“What is it, sir?” Peter asked, taking a step closer to the large screen. His eyes scanned across the screen, trying to see what Victor was doing. Many unusual words streamed across the screen, words that only Victor himself could understand. “What is all this?”

“They're just scans, Peter.” Victor responded, not taking his eyes off the screen. “And as for what I was talking about, as you all probably noticed, the Dino Squad don't seem to be moving away from Raptor Dyne. They're hanging very close by actually.”

“Isn't that a good thing?” Oscura asked. “It would mean that we would not have to go very far in recapturing those 'perfect dinosaurs'.”

“Ah, but that's probably exactly what they want me to do. They are likely expecting me to come after them.” Victor said, his eyes still glued to the huge screen before him. “I will have to come up with a more clever way of getting to them..to catch them off guard.”

“Well if they are expecting you...” Peter said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Then he held out his hand in a gesture known to humans as 'I do not know' and then said, “..how would you be able to take them by surprise?”

Victor thought about it. Peter did have a point. The Dino Squad were expecting him one way or another. Then he started to wonder something. Should he go after the Dino Squad now? Or should he let them run away? He shook his head mentally. No, likely the group of idiotic teens would remain where they were, waiting for him to attack. An attack from behind was impossible. Victor suspected that the children would be expecting that kind of attack. The only thing he could think of doing was a more frontal assault. He smirked darkly. This was the perfect opportunity to wipe them all out, though. Even if they did know that he was coming, that did not matter. They were too weak and stupid to be able to defeat him and his dinosaur and mutant minions. Even Moynihan would be fighting for his cause.

“Come on..Let's go give a warm greeting to the Dino Squad..” Victor said as he narrowed his glowing yellow eyes, a toothy smirk spreading across his face.

* * *

GRRRAAAAAWWW!!

Moynihan leaped into the air, her feet pushed out in front of her, preparing to slash Caruso. The Stegosaurus reacted quickly and swatted her away with his massive tail. Moynihan crashed into the ground, but quickly recovered. She glared at Caruso, roaring loudly in frustration. She jumped at him again, but this time Fiona grabbed her with her tail, wrapping around her body. Fiona flung Moynihan away, roaring in the process. Moynihan wasn't about to give up. She faced the Spinosaurus, her tail swishing from side to side, slow, soft growls emitted from deep within her throat. They were the same sounds Caruso had nightmares about, although the nightmares he had were of Victor, not of Joanne.

The green raptor changed her target. She turned her gaze over towards the Tyrannosaurus Rex. She saw the blood on his head, where she had bitten him earlier. The smell of the red liquid was driving her insane and she snorted. She rushed towards Max at full speed and jumped at him. Max's eyes widened and he quickly ducked, letting Moynihan sail over his head. He quickly turned around and snatched the tip of Moynihan's tail with his jaws. He pulled his head back and then tossed her back into the ground, hoping that the constant tossing around would either knock Moynihan out again or make her lose interest. But she just kept on coming at them.

The Velociraptor, although now a completely wild animal, had some sense of thought process going on through her mind. And she couldn't understand what was compelling her to attack these dinosaurs. They were way out of her league, especially when they were fighting together like that. But yet something in her mind was urging her to attack, pushing her forward, and she had to obey. Roaring loudly, Moynihan ran towards the T-Rex yet again, this time going for a low attack. Aiming at the T-Rex's foot, she bit down on his ankle, sinking her teeth deep into his skin and scales.

Max roared in pain and lifted up his foot to try to shake off Moynihan. But he had moved so quickly that he had lost his footing. Max found himself fall onto his back, Moynihan still clamped down onto his foot. Noticing that the jock's stomach was now exposed, Moynihan focused her attention there. She leaped off of his foot and landed on his stomach. Without hesitation, Moynihan dug her sickle claws deep into the T-Rex's stomach. Max's eyes widened and he roared in agony as he felt blood start to ooze onto his stomach and sides. Horrified by what was happening, Buzz dove towards Moynihan. He waited until the right moment to strike and brought out his talons. At full speed, he slammed into Moynihan, knocking her into the ground and making her release Max.

Max struggled to his feet, although he limped slightly because of the pain in his stomach. Fresh blood started to drip heavily into the ground, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Max glanced down at the wound, noticing that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Max looked up at Buzz, who was know hovering above Moynihan, taunting her with loud, bird-like screeches to keep her attention. 'Thanks, Buzz.' Max said softly, closing his eyes and wincing in pain. He wanted to hold his stomach, but his arms were too short. And he couldn't change back; he would lose blood much faster if he did.

'How long must we keep this up?' Buzz screeched again as Moynihan jumped up, snapping her jaws shut dangerously close to his wing. Buzz managed to get out of the way, knowing that if one of his wings are injured, or worse, both of them, he wouldn't be able to fly and thus not be able to defend himself efficiently against Moynihan, or anyone else for that matter. 'I don't know how many more times I can dodge her!'

'Isn't there a way to change her back?' Fiona asked, turning her head towards Caruso.

'Why are you looking at me?' Caruso asked, his eyes widening slightly.

'Well you did have a taste of that chemical..and you reverted to normal..' Fiona explained, her eyes narrowing slightly. 'Come on, Caruso. You must remember how you regained control...please.. It's the only chance we have of returning Moynihan to normal..'

Caruso glanced at the ground. He didn't want to think about what happened to him. He had been trying to push it in the back of his mind since he was rescued. But now rescuing Moynihan depends on him trying to remember how he got free. But Caruso didn't really remember how. He didn't know how he was able to break free, although maybe if he explained it to Fiona, she would be able to figure out how he had done it. 'Well..I could try to explain to you what happened..' Caruso said, gulping nervously. 'You see, I felt..I don't know.. empowered... angry... I-I wanted to attack anything that I could.. I wanted to kill that mutantsaur. Not just hurt it..kill it...' Caruso closed his eyes. 'But after I realized what I had done...It was too late... I realized in horror at what I had done... I...' Caruso lowered his head in shame.

'You stopped, didn't you?' Fiona asked.

Caruso nodded his head slowly. 'Yes, I stopped... I stopped those horrible thoughts running through my mind..after I realized what I had done...' Caruso reopened his eyes and looked back up at Fiona. 'I never been so scared in my life, Fiona. I know..I know it was just a mutantsaur..but I still killed..I still killed...'

Fiona tried to comfort Caruso by resting her long head on the back of his head, in between the first two pairs of plates. It was a strain on her body though, being a dinosaur that was supposed to stand tall, while Caruso's form required the head to be close to the ground. But she still wanted to comfort Caruso, so she kept her head on the back of his neck for a few seconds before lifting her head back up. She thought about what the boy had said. From what he had told her, he didn't really do anything special to regain control of himself. She wondered if Victor was aware of this. Could that be why he wanted to kill him? Was emotion the cure to helping Moynihan recover from this? Fiona turned her head back over to Joanne. If this were the case, would there be a way to pull it off? Would there be a way to make Joanne feel fear and shame and snap her out of this feral state?

Then it hit her. Fiona's mind went racing back to the lighthouse, when they had wanted to play a game and Fiona had went upstairs to ask Moynihan a question. Fiona recalled how vicious Moynihan was in there, her eyes glowing red just like now, snapping at her like a wild animal. Moynihan could have easily killed her, but something had stopped her. Until now, Fiona had no idea what that was. But could it be that Moynihan's sense of guilt had stopped her? Fiona had thought that Moynihan had simply heard her voice and stopped herself. But could there have been a bit more to it than that? Could the guilt of killing someone, regardless of who or what they were, have allowed the human mind to take over, even if only briefly? Fiona glanced down at Caruso, parting her mouth slightly in a dinosaurian smile.

'Caruso, you're a genius!' Fiona called out.

Caruso blinked a few times. 'I am?'

'He is?' Rodger was just as confused.

'Yes! Don't you see?' Fiona looked at Rodger and Caruso. When they just stared at her blankly, she realized that they truly didn't know what she was talking about. 'Well think about it. Caruso stopped because he felt the guilt of killing someone else. Moynihan stopped attacking me earlier because she felt the guilt of almost killing me. If someone were to allow her to pin them down and start calling out to her, maybe she'll remember. She might have an easier time recognizing us in human form..'

Rodger shook his head. 'That is the craziest, most idiotic idea I've ever heard!' He scolded her, not believing that she would make such a crazy suggestion. That plan was suicide! 'What are you trying to do? Get one of us killed?!'

'No!' Yelled Fiona, taking a step towards Rodger. 'I'm trying to save us from Moynihan's feral state!' She lowered her head, putting her long snout close to Rodger's. 'I do not care if you are a scientist, Rodger. Science is not going to save us from this!'

'And blind faith will?' Rodger narrowed his eyes. 'At least I'm not being crazy.'

'I'm not crazy! I just think that we should give this plan a try!' Fiona insisted, stomping her foot down once out of anger and frustration with Rodger.

Rodger glared at her. 'And I think that you should come up with a plan that is not going to get us killed...!'

'It could work!' Fiona said in defense.

Rodger growled softly. 'And what do you suppose we do, Fiona, when your little plan backfires and one of us gets seriously hurt?!'

'You're being unreasonable!' Fiona shouted. 'You...' Then she noticed something was missing, or rather someone. Fiona moved her head away from Rodger and looked around. She noticed that Irwin was missing. What had he gone? 'Caruso? Caruso! Where are you?'

Rodger noticed the Stegosaurus was missing too. 'Caruso? Where have you gone?' Rodger finally found Caruso and his eyes widened in horror. 'Oh no!'


	32. Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Fiona looked over and when she saw what Rodger had, she let out a shriek of horror and shock. Caruso was pinned to the ground by Kista, her foot pushing up against his shoulder, claws digging in deep. 'CARUSO!' Fiona shouted.

'Well well well..looks like we meet again..' Kista grinned, pushing her foot as hard as she could against Caruso's body, and then twisting her foot to cause him more pain. Caruso bellowed in pain as he felt the claws dig into his thick skin. 'You want to save your precious boyfriend? I'd like to see you try...' Her eyes narrowed in delight, anticipating Fiona's inevitable attack.

Max suddenly roared in pain. Something had landed on his back and was tearing at his skin. Max ran all over the place, rocking his body violently from side to side in an attempt to dislodge whatever it was off of his back. Max ran up to the building and hit against it as hard as he could. He felt whatever it was on his back slide off. Max quickly turned to face his opponent. He realized that his attacker was Victor, whose mouth was covered in blood and there was also blood dripping from his claws. Victor let out a horrible hiss as he glared up at Max. His eyes trailed up, looking for a specific target. Once he found his target, Victor leaped into the air quickly, ramming Max in the chest with the top of his head. The sudden force caused Max to fall onto his back.

Narrowing his eyes, Victor quickly aimed for his target: Max's throat. Slender jaws clamped down tightly on the base of the neck, digging in deeply. Max's eyes widened and he started to kick his feet wildly in the air. With his puny arms, he started to slash at Victor, but his hands kept on missing him. Victor seemed to chuckle, although it was hard to tell in dino mode, and he proceeded to bite harder. Knowing that Buzz was too busy with Oscura and Moynihan right now to help him, Max realized he had to get himself out of his mess. Pushing his head forward, slowly, he pressed his lower jaw against the front of his neck, trying to see Victor. He could see him, but not very good. But he didn't need a good sighting of Victor to know where he was. Max opened up his massive jaws and leaned as much as he could and snatched Victor.

The red raptor screeched in pain, feeling the teeth of the T-Rex crush down on his head and neck. Victor tried to slash Max's head, but the T-Rex refused to let go. Max slowly climbed up to his feet, Victor still in his jaws. Mustering up as much strength as he could, Max tossed Victor into the ground. Victor smashed into the hard floor, rolling across it like he were a rag doll. Max shook his head and looked down, trying to assess his new injury. It was bleeding, but no worse than the injuries Moynihan gave him on his stomach. Max then turned his attention to Victor and took a step forward, letting out a huge roar that seemed to vibrate through the ground. Victor roared in response and raced toward Max again.

Oscura swished her tail rapidly from side to side. Standing next to her was Moynihan. Thanks to Victor, Moynihan was not fighting against her, but rather, with her. In unison, the two started to circle Buzz, who had landed on the ground after being knocked down by Oscura herself, who had snuck up behind him, but had missed the opportunity to bite him. Buzz eyed them carefully, not afraid to show him his sharp beak as she let out several bird-like screeches at them. Buzz had his wings spread wide open in an attempt to make himself look larger than he actually was. But Oscura and Moynihan weren't falling for his little trick. They knew that, despite Buzz's attempts, he was the physically weakest of the group and likely the easiest to take down.

Kicking at the ground, Oscura raced forward, opening her small jaws as wide as they could go, and aimed for Buzz's wing. Reacting quickly, Buzz took into the air, letting Oscura bite nothing but air and crash into the ground. As if on cue, Moynihan raced forward as well. Buzz braced for the attack, opening his jaws slightly as he prepared to bite Moynihan if he needed to. But at the last second, Moynihan quickly changed course, taking Buzz completely by surprise. Now at his side, Moynihan jumped up and sank her teeth into the boy's leg. Buzz screeched in pain as he was suddenly pulled back into the ground, on his back. Before he could get up, Moynihan placed her foot on his chested and pressed firmly down, giving the boy some difficulty in breathing.

Buzz suddenly felt his head being twisted to the side and pushed into the ground by another foot. He didn't need to look to know that it was Oscura, who was baring her teeth at him in a dinosaur's version of an evil smile. 'You think you have won, don't you?' Buzz asked coldly, not bothering to look up at Oscura.

'Well of course. Because I have won..' Oscura lowered her head, putting her jaws close to the Pteranodon's head. Slowly, she opened her jaws, allowing her hot breath to hit Buzz's face.

In reaction, Buzz closed his eyes tightly and snorted. 'At least take some breath mints, okay? Your breath stinks!' He said without hesitation.

Oscura narrowed her eyes and pushed her foot even harder against Buzz's head. Buzz let out a cry of pain as he felt the small but very sharp claws cutting into his skin. 'You better watch it...You're in no position to be making insults.' With that, Oscura lowered her head a little further and opened her jaws. She was getting prepared to give him a bite, knowing there was no way Buzz could escape now. Not even his friends could save him. From what Oscura remembered, they were busy with the other opponents in the area.

Suddenly, there was a blur of black in Oscura's vision, and then something large and warm slammed against her. She crashed into Moynihan as well, and the three rolled across the floor. Moynihan landed on her back and stayed there for several seconds before climbing up to her feet. Oscura was on her stomach. She slowly raised her long neck and shook it slowly. She looked over to see who had crashed into her. She noticed Michelle was laying next to her, head turned away from her, on her side. Oscura hissed in anger and quickly got up. 'You?! Look at what you've done! You ruined my chance to kill one of those brats!'

Michelle's eyes slowly opened up and she craned her head up at Oscura. 'I'm sorry. But the ground is so slippery now.. I lost my footing..'

Oscura's eyes narrowed. 'Slippery? A likely story, I...' Then she looked down and realized Michelle was right. The ground was suddenly moist and slippery. But how? Then she looked up and realized why the concrete was wet. Dark clouds had swirled overhead at some point during the fight. Thunder roared throughout the skies and lightning flashed, illuminating the clouds. Rain poured heavily to the ground, and already there were puddles of water formed on the concrete ground. 'Oh great..a storm...' Oscura muttered to herself. She noticed just how wet her body was and quickly shook herself like a dog, getting the water off of her body.

Michelle smirked slightly. 'I told you I lost my footing.'

'Oh shut up.' Oscura snapped at her. 'You still ruined my chance to kill!'

Michelle slowly shook her head. 'Even if I hadn't slipped... That Styracosaurus boy there would have stopped you anyway.'

'What are you talking about?' Oscura asked. Michelle pointed a claw behind her. Oscura looked over and saw Rodger charging towards them, his head lowered so that his brow horns were poised to slice into her red-skinned body. Oscura quickly dodged out of the way and leaped into the air, landing on Rodger's back. Before she could deliver a bite, however, Rodger managed to buck her off.

Kista and Fiona circled each other, Caruso having backed far away from Kista after Fiona managed to free him. Kista grinned a dinosaurian smile, her mouth partway open as she hissed a few times. Fiona kept her eyes on the white dinosaur, getting ready to attack again at any moment. Kista towered over her, looking far more muscular than she was. And if she got bit by those jaws, it might as well be too late. They looked like they could deal more damage than Max's jaws. Kista lowered her head slightly and let out a roar, hoping to intimidate Fiona. The yellow dinosaur took a few steps back, but kept her feet firmly planted on the ground. She wasn't going to run away. She eyed Caruso again, knowing that he was the reason she was fighting. She couldn't allow this assassin to kill him!

While Kista was keeping Fiona busy, Victor looked over, noticing that Caruso wasn't looking this way. This was a good opportunity for him to try to weaken Caruso. He looked up at Max, who was coming at him with open jaws. His eyes narrowed. First, he'd have to deal with this pesky T-Rex. Victor moved out of the way just in time. Max's jaws snapped shut and Victor could feel a wave of hot breath hit his tail as he jumped out of the way, landing a couple feet from Max. Victor quickly turned around and jumped in the air. Max noticed this and narrowed his eyes, turning to the side and swatting Victor down with his tail. Victor skidded across the hard floor and quickly got back up. He glared at Victor, and then turned his attention towards Caruso. If he can just slip past Max, he may just have the opportunity that he needed to take care of the Stegosaurus.

Victor suddenly charged at Max, splitting his jaws wide open as if he was going to bite. Max roared and waited for Victor to meet him. He was more than ready to sink his teeth into the evil raptor's body. But at the last second, Victor suddenly turned, and Max missed his opportunity to attack him. Max was confused at first. Why had Victor completely bypassed him? Was he blind or just plain stupid? When Max looked behind him, he realized, in horror, the reason for Victor's sudden change in course. He was running straight for Caruso! The Stegosaurus's head was turned towards the fight between Kista and Fiona. He had no idea there was a Velociraptor heading straight for him.

'Caruso!' Max hollered, his mouth open in shock. 'Victor's coming right for you! Look out!'

Caruso turned his head over and his eyes widened in horror. All he could see of Victor was his wide open mouth and razor sharp claws. Instinctively, Caruso quickly turned to his side, wielding his spiked tail. Victor just kept on coming, his eyes glued on a certain, vulnerable spot on the Stegosaurus. Confident that he would be able to reach the spot before Caruso could react, Victor leaped straight in to the air. He brought forward one of his large sickle claws, aiming straight for the Stegosaurus's fleshy side, along his huge ribcage. Caruso let out a bellow, swinging his tail from side to side, gathering up strength. When Victor reached a certain distance, Caruso took a chance and struck out. His long tail slammed against Victor, one of his spikes making a direct hit with the raptor's side. Victor screeched in pain as the spike dug deep in his side, blood pouring out. He slammed into the ground and rolled away. He lifted up his head and snarled at Caruso, who let out another bellow at him, raising his tail straight in the air.

'It seems you have forgotten how to respect your superiors.' Victor said, slowly climbing up to his feet, albeit slightly shaky. There was a small hole in his side where the spike had been driven in, blood flowing steadily from it. But Victor ignored it, raising his claws threateningly at Caruso. 'I should have killed you when I had you in my custody!' He charged at Irwin again.

Caruso narrowed his eyes. 'And I should have done this while I was in your custody!' With that, he stood up on his hind legs. When Victor reached the correct distance, Caruso came crashing down, knocking the raptor onto his side and pinning him down with one of his front feet. Victor cried out in pain as he felt the weight of the massive animal slam against him. He was lucky that only a couple ribs were broken. But despite the pain, Victor still refused to give up. He opened his jaws and bit down on Caruso's leg, slicing into his skin. Caruso cried out in pain and lifted his foot off of Victor.

But Victor refused to let go of the boy's foot. He hung on tightly with his jaws tearing into the boy's leg, his hand claws also digging in deep, helping him to retain his grip on the boy. Caruso continued to cry out in pain, trying to shake his foot free from the raptor's mouth. Victor only let go when he felt something grab onto his tail. He looked behind him to see Max grabbing on his tail again. Suddenly, he was tossed away, but he had already did what he came over there to do. As Victor stood back up, he glanced over at Caruso. He smirked darkly. It was just as he had hoped for. Caruso's now bloody leg had a hard time supporting the boy's weight and was being held slightly off the ground. With an injury like that, Kista would be able to kill him no problem.

'Caruso!' Max cried out as he rushed to his friend's side. He took one look at the wound on Caruso's foot and his eyes widened in horror. 'Are you okay?! Can you walk?'

Caruso groaned and tried to put his foot on the ground. But when he applied too much pressure, he let out a loud roar of pain, quickly lifting the foot back in the air. 'AAAAH! IT HURTS TOO MUCH!' He screamed, closing his eyes tightly, letting tears flow down his dinosaur face.

For a moment, Max didn't know what to do. He noticed there was some grassy areas around this place and then remembered the park that was nearby. He would have had Caruso run over there, but with an injured foot, that wasn't an option. But then he realized something. This was a front leg, which was an arm in human form. 'Caruso, change back!'

'What?' Caruso lifted up his head. 'But..but what about...?'

'I'll carry you! Don't worry! Just change back!' Max commanded, lowering his head and front body.

Caruso nodded his head. He closed his eyes and changed back into human form. The relief of being able to walk on his two uninjured leg felt good, but his injured limb, now an arm, was still in excruciating pain. He held his arm close to his body, afraid to move it or touch it. Blood completely covered it, making it nearly impossible to see the deep lacerations that went across it. Caruso walked up to Max and reached up with his good arm and tried to climb on. But he couldn't get a grip with the use of just one arm. Realizing this, Max took a step back and lowered his head a little more. He pushed his head underneath Caruso, allowing him to roll onto his back. Caruso quickly wrapped his good arm around Max's neck and held as tightly as he could.

Max let out a loud roar to get the others' attention. When he saw that Fiona, Rodger, and Buzz were looking at him, he gave out an order. 'Guys! Follow me!' With that, he charged towards the Boston Common, careful not to go too fast because he didn't want to accidentally knock Caruso off of his back. Buzz took to the air and flew as fast as he could to catch up. Fiona and Rodger looked at each other, not knowing why Max decided to retreat. But realizing Caruso was in danger, they quickly followed Max.

* * *

Oscura growled in frustration. How dare they run away from her now! How dare they! 'Look at those cowards! They've given up already! Look at them run!' She said in disgust. She was so close to getting rid of one of them, so close! 'They're so....so.. I can't even say it!'

Michelle wanted to sigh in relief, but she kept herself from doing so. She looked over at Victor. There was something she didn't understand. She thought Victor wanted to use the mutantsaurs to attack with, but the whole time, Victor had kept the mutantsaurs back, instead preferring to influence Moynihan into attacking. She wasn't complaining, but it didn't make sense to her. 'Sir? Why didn't you use the mutantsaurs too? To attack?'

Victor narrowed his eyes. If Michelle didn't know any better, she'd say that there was an evil smile spreading across the dinosaur's face. 'Because, Ms. Brown, I was hoping they were going to run into the Boston Common.'

'What? Why?' Michelle asked him.

'It's quite simple. The mud will make it more difficult for them to run, even more difficult than here. They'll be easier to catch, and much more vulnerable to attacks.' Victor said darkly.

'Wait... You knew they were going to run off?' Oscura asked, looking at him in confusion. 'I thought you wanted to kill them off right then.'

'Well if it came to that, yes I would have wanted it, Ms. Witter. But...' Victor didn't take his eyes off the direction the 'perfect dinosaurs' had run off to. He didn't need to see them. He could track them by smell if he wanted to, but he knew where they were going, so even that wasn't necessary. '..this will make things more interesting. I would like to see them try to fight when the very ground beneath them slips and slides when they try to step on it...'

Kista walked up to the Velociraptor. 'But, sir, didn't you try to walk on mud once and kept falling down, even in dino mode? How could this work to our advantage? Wouldn't we be slipping as well?'

'Yes.' Victor said, not sounding one bit concerned about this particular drawback. Kista couldn't really understand why unless Victor was going by the logic that if he can't do it, then this enemies can't, and that puts them on even grounds. Victor looked up at Kista. 'I have injured one of Irwin's front legs, so he'll be..a bit less of a challenge for you. You should have an easier time killing him now.'

Kista narrowed his eyes. 'Now why would you do that? I would have wanted him to at least try to fight back.'

'Oh trust me...He'll try to fight back all right.' Victor said, remembering how hard it was for him to break Caruso's spirit before. 'He will fight back.'

'Shall we chase them, then?' Oscura asked, sounding a little impatient. Victor could tell that she really wanted to go after the Dino Squad. He gave a single nod. 'Yes! Now I can make them pay!'

'Pay? For what?' Michelle jokingly said, giving Oscura a sneer. 'If anything, they are going to want to get even with you.'

'Oh you be quiet! They probably think the same about you.' Oscura said. Michelle flinched at that statement, but didn't say anything.

'So are you actually going to bring the mutantsaurs this time?' Kista asked as she lifted up her head in the direction where the Dino Squad had disappeared into. While she couldn't see them, their scent hung strongly in the air.

Victor nodded his head. He then looked over at Michelle. 'Michelle, you, Kista, and Oscura go head off those pesky teenagers. Make sure they do not go beyond the Boston common.' Then he looked over at Moynihan and narrowed his eyes. Moynihan snarled and snapped her jaws at the air, but when she locked her red eyes onto Victor's own eyes, her expression softened a little and she lowered her head in submissiveness. 'You, come along with me...' Victor said. Although Joanne did physically try to resist the command, she found herself obeying him anyway. Moynihan walked up to Victor and stood next to him. Although she was clearly calmer, her fangs were bared, making Michelle, who was the closest one to her, feel uneasy. Victor then lifted his muzzle towards the sky. 'Go, you three. Now. I will catch up to you as soon as I can. I will bring Moynihan and the three mutantsaurs with me. Together, we will overpower the Dino Squad and crush them!'

* * *

'It's so hard to run on this mud..!' Rodger complained. He was doing his best to run as fast as he could, but his feet would constantly sink down into the mud. In human form, it wouldn't be too difficult, but he was in dino mode now and weighed probably a couple tons. Every time he stepped down into the mud, he would sink considerably, his foot getting stuck and a few times, he almost tripped onto the ground. After pulling out his foot yet again, covered in slick mud, Rodger glanced up at Max. 'Are you sure it was a good idea to come this way?'

Max had coping better than Rodger was. He had hollow bones and was considerably lighter, at least compared to Rodger. His feet were also better suited for the mud. His toes were slightly splayed, giving him more traction and evening out his weight slightly. It was like he was wearing skies. He turned his head slightly to the side to indicate he was addressing Rodger. 'Sure I'm sure! Think about it. Would Victor and the others be crazy enough to try to fight us in mud? They would have just as much trouble as us, and Veloci isn't the type who would take a chance. I'm sure they just gave up and decided not to follow us.'

Rodger narrowed his eyes. 'Somehow, I don't think that's what's going on, Maxwell. I really think coming here was a bad idea.'

'And what makes you think that, Rodger?' Max asked as he kept on running. They were probably a quarter of the way in the Boston Common and still no sign of Victor or the others. Max had specifically chosen to run through here in hopes of evading Victor and the others. He didn't think they would be crazy enough to follow them. But had he judged incorrectly?

'You fool!' Rodger snapped. If he had teeth, they would be bared now. 'Don't you get it? We would have the hardest time in the mud because of our own size! Victor himself would have a bit of an easier time coping! If anything, we put ourselves at a disadvantage here. If they caught up to us, they would have the edge... Well except Kista of course. She is larger than you are... But you get my point, Max..do you?'

Max bared his teeth in anxiety. He hadn't thought about that. It seemed he did make a mistake. Coming out here would likely make things worse for them. True, the mud would slow down some of the enemies, but it wouldn't have much of an effect on Oscura, who was the one Max was most concerned about because of her infectious bite. The mud would give her the edge and give her enough time to run up to them and bite down on one of their legs and infect them before they could do anything. And they were too far from the lighthouse. They wouldn't be able to make it back in time. 'I..I'm sorry Rodger. I didn't realize...'

'Well it's too late now! Do you have any ideas on what we should do, Max? I mean, if Victor and the others show up to stop us?' Asked Rodger, who was trying to keep his mind more focused on getting out of here alive rather than focusing it on scolding Max for his mistake. It wasn't going to get them anywhere if he did that.

* * *

Terri fumbled through one of the cabinets, trying to find something she had nearly forgotten about. Her parents watched her, a little confused. They had asked her what she was looking for, but she wouldn't tell them. She insisted that they wait and find out. Terri was looking for the tracker disc that she had used to find the Dino Squad on the day she was banned from, and then reinstated into, the lighthouse. She wasn't sure if they would be of any use now, provided that Victor didn't do something to render them useless or anything. But what other choice did she have? It was the only way she could think of now to find Fiona and the others.

After a few minutes, Terri finally found what she was looking for. It was a small disc that she needed to access the tracking program on one of the computers. It wasn't located on the top level with the other equipment. It was located on the bottom level. Until recently, that computer had been out of order, which is why the Dino Squad hadn't tried using that to track down Caruso when he had gone missing. Terri immediately ran towards the spiral staircase. Although still confused, the two pairs of parents quickly followed the girl.

Another couple minutes passed by, and Terri ran up to the computer. Before she could put the disc in, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped, startled, and looked up to see her father, a confused look still on his face. “Yes, father? What is it?”

“You still haven't told us what you are trying to do.” Bryant said, his eyebrow cocked slightly.

Terri pushed the disc into the computer and began typing at the keyboard to activate the program. “I'm trying to activate the scanner so we can find Fiona and the others.”

“With a disc?” Bryant asked.

“No, with a program.” Terri said. Then she narrowed her eyes, feeling concerned about her fears that the program might not work. “I just hope it works...”

“Will this find Irwin, too?” Amanda asked, walking up close behind, but keeping her distance. “I mean, will it tell us where he is?”

Terri nodded her head. “It'll tell us where they all are.” After a few minutes of waiting, the program loaded up. All Terri had to do was wait until the computer gave her the results of the program, which shouldn't be too long as it is pretty fast. While the computer was loading the results, she and the parents were waiting, watching, hoping that the program worked. When they finally showed up, solid orange images of the kids in their dino modes were displayed, and then a green colored map showed up, a group of five blips blinking, clustered together. Terri narrowed her eyes, and then she gasped, recognizing where they were. “Oh my..”

“What is it dear?” Nevina asked. “Where are they?”

Terri gulped and then said, “They're in Boston...close to Raptor Dyne.”

“What?!” Amanda gasped, putting her hands to her mouth in horror.

Jack put a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder, and then glanced down at Terri. From the look on the girl's face, he could tell that she was not mistaken. “But why would they go there? It doesn't make sense...”

“..not unless they were taken there.” Terri said, frowning slightly. “That's the only thing that makes sense. One or more of them must have been captured and taken the Raptor Dyne and the others followed.” She lowered her gaze. “Or they were all captured...”

“We have to do something!” Amanda said, looking at her husband. “We can't just let those monsters...”

“I know, dear..I know.. But what can we do? We would probably just make things worse.” Jack said.

“How can you say that?! Aren't you willing to at least try?” Amanda asked, her voice sounding more hysterical by the second. “If we just sit here and do nothing, who knows what Veloci might be doing to them!”

“I understand your fears. Believe me, I do.” Terri spoke up as she continued to look at the scans, trying to find some ray of hope. “But your husband is right. There isn't much we can do if we approach directly.”

“Dear, do you think there is a way to help them from the sidelines?” Nevina asked. She glanced over Terri's shoulders to look at the scans. But she wasn't as skilled at computers as her daughter and most of the stuff, to her, looked like gibberish.

Terri frowned slightly. “Well, that could be a possible course of action. If Raptor Dyne has any type of weapon-based security...”

“Like turrets? Guns? Cannons?” Bryant asked.

Terri shook her head. “It would have to be something that wouldn't make as much noise...” Terri typed away at the keyboard, trying to zoom in on Raptor Dyne. She wasn't sure if she would get a close enough view though. At any moment, Victor's defense mechanisms could kick in and completely cut her off. “If Victor used something like a cannon or turret, even a gun, that would make too much noise. Victor wouldn't want something like that; it would draw attention. He would have to use a weapon that was both silent and deadly.”

“Silent and deadly?” Amanda asked. She looked up at her husband again. “Do you know of any such weapons, Jack?” All the man could do was shrug his shoulders. He wasn't sure himself of what weapon Terri thinks Victor might be using. Any weapon he could come up with involved sound, and a lot of it.

“What kind of weapons do you think he'd use?” Nevina asked her daughter.

“The only thing that would make sense to me is lasers.” Terri explained. “They can be quiet, and they can pack a lot of power. Veloci likely has some laser equipment around Raptor Dyne, although it likely only activates when someone gets too close to the building, or even tries to break in. If that is what he uses, then I could try to hack into that and...” She stopped herself, suddenly remembering something important. Her expression changed to horror.

Noticing this, Nevina placed a hand on Terri's shoulder. “What is it, Terri?”

“I just realized something...” Terri said, her eyes wide with fear. How could she have forgotten this already? “The last time I hacked into Veloci's mainframe, he caused the lighthouse's computers to go offline and a computerized car to go haywire, nearly killing me.” Her parents gasped in horror and Caruso's parents look at her in shock. “And if I hack in again...his firewall could, once again, wreak havoc, and endanger all of us...”

Growling in frustration, Amanda jerked herself free of her husband's grasp and stormed towards Terri. She grabbed onto the chair, which could swivel, and turned the chair around so that Terri was facing her. Amanda leaned in closely, putting her face very close to Terri's. The young teen's eyes widened in fear, feeling rather uncomfortable with how close Amanda was to her. Amanda suddenly seized Terri by her shoulders and started to shake her. “I don't care how dangerous it is! I don't care how long it takes you to hack into that computer! You are going to do it, and you are going to find out where my son is! Do you hear me?!”

Shocked by his wife's behavior, Jack immediately rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her and started to pull her away from Terri. After forcing Amanda to let go of Terri, he quickly turned her around, his hands gripping Amanda's arms tightly. “What did you think you were doing?!”

“I was...just trying to get her to find Irwin...” Amanda said, her tone softer than it was before.

“By shaking her? Are you crazy?” Jack said, narrowing his eyes. “You could have hurt her! And besides, she's doing the best that she can. You can't force her to work harder than she already is!”

“I...” Amanda lowered her gaze. “I know that..I just..couldn't help it...”

“I understand, Mrs. Caruso..” Terri said after she recovered from the initial shock of being shaken up by the woman. She rubbed one of her shoulders, both of which were slightly sore from Amanda gripping them so hard. Terri wasn't too pleased with how the woman had reacted, but she understood why she did that. Amanda was just worried about her son, like any true mother would be. She couldn't totally blame Amanda for her actions. “And understand this. I am trying my best here. I promise that I will try to find your son, as well as the others, but you must allow me to work. Shaking me and yelling at me is not going to make me work any faster.”

Amanda felt slightly embarrassed for how she had been acting. “I know...”

* * *

'GET THEM! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!' Oscura commanded. She was standing on a slightly raised bump on a hill, surveying the scene below her briefly. The Dino Squad were trying to fight the best that they could. But they were having great difficulty because of the mud that was causing them to sink deep into the mud. Their only opponent for the moment was Kista, who was having fun running circles around them. She was sinking herself, but she was more experienced in fighting in mud since she was a sixty-five million year old dinosaur like Victor was. Max was fairing well, but he couldn't fight very well with Caruso on his back. Fiona tried to fill in for him, but she wasn't as physically strong, and she was constantly knocked into the ground because the mud was slowing her down.

Seeing a possible chance to target Rodger, Oscura dashed down. She ran across the mud, barely sinking in due to her small size. When she reached Rodger, she let out a horrible screech and jumped up towards his back. Rodger heard the screech and turned over to face her. The mud hindered him greatly and he barely had enough time to whack Oscura away with his horns. Oscura skidded across the floor and landed on her side. She looked up and saw Buzz glared down at her. He quickly struck forward, clamping his long beak on the base of her neck. Oscura screeched in pain as she felt the sharp beak cut into her skin like it was a giant pair of scissors. She snapped her jaws wildly at the air, trying to bite Buzz's head. But she couldn't reach him.

Buzz lifted her up into their air and opened up his wings. He took up into the air, flying up high past the trees. Oscura glanced down at the ground below, but felt little fear. She had a feeling of what Buzz was going to do and she was going to make sure that, if she was going down, he was going to come down with her. She started to kick wildly in the air, trying to hit her small sickle claw against Buzz's stomach. When that didn't work, she lifted up her hands and slashed forward. One of her hands made contact with Buzz's head and she dug her three claws into him as deeply as she could go. Buzz tried not to scream, but his grip on her was getting weak. This was the opportunity Oscura was waiting for. She quickly wriggled out of his mouth, wrapping her dinosaur arms around his neck, digging her claws into his skin for traction. She then proceeded to kick at his underside and wings with her foot claws, particularly her sickle claws. Several long, though slightly shallow, cuts appeared on Buzz's chest and stomach, and a few small tears appeared o his wing membranes.

Buzz let out a horrible scream of pain. He looked down at Oscura, eyes wide with fear. She was in perfect striking distance to sink her teeth in. He couldn't permit her to bite him. He glanced down at the ground and realized it was his only chance. Not wanting to give Oscura the chance to bite him, he dove towards the ground. The sudden rush of air surprised Oscura and she held on tighter to Buzz so that she wouldn't fall off. Buzz narrowed his eyes, focusing on his target: the mud. He closed his eyes and prepared for impact. At the last second, he pulled up slightly so he wouldn't hit his head against the ground. He then smacked the underside of his body against the mud with as much force as he could. The sudden impact knocked the wind out of him and he immediately opened his mouth to catch his breath. The sudden pain of the impact against his chest nearly caused him to cry out, but he held his tongue. Oscura, on the other hand, let out a screech of pain as she felt the force of Buzz's body hitting her against the ground. Even thought it was mud, it still caused her pain and she released Buzz.

'That's...what...you...get...for...messing...with...the...Buzzinator...' Buzz said, panting heavily as he tried to regain his breath. He immediately got up off of Oscura.

Oscura was laying on her back, her legs and arms hanging almost limply in the air. But her eyes were open, the glowing still there, and she hissed angrily as she glared up at Buzz. 'That..was..just luck.. Don't think you can do it..again..'

'Don't have to. After that, I don't think you'd be stupid enough to try that again.' Buzz said, glaring back at her.

'You don't know me...' Oscura hissed. 'I will kill you for this..' She tried to get up, but she groaned in pain. Her back had taken quite a blow. Her spine wasn't broken, but it was very sore, hurting her if she tried to move. Despite the pain, she managed to get up onto her feet. She stammered on slightly, almost falling back down into the mud.

'If you have the chance to even fight back, that is.' Buzz said, watching Oscura in mild amusement.

'Don't underestimate me, boy!' Oscura hissed. She took a step forward, but a shot of pain from her back nearly caused her to fall back down. Yet she still managed to keep her footing, which slightly surprised Buzz. But he knew her well enough to know that she wasn't going to allow a little bit of pain stop her from trying to attack him. 'I will get you for this..Even if it won't be today..I will make you and your pathetic friends pay for this!' Oscura lifted her head up in the air in an almost proud manner. An evil smirk spread across her face. 'You shall rue the day that you crossed paths with us!'

Buzz narrowed his eyes. 'Bring it on, shrimp!'

Oscura brought up her claws, hissing angrily. 'Say that again in my face if you dare!' She snapped, drool dripping from her jaws.

As Buzz faced off with Oscura, Max was trying to get away from the scene. He had to find some place where he could leave Caruso without worry of him getting hurt. But there was no place around here like that, except for the warehouse where they originally found him. But Max felt uncomfortable going back there and he knew that Caruso would be scared out of his mind if he went anywhere near the warehouse. He had to think of another way. He looked around and saw what looked to be a body of water. He narrowed his eyes. How strange, Max thought to himself. He didn't recall that being there before. He wondered if it was caused by the rain, or if someone in Boston decided to make a small pool in the Boston Common. Yeah, that was probably what it was. Water seems to attract people sometimes, especially during the hot summer months. At least, that's what Max himself had witnessed.

As Max tried to make a break for it in between to closely packed trees, he felt a tremendous force on his side. He let out a roar as he found himself toppling down onto this side. Caruso screamed as he was thrown across the floor, rolling across the mud before he finally stopped, slamming against a tree. He groaned in pain and opened up his eyes. He saw Kista standing over Max, lowering her head towards him, licking her scaly lips. She put a foot on his neck, keeping his head pinned down. Max scrambled with his feet and finally managed to deliver a kick. Kista screeched in pain as she felt the green dinosaur's claws scrape against her leg. She took a step back, but she wasn't completely deterred. Instead of running off, she came back towards Max again, this time, clamping her jaws on his leg. As Max roared in agony and tried to free himself, Kista pulled him back and then threw him a cross the forest floor like a rag doll. She then turned her attention towards the unguarded dark-haired boy.

'You're mine...' Kista said as she charged towards Caruso. The boy screamed in fright and, despite his injury, quickly transformed into a Stegosaurus. He tried to keep a good footing on the ground with just three perfectly good legs. He managed to strike Kista away with a single swipe of his tail. Then he turned and started to run away, heading the direction of the small body of water that Max had spotted earlier. He thought that he might be able to lose her scent once he was in the water. Kista shook her head and watched him as he ran. She growled. 'Don't think running is going to save you from me, kid!' She announced, chasing after him.

Max slowly got up to his feet and shook his massive head. He looked around to see where Kista had gone. He was horrified to see that she was chasing after Caruso, who was fairing rather poorly due to his injured front leg. 'Caruso!' Max called out, starting to run off towards him. Then a flash of brown filled his field of vision, and he found himself knocked back onto the ground. As he looked up to see what had hit him, he found himself staring at a mutantsaur, and from the looks of it, it was a bear. Max got back onto his feet and let out a roar at the bear mutantsaur. But the creature responded with a roar of its own, almost overpowering Max's own roar. Then it reared up onto its hind legs, standing roughly the same height as Max, and then swat him across the ground with a single swipe of its muscular forelimb.

Just as Max was starting to get back onto his feet again, he felt a horrible pain in his back. Something had clamped down onto him and was biting extremely hard. It couldn't be Kista; he could still see her chasing after Caruso. And it wasn't Victor; his jaws weren't strong enough to cause this much pain. Max tried to turn his head over to see what was attacking him, but all he saw was dark-colored skin, a mixture of dark brown and gray. Max felt a weight pushing him into the ground. His knees buckled forward as he became unable to support himself anymore. He let out a roar, a call of help.

Although he was still having great difficulty, Rodger managed to rush towards Max as quickly as he could. The creature on Max's back was a wolverine mutantsaur. This worried Rodger. He was familiar with how tenacious wolverines can be and they have pretty nasty bites. And with a bear mutantsaur nearby, Rodger knew that he had to help Max, otherwise he was a goner. As soon as Rodger got close enough, he seized the mutantsaur's foot with his powerful beak. The mutantsaur screeched in pain, releasing Max. It then turned its attention on the Styracosaurus. Because it was standing on its hind legs, the mutantsaur towered over Rodger. Hissing, it placed its paws above Rodger's head, and then came down quickly. The impact caused Rodger's head to hit into the ground, but also caused Rodger to apply more pressure to the leg. The mutantsaur screamed in pain and tried to jerk its leg free. Using his strong neck, Rodger threw the mutantsaur away, watching it crash into the ground.

Fiona noticed the Caruso was missing and was about to go look for him, but something flashed in her field of vision, so fast that she couldn't figure out what it was at first. Then something suddenly crashed into her, causing her to lose her footing. When she got back up to her feet, she looked to see what had attacked her. A cheetah mutantsaur stood before her, its tail swishing from side to side as it let out a hiss at her. The cheetahsaur was keeping a distance from her, as if it sensed that a Spinosaurus was likely physically stronger than it was. But judging from the way the cheetahsaur was baring its teeth at her, Fiona knew that it still wanted to fight her. But Fiona didn't have time for this. She lifted up her head and could caught Caruso's scent, mixed in with Kista's. Eyes widening in horror and fearing the worst, Fiona took off in that direction. But the cheetahsaur followed her. To her shock, the cheetahsaur was able to keep pace with her, even getting slightly ahead of her. The cheetahsaur eyed her with the corner of its eyes and started to move close to her until it was only about a foot away. Fiona didn't try to attack the mutantsaur; she was more worried about getting to Caruso in time. Besides, how bad could a cheetahsaur be?

Suddenly, the cheetahsaur attacked, snapping its jaws close to her. Fiona immediately moved away, barely dodging the long, sharp canines that extended far behind the lower jaw. The cheetahsaur hissed and tried to attack again. Fiona managed to dodge again, but she was confused. Wouldn't cheetahs normally be afraid of confrontation? Fiona never heard of cheetahs fighting another predator before, unless it was another cheetah. But then she realized that Victor might be behind this. With him driving the mutantsaur's mind, the cheetahsaur would be forced to do things it normally wouldn't do. But even though it was a mutantsaur, it likely still retained the fragile body of a real cheetah. She could even see the creature's ribs. This wasn't a creature built for combat. Fiona decided to make her move.

Fiona lunged towards the mutantsaur, not giving it a chance to react. She clamped her long snout onto the cheetahsaur's back. The cheetahsaur hissed in pain and struggled to get free. It lifted up a paw and struck at Fiona, striking her against the side of her neck. Fiona released her grip on the cheetah mutant to roar in pain. Then the cheetahsaur opened up its jaws and tried to bite her side, but Fiona managed to get out of the way in time. She bit down onto the cheetahsaur again, this time biting into its tail. She pulled the cheetahsaur along the ground, then lifted it into the air and threw it to the side. She watched it briefly as it crashed into the ground, but then turned away and ran back in the direction she was originally headed. She had to get to Caruso in time. She couldn't let Kista get her filthy paws on him!

* * *

Michelle was watching the scene from a safe distance. She couldn't bring herself to attack the Dino Squad. Yet she knew that if Kista, Oscura, or even worse, Victor, saw her hanging back, they would realize that she had betrayed them. She would have to do something to make it look like she was loyal to them. But how would she be able to do that without the Dino Squad themselves getting suspicious of her? She glanced over and saw Kista running at Caruso and was gaining up on him quickly. Her eyes widened as she eyed the bloody leg, which was causing Caruso to limp frequently, making his pace painfully slow. If he didn't quicken his pace, Kista was going to get her claws onto him. How was she going to be able to help without causing suspicion from either side?

Michelle heard a loud screech above her. She craned her head up and saw Buzz, who looked like he was carrying something in his claws. When she narrowed her eyes to get a better look, she saw that it was Oscura. Seconds later, Buzz released his grip on the Troodon. Michelle watched, amused, as Oscura fell into the water below, in front of where Caruso and Kista were running. Water splashed high into the air as Oscura struggled to get her head above the water. She spit out water and shook her head. She looked up towards Buzz and screeched loudly. Michelle recognized that particular screech and chuckled. Oscura was getting frustrated.

Michelle glanced up at Buzz again. He was now looking at her, but wasn't making a move towards her. Michelle narrowed her eyes softly. She didn't know if it would work or not, but if she could try to convince Buzz of some kind of plan, she could keep her cover and assist in helping Caruso. She took a step back and lowered her head slightly, trying to make herself appear submissive to Buzz. She didn't worry about Oscura or Kista seeing her; they weren't looking in this direction. 'Buzz! I have an idea, but I want to make sure you knew first!'

Buzz tilted his head to one side, opening his mouth partly in a dinosaurian smirk. He didn't completely believe her, but she was just one dinosaur. So it wouldn't really hurt to give her a chance. 'Oh really? And what is this plan of yours and why did you want to tell me?'

'To make sure I don't raise suspicions.' Michelle explained. 'If I get found out..well you don't want to know what would happen. Anyway, here is the plan..' Michelle started to explain the plan to Buzz.

* * *

Terri rummaged through one of the cabinets and grabbed a couple Chillers and Spillers. She then tossed them towards her parents and Caruso's parents. Although they didn't know what she was doing, they caught the weapons anyway, eyeing them with curiosity. After a couple seconds, Nevina and Bryant recognized the weapons as the same ones they had seen the Dino Squad use when they had first told Fiona that they had suspected she was a dinosaur. However, Amanda and Jack had no idea what the weapons were. They inspected the weapons in curiosity, wondering what kind of functionality that they would have.

“What are these weapons for?” Jack asked, holding the weapon out towards Bryant.

“They're Chillers and Spillers, at least I think that's what my daughter calls them.” Bryant explained. He looked over at Terri. “Isn't that right?”

Terri nodded her head. “Chillers and Spillers. My sister and her friends use them to de-ooze mutantsaurs and returns them to their natural state.”

“But..what kind of power do these pack?” Amanda asked, glancing down at the weapon in her hands. “I mean, they couldn't just be used for that..”

“That's all they're used for.” Terri said.

“Then what is the point in using them?” Amanda asked. She frowned at the weapon. What is the use bringing it along? They were better of using sticks and rocks rather than something that could only detransform monsters. “What good are they going to be in helping us get to the kids?”

“Yeah, I have to admit..she does have a point.” Jack said, nodding towards his wife and then looking back over at Terri and her parents. “How can you guys expect us to use these..useless weapons as a way of fighting Victor and his minions? So we give them a little chill...What good will that do us?”

“Plenty if you know a thing or two about reptiles.” Terri explained, lifting up her pointer finger as she explained the situation to Jack and Amanda. “Reptiles are cold-blooded, and so are dinosaurs. Their body temperatures will drop if introduced to cold, and if they get too cold, they will fall asleep and go dormant. Even longer will result in death.” Terri lifted up her own Chiller and continued, “If we shoot Victor with one of these long enough, he will go dormant himself. Even he is vulnerable to the Chiller's effects. No cold-blooded reptile can withstand the cold for very long.”

“But what about his human form?” Jack asked.

“And aren't most of his minions humans anyway?” Amanda chimed in.

“True. Very true.” Terri nodded her head. She had thought of this before, and she figured out a way that it could still work. “But even humans are vulnerable to the Chiller's power. Provided, we won't go dormant like the dinosaurs, but the cold can slow us down. Shoot Victor's men, or Victor himself, in human form, and the cold will cause them to slow down, making them easier targets, although the effects won't last very long.”

“And what are we going to do?” Amanda asked. “I mean, if we do slow them down...what are we going to do? Whack them in the head with these weapons?”

“You could do that.” Terri said. “Or you could just punch them.”

“And what good are the Spillers? What do they do? Spit up something on their skin or what?” Amanda glanced at the Spiller. The name suggested that the weapon was designed to shoot something, perhaps coat its target in some kind of sticky or slippery material.

“Well..no..” Terri then picked up a Spiller. “I know what its name sounds like, but it's not really something that spews out anything. It's a vacuum cleaner of sorts..sucking up primordial ooze for safe storage. At least, that's what Fiona said to me. That's what Moynihan told her.”

“And what good will that do us?” Jack asked. “How will it be of any help?”

Terri narrowed her eyes slightly, holding onto both a Chiller and a Spiller. “They will help us defend ourselves against any mutantsaurs that Victor might have at Raptor Dyne, that's what.”

* * *

Caruso yelped in pain when he accidentally put pressure on his injured leg. He stopped where he was, almost forgetting about Kista, who was fast closing in on him. He lifted up his leg carefully and inspected it, trying to see if he had done more damage. Before he could start running again, he felt something slam against his side. Then a horrible pain enveloped his neck as he felt something clamp around it. He felt something hot and wet start to drip down his neck, but his mind wasn't focused on that. He was still flying across the air, something still grabbing onto him with tremendous force and he couldn't shake himself free. He didn't need to look to know that it was Kista who was grabbing onto him. He could feel her hot breath against his neck as well as hear it.

When Caruso finally hit land, he got onto his feet. Although having only three good legs, he managed to regain his balance relatively quickly. He glared up at Kista and bellowed, striking her with his tail. But Kista refused to leg go, despite the obvious pain she was in. She clamped down harder onto his neck, threatening to snap it in half. Caruso pulled back, trying to shake free of the hybrid's grasp. Kista responded by pulling back on him. Kista didn't realize that she was heading straight for the water. She took another step, and felt herself nearly loose her grip. She found herself sliding backwards into cold water. Caruso was dragged in with her and nearly knocked her over as he fell in. The two dinosaurs shuddered, almost immediately feeling their core body temps dropping swiftly. Kista decided to use the cold water to her advantage. Using as much strength as she could muster, she shoved Caruso's head below the water, hitting it against the muddy bottom.

Caruso's eyes widened in horror as he tried to get up. He kicked his feet against the muddy bottom, but he couldn't get any traction. He ended up constantly slipping his feet along the muddy bottom. He jerked his head left and right, trying to get his head above water to get a breath of fresh air. He felt his lungs start to burn as they were slowly deprived of oxygen. He tried his best not to breathe in because he knew he would only make things worse if he did that, although instinct would soon overpower him, which would force him to take a breath. Caruso looked up at Kista. He knew that she was going to need to breathe as well. How long would she be able to stand being underneath the water? Caruso's struggles started to weaken a little due to the cold water. Kista's grip had also slightly loosened, likely due to the cold water effecting her. But that didn't matter to Caruso; his weakened body still couldn't shake off Kista.

Michelle and Buzz watched the scene in horror. They realized they had only a few minutes to make this plan work, or Caruso was going to die. Thinking fast, Michelle started to screech up at Buzz to make it look like she was trying to initiate a fight so Kista wouldn't get suspicious. Buzz, realizing the plan had begun, screeched back at her. Michelle rushed towards the water, Buzz staying directly above her. The idea was to make it look like Michelle was being chased by Buzz and not paying much attention to her surroundings. Buzz didn't know why he agreed to do this. But Michelle did help them escape Victor, so perhaps she would actually be helping this time as well. Once Michelle had reached the water, she tried to act like she had fallen in. She was able to swim and kept her head above the water. On cue, Buzz dove down towards her in a mock attack. He snapped the air directly above her and flew back into the air.

Michelle glanced over at Kista. She knew Kista probably couldn't see her, with her head being underwater and Caruso's body being in the way. She started to swim towards Kista until she was directly beside the only portion that was still above water: her back and tail. Michelle looked up at Buzz and screeched again, then she dove underneath the water. Kista noticed her this time, her glowing eyes turning to face her. Michelle looked at her, her expression hardening slightly, trying to act like Kista was doing something wrong. But it was all a ploy to make sure she didn't see Buzz flying above her. Buzz had a brighter color and thus might be easier for Kista to spot, even if it was just a blur. 'Why are you staring at me like that?'

'Why are you down here? Can't you see I'm busy?' Kista asked, tightening her grip on Caruso.

Michelle glanced over at Caruso. His eyes were now closed in pain and he had given up trying to struggle. 'Yes I can see that. What are you trying to do? Drown him?'

'Yes. Why?' Kista asked. 'Do you have a problem with that?'

Michelle wanted to say yes, but she stifled herself. 'Well no..but wouldn't you drown too? I mean, you're underwater just like he is...'

'I can lift my head above the water at any moment!' Kista snapped.

'And then Caruso would get away.' Michelle added, smirking slightly. 'Anyway, if you must know, one of the Dino Squad kids chased me into here.'

'Well you better get out soon. Your body temperature is dropping dangerously low.' Kista said. She pointed her tail in the direction of the shore. 'Go there and warm yourself up. Victor won't be pleased that you let yourself fall for such an obvious trap.'

Michelle chuckled lightly. If only Kista knew of the trap that she had landed herself in, Michelle thought as she turned in the direction and started to swim for the shore. She glanced back at Kista only briefly before heading off again. 'All right then, Kista. I'll meet you back on the shore!'

'Whatever..' Kista muttered, rolling her eyes. Suddenly she saw something flash in front of her eyes. She could have sworn it was green, but she was not able to make out any other details. She thought it was nothing at first, but she was proven wrong a split second later. Something sharp sliced across her back in a single stroke. She released Caruso immediately and lifted her head in the air, letting out a huge roar of pain before turning her attention on her attacker. Buzz squawked at her several times, hovering just out of sight. Kista bared her teeth in frustration and she snapped her jaws in the air, trying to get rid of the pesky Pteranodon.

Suddenly free from Kista's grasp, Caruso's eyes snapped open and he suddenly found the strength to drag himself out of the water. His lungs were still burning, and he was still trying to resist taking in a breath. He looked up at the shore and went for the lowest point of entry. He managed to lift his head out of the water and he took in a deep, sharp breath. But he still felt too weak to drag himself completely out of the water. He collapsed onto the shore, his head dangerously close to the water. He looked over at Buzz and managed a weak chuckle. 'Thank you, Buzz...' Caruso said before he closed his eyes.

* * *

Fiona picked up the cheetahsaur, which she had just defeated, and tossed it aside. The creature hit its head against a tree trunk and slumped to the ground, unmoving. It was still breathing, but it was completely unconscious. Fiona glared at it before turning her attention back to where she had seen Kista chase Caruso. Her eyes widened as she saw Caruso, just barely, laying on the ground near the water. 'CARUSO!' She called out and raced towards him. Within about a minute, she reached him. Caruso was still mostly submerged in the water, his head still very close to the water. Fiona nudged Caruso gently on the head, but he remained unresponsive. Thinking fast, Fiona grabbed Caruso's plates with her hands and started to drag him out of the water. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Buzz battling Kista, keeping the white dinosaur's attention while she got Caruso to safety.

Once she got Caruso onto dry land, she tried to nudge him again, gently knocking his head up and down to try to awaken him. But, although he was breathing, Caruso still wouldn't wake up. Fiona started to call out to him again. 'CARUSO! WAKE UP! PLEASE!' With no response still, Fiona placed her long head on Caruso's body, trying to hear a heart beat. She could feel her own heart racing as she did this, wondering if she was going to relive what happened at the warehouse all over again. But luckily, although it was faint due to Caruso's thick body, she could hear a faint heart beat. She lifted up her head again and continued to look at Caruso, wondering why he wasn't getting up. She looked back over at the water and quickly realized what it was.

Fiona had felt the water when she had grabbed Caruso to drag him out. It was icy cold and it nearly made her shudder. Caruso looked like he had been in the water for an extended period of time. If this was true, then Caruso was simply dormant because his body temp had dropped really low. While this relieved her, making her realize that Caruso was fine, it also worried her. Caruso was now a much easier target than before and if Victor, Kista, or Oscura realized he was out cold, they would surely target him excessively until they had successfully killed him. Not able to think of anything else, Fiona did the same thing that she and the others did when Rodger had been knocked out: she breathed hot breath onto Caruso in an attempt to warm him up enough for him to open his eyes.

After a couple minutes of breathing on the Stegosaurus, Caruso's eyes slowly fluttered open. He looked up at Fiona, who was glancing at him with a big dinosaur grin on her face. Caruso attempted to smile back, but was too tired to even try. He lifted his head up weakly, but quickly lowered it back to the ground. He was tired, oh so very tired. He could barely register in his mind what was going on around him. He got so tired that he couldn't recognize Fiona, and quickly mistook her for someone else. 'Can't this wait until tomorrow, mother..? I'm so tired...' He slowly closed his eyes again.

But Fiona wasn't going to allow him to fall back asleep, not after what had happened. She immediately seized him and started to shake him rapidly. 'Don't you dare fall back asleep, Irwin Caruso! Do you hear me?! Wake up!'

Caruso groaned in frustration. 'What's the matter, mom..? I told you I'll wake up in a few minutes..' His voice, even though it was mental due to his dinosaur form, was slightly slurred and it seemed to take a bit of an extra effort for him to talk.

Fiona gently bumped his head with her long muzzle. 'Caruso! It's me, Fiona!'

'F-Fiona..? When did you get in my room...?' Caruso asked, sounding very confused.

'Caruso! We're in the Boston Common! And if you don't get up now, Victor is going to kill you!' Fiona shouted at him in desperation, hoping she would get through to him.

Upon hearing Victor's name, Caruso's eyes snapped open wide and he suddenly remembered where he was. He struggled to get onto his feet, putting his weight down even on the leg that was injured in a desperate attempt to get himself moving again. He looked over at Fiona. 'Where..where is Victor? Is he coming?'

Fiona looked up. 'I..I don't know. I don't see him.'

'But I thought you said he was going to attack..' Caruso started to say.

Fiona looked back at him. 'And he would have if he saw you laying on the ground like that.' She lowered her head and gently nudged him, trying to get him to move. 'Come on, let's get away from the water. It's too dangerous. I...' Suddenly Fiona let out a horrible screech and backed away.

Caruso's eyes widened. 'Fiona! What's wrong? Fiona!'

Fiona twisted her body around, frantically trying to knock it off of her body. Caruso quickly saw that it was Moynihan. Fiona couldn't see who it was and was shaking her body violently from side to side, trying to knock off her attacker. Moynihan was clinging onto her side, digging her claws in deep so she wouldn't be knocked off so easily. Thinking fast, Caruso ran forward and aimed for the nearest target: Moynihan's tail. He bit down hard, causing the raptor to scream in pain. He managed to yank Joanne off of Fiona and then tossed her away. While Moynihan skidded across the ground, landing very close to the water, Caruso turned his attention onto Fiona.

'Are you okay, Fiona?' Caruso asked, his voice filled with worry.

'Y-Yes..I'm fine. Thank you..' Fiona stammered briefly, but quickly regained her footing. She looked over at Moynihan, who was back onto her feet, hissing at them. Now was a good time than anything to try to put her plan into motion. She looked over at Caruso. 'So..are you ready, Caruso? Or should I just do this alone?'

'Do what?' Caruso asked.

'To bring back Moynihan of course.' Replied Fiona. 'Like what I had talked about earlier, with Rodger and you.'

Caruso's eyes widened when he realized what Fiona was implying. 'No! You can't! It's too dangerous!'

Fiona took a step towards Moynihan and opened her jaws, roaring at her. 'We don't have any other choice, Caruso! If we don't bring her back..'

'But what if she really hurts you?' Caruso asked. He eyed the bloody gashes on Fiona's side and flinched. 'She already did damage...'

'I'll be fine, Caruso. But if you're so worried, why don't you help me?' Fiona asked, keeping her eye contact on Moynihan. Hissing hideously, Moynihan leaped in the air, mouth agape. She snapped her jaws shut close to Fiona. The Spinosaurus screeched at her and quickly struck her down with her long tail.

Caruso run forward towards where Moynihan hit the ground. He immediately grabbed her leg by his jaws and dragged her backwards. He then lifted her up into the air and flung her to the side. Moynihan rolled across the floor and this time stayed down, her eyes closed. Caruso tilted his head, looking confused. He glanced up at Fiona, hoping that she would have some kind of answer. But Fiona just glanced back at him, looking as confused as he was. The two cautiously approached the prone raptor, taking very careful steps towards her. Fiona lowered her body and Caruso lowered his head slightly. Moynihan remained still, but they could tell she was breathing. Her eyes were closed softly and her mouth partway open, tongue hanging out. A couple more steps and there was still no movement. They began to wonder if Moynihan had been knocked out.

When Fiona stepped in front of Caruso, getting within about a foot or two from Moynihan, something happened without warning. Moynihan's eyes snapped open, an intense red glow shining from the eyes. She turned her head up towards Fiona, her eyes locking onto the most vulnerable, nearest target: Fiona's neck. About a second later, Moynihan leaped into the air. It all happened so fast that Fiona had no time to react. She found herself being pushed into the forest floor, a pair of jaws clamped tightly around her throat. Fiona opened her jaws and let out a screech of pain. She tried to get back up, but felt Moynihan push one of her feet firmly on her body, pinning her down. Moynihan clamped down harder on her neck, tasting Fiona's blood in her mouth.

'FIONA!' Caruso immediately rushed towards Fiona to try to help her. But Fiona screeched at him, causing him to stop in his tracks, looking at her in confusion. Why would she stop him like that? Didn't she want the help? 'Fiona..what are you doing..? Why are you stopping me?'

'Trust me, Caruso...I know what I'm doing..' Fiona told him.

Caruso slowly nodded his head. He could hear a tinge of fear in Fiona's voice. He could tell that she was scared. But she was still brave enough to resist asking for him. 'Fiona...I hope you are telling the truth...' He eyed Moynihan nervously and took a step back.

Fiona turned her attention to Moynihan. She could barely see her out of the corner of her eyes, but she didn't need to see Moynihan to know that she was there. She could feel her holding her down, could feel the raptor's teeth sink into her neck. Fiona opened her mouth again, this time to take in a deeper breath. She was suddenly having a more difficult time breathing. But she refused to call for help. She had to get this done and over with. It was her only chance. 'Moynihan...Moynihan please..if you can hear me..stop!' She called out to her, her voice laced with a desperate tone. Moynihan didn't stop and instead let out a hiss in response. Fiona's eyes widened slightly. 'Moynihan! Don't do this! Please..don't kill me...' She tried again. But she wasn't getting through to Moynihan. Fiona felt her heart race. Could she have made a mistake?

Caruso sensed that Fiona needed help and decided to giver her some support. He took a step towards Moynihan. The raptor noticed him and hissed, but kept her grip on Fiona. 'Moynihan, listen to her. Listen to me.. Don't do this. This isn't who you are. This isn't what you are... Please stop this..' He begged her.

Fiona glanced up at Moynihan and tried again. 'You're our mentor..our teacher.. You're like a parent to us. Moynihan, please..don't let Victor control you anymore.' Fiona thought that they were getting through to Moynihan. The green raptor's expression softened up, slightly but it was still noticeable. But the raptor continued to bite hard on her neck. 'I know you're stronger than this Moynihan. Please..'

'Don't kill her..please..' Caruso begged Moynihan, trying to hide his tears. 'Don't give into Victor's whim. Don't let him make you do this. I know you, Ms. Moynihan. This isn't what you would want to do.. So please..just stop..' He closed his eyes and lowered his head. 'We..we love you...' Moynihan's expression softened even more and her gasp on Fiona loosened just slightly. But she still wasn't budging and continued to emit horrible hisses from deep within her throat. Caruso lowered his head in defeat. 'It's..it's no use, Fiona.. She's not going to respond...'

Fiona's eyes widened as Caruso said that. She looked at Moynihan. She thought that, when Moynihan was slowly loosening her grip on her, she would be free and Moynihan would be back to normal. But Moynihan still continued to bite her and she hadn't even attempted to change back. And to her horror, Moynihan's eyes were still a bloodshot red. She started to whimper slightly. What had she gotten herself into? Rodger was right and she should have listened to him. Feeling her hope of getting Moynihan slip through her claws, Fiona started to struggle. 'Caruso..help me! Caruso!' Moynihan suddenly tightened her grip on her and Fiona let out a scream of pain.

'NO!' Caruso rushed forward. He quickly turned to his side and lifted his massive tail, spikes poised to strike. He struck forward, smacking Moynihan hard on her side. The green raptor screeched as the spikes drove into her side, blood spewing from the wounds, and she slammed into the ground a couple feet away. Caruso immediately turned his attention to Fiona, putting his snout gently against her head. 'Fiona? Are you all right? Can you stand up?' He asked her in a concerned tone of voice.

Fiona groaned, baring her teeth slightly in pain. She started to push herself up by her long arms. But she immediately fell back down again, screeching as she did so. Caruso's eyes widened and he shook his head in denial. Fiona looked up at him. 'I..I don't think I can. I think Moynihan did more damage to me than I thought..'

'No...You're going to be okay..' Caruso said, shaking his head. He immediately put his head against hers again, careful not to hit the part that Moynihan had bitten.

Moynihan watched the scene with great interest. Her raptor mind hadn't seen anything like this before. A Spinosaurus and Stegosaurus, two dinosaurs that should be enemies, actually making nice to each other, and could even be in...love? Moynihan couldn't comprehend the concept of love and she couldn't begin to understand why a predator and its prey would show each other affection instead of trying to kill each other out of the name of survival. She took a few steps towards the two, raising her claws to show her intent on trying to kill them both. She could tell the Spinosaurus was weakened. If she had only hung onto her longer, she would have succeeded in killing her. She would target the Spinosaurus first and then go for the Stegosaurus. What big prizes, and they would last her for a long time. She wouldn't go hungry for weeks.

She tried to take another step towards them, but something was stopping her. Something was conflicted with her original thoughts and her original driving force. Part of her mind was urging her to attack, further assisted by some unknown force, the same one that drove her to attack them to begin with. But now a new feeling started to overwhelm her mind. She couldn't recognize what this feeling was, but it was driving her crazy. She took a step back and let out a couple screeches at the air, looking very confused. Her eyes widened slightly as the emotion grew stronger inside of her. She looked at the Spinosaurus and Stegosaurus. If she didn't know any better, she would have believed she had seen these two before, and that these two were of some great significance to her. But what could that be?

Taking another step back, Moynihan shook her head. Her eyes were still glowing red, but the color had faded. It was faint, but it still dimmed a bit. She let out a couple more screeches to no one in particular. She tried to get herself to attack the Spinosaurus and Stegosaurus, but something inside of her was telling her not to. Some part of her didn't want to hurt these two dinosaurs. But why was that? Food was food wasn't it? Why would she stop herself from trying get two potential meals right in front of her? And yet the feelings persisted. Moynihan finally grabbed her head with her two hands, digging her claws deep into her skin, letting blood trickle from it. Why was she feeling like this? Why?

'I..I think she's weakening..' Said Fiona. She lifted up her head weakly and stared out over at Moynihan.

Caruso stood protectively in front of her, holding up his tail in case he needed to attack. 'I won't let her come near you..' He said in a low voice, narrowing his eyes.

'W-Wait, Caruso.. I don't think she's going to attack..' Fiona said.

'I'm not taking chances.' Caruso said sternly, standing firmly on the ground.

'Caruso..' Fiona said softly. But Caruso didn't respond, keeping his attention on Moynihan. Fiona sighed and laid her head back on the ground. She started to feel a little better. Being a dinosaur, she did heal relatively quicker in dino mode than in human form. But she still wasn't well enough to fight. She glanced over at Moynihan, who continued to show signs of confusion and self doubt. Fiona closed her eyes. 'Come on, Moynihan.. you can do it...'

Moynihan shook her head again, struggling to take a step forward, but fighting with herself. She felt another emotion well up inside of her. She bared her teeth and snapped wildly at the air, almost as if she were attacking some strange, invisible being. She had removed the hands from her head, letting them tremble against her body. Her legs were wobbly, shaking so much that she was finding it increasingly difficult to stand. A few seconds later, she fell forward, but quickly caught herself using one of her legs. She glanced back at the Spinosaurus and Stegosaurus. There was still something about them that seemed all too familiar. The predator opened her jaws, but no sound came out. She clenched her teeth and narrowed her eyes. What was it about these two that was stopping her? What was it about their scent, their sight, everything about them, that was preventing her from having them for a meal? She clenched her head again, hearing a voice inside of her, telling her to kill them. As she hesitated, the voice persisted. It wouldn't go away, told her it wouldn't until she obeyed its every word.

Yet another side of her kept her standing back. Another voice, so different from the other, was telling her she should stop, that this isn't the way things were supposed to be. Moynihan couldn't help but be confused. As with any natural animal, anything that deviated from what she knew by instinct or from what her parents taught her seemed strange and foreign to her, something almost incomprehensible. It was trying to tug at her memories, ones that she had long since forgotten. Moynihan's mind was suddenly clouded by multiple images of things she wasn't able to comprehend, to recognize. Her eyes widened in fright and she took a step back, gazing up towards the sky as if she were seeing something. Her body trembled, frightened by the images that were clouding her mind. Then suddenly, something happened.

Moynihan's eyes shifted slowly to orange. Then a few seconds later, the orange eyes changed into their normal yellow color. Moynihan's expression softened up, and she looked at Caruso and Fiona, suddenly recognizing who they were.

'Moynihan...?' Fiona asked hopefully, lifting her head slightly off the ground.

'Is it you, Moynihan?' Caruso asked cautiously, waiting to see what would happen.

'....Fiona...?' Moynihan said at long last. She stared at Fiona for a few seconds and then locked her eyes onto the Stegosaurus. '...Caruso...?' She shook her head slowly, eyes closed with her muzzle pointed towards the ground. 'What's happened..to me..? I've got this pounding headache...' She looked at Fiona again and noticed something odd about her neck. She frowned slightly and nearly gasped when she realized that Fiona was bleeding from her neck. She quickly looked over at Caruso and saw that he, too, was bleeding, his injury being on one of his front legs. She then tasted something in her mouth and felt something running in her claws. She didn't need to look to know what it was. It was blood. Shaking in fright, Moynihan's eyes widened in horror. 'No...'

Fiona struggled to get up, but fell back down again. She groaned in frustration. Caruso looked at her worriedly, concerned that she wasn't able to get back up. Fiona looked over at Moynihan, who was staring at her, horror struck. Fiona's expression softened and she changed back into human form. She pushed herself off the ground with her arms as far as she could go. “Moynihan...” She whispered softly.

Next to her, Caruso also changed back into human form. He held his injured arm close to his chest. He knelt down next to Fiona and placed his uninjured arm around her shoulder carefully. “F-Fiona..a-are you okay..?” He asked her. Fiona looked up at him and nodded, smiling slightly at him. Caruso returned the faint smile and glanced over at Moynihan.

Joanne couldn't believe what she had just done, and what she almost did. She looked at her blood stained claws, trembling terribly. She slowly shook her head in denial. How could this have happened? How could she have let her animal side gain control of her? She took a step back, wanting to run away from that place. She didn't think she could face the Dino Squad, not after what she had done. She lowered her head, realizing she had become exactly what Victor wanted her to be: a full-fledged dinosaur. She looked back at Fiona and Caruso. She saw how worried Caruso was for Fiona, who looked like she was in bad shape. Moynihan changed, slowly, back into her human form. She stood there, a few feet away, trembling as she watched the kids. Her face was horror stricken, eyes completely wide. Finally, she raced towards them. “Fiona! Caruso!” She called out to them. When she reached them, she knelt down by them. “Oh my..I'm so sorry, you two..I'm so sorry..I-I couldn't control myself...” She could feel tears starting to from in her eyes.

Fiona held herself up with just one arm while she used the other to wrap around Moynihan and hug her the best that she could. “It's..it's okay, Ms. Moynihan...It's okay...”

“No...it's not okay.. I..I almost killed you...” Moynihan whispered. She let a few tears stream down her face as she stared at Fiona. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around the girl and held her close, crying softly. “What have I done...? Oh, what have I done...?” She whispered softly, her voice strained and shaky.

Fiona remained stunned for a couple seconds. She then hugged Moynihan back, though her grip was slightly weaker. “Don't blame yourself for this, Ms. Moynihan. It was Victor who made you do this...”

“Y-Yeah..” Caruso moved closer to Moynihan and put his arms around both her and Fiona, keeping his head lifted up in the air. “I-If anyone is to b-blame..it's him...”

But Moynihan continued to blame herself for what had happened. Despite what Fiona and Caruso were telling her, she knew, deep down, it was still her fault. She should have been able to stop herself. She should have been able to keep Victor from taking control of her. But instead she was weak, unable to keep her dinosaur side under control. And she had become the very animal Victor wanted her to be. How could she forgive herself for that? “My fault...all my fault..” Fiona and Caruso just looked at her sympathetically and continued to hug her, hoping she'd settle down soon.

* * *

Victor arrived on the scene. He was hoping to see Moynihan driving her teeth into the children. He was no longer sending her messages through his mind. He figured that he had sent enough to force Moynihan to do his bidding. He smirked to himself as the thought of being rid of two of the children brought him hope. After these children were all disposed of, he would have no more opposition and his progress to transforming the planet would go much faster. And with the children's dinosaur DNA, he saw only a year or more of living like a human before his primordial ooze would be perfected. And once it was perfected, he would spread it across the planet, transforming everything, including the humans if any of them were able to come in contact with it. And for the humans that didn't survive, Victor was certain the dinosaurs would be able to take care of them. Then the planet would belong to the dinosaurs once again!

When Victor looked to see what damage Moynihan was causing, he was shocked to see something completely different. Moynihan had some how regained her human mind. She was in her human form, on her knees, hugging the two teenagers. Victor didn't know how it was possible, but it had happened. Moynihan had found a way to break free of his mind control and transformed back. He stood there, staring at this scene for several seconds. Unable to accept defeat, not after getting this close to winning, Victor's eyes glowed yellow. He bared his long, sharp teeth, mouth slightly open. He lifted up his claws slightly, flexing his arm muscles. He pulled his head back in a curved shape, his lips curling upward. He was not going to allow the children to get away this time. He was not going let himself lose, not after how close he came! He charged forward, mouth agape.

HHHRRRRRAAAAAAAAASSSSS!!

The three were startled by the horrible hiss and looked over to see who it was. Victor was charging straight at them, his mouth split open wide. Moynihan, Fiona, and Caruso looked on in shock as Victor leaped into the air, bringing his foot claws forward to strike them. But before he could make contact with them, something snatched him in the air. Shaking his head from side to side in fury, Victor's eyes looked up to see Buzz, who had grabbed him by his shoulders, digging his talons into his scaly skin. Victor hissed angrily and snapped at Buzz's feet. Narrowing his eyes, Buzz responded by gripping the raptor tighter and then throwing him into the ground as hard as he could. He let out a screech and dove after him while he was still on the ground. His long, sharp beak was poised to strike Victor along his side. But at the last second, Victor reached forward and grabbed Buzz by the neck, pulling him down.

'You're not going to mess up my plans, you stupid bird!' Victor hissed as he clamped his jaws on Buzz's shoulder. The Pteranodon let out a screech of pain and struggled to get free, but Victor would not let go.

Moynihan, Caruso, and Fiona released each other and immediately got to their feet, although Fiona's footing was still a little shaky. They watched in horror as Buzz's shoulder was ripped open by the Velociraptor's sharp teeth. Narrowing her eyes, not wanting the students to pay for what she believed to be her fault, Moynihan rushed forward, eyes glowing. For a brief moment, she changed back into her Velociraptor form and sank her teeth into Victor's leg. The red raptor howled in pain, releasing Buzz. When she saw the Pteranodon had gotten away, Moynihan clamped as hard as she could on the leg without breaking the bone and dragged Victor backwards. She mustered up as much strength as she could and threw Victor to the side, letting his body slam hard against a tree trunk.

Moynihan looked back at the children and changed back into human form. “Run, kids! Get out of here!”

“We can't just leave you..” Fiona said, taking a step forward. “We want to help you..”

“No!” Moynihan called out to her. She looked at Fiona's neck. The bleeding had slowed down, but she could still see fresh blood dripping from the wounds she knew that she had caused herself. “You're hurt, Fiona! I'm not going to...”

“We're all hurt but we're still fighting!” Fiona yelled back. “And do you know why? Because it's the right thing to do! Even if you don't want me to, I am going to help you!” She transformed into a Spinosaurus and rushed towards Moynihan.

Caruso nodded his head slowly. “S-Same here..” He changed back into a Stegosaurus and ran forward. Although his leg still hurt him, he was now able to withstand the pain well enough to put his weight on the injured leg.

Moynihan stood there, speechless. She wasn't sure what to say. It touched her that her students were still willing to fight for her, despite what she did and despite the danger they were already in. Even though both Caruso and Fiona were injured, they were still willing to fight. They didn't want her to fight Victor all by herself. “Children....” She whispered softly. Then she heard something behind her. She turned around, but it was too late. She suddenly found herself pushed being knocked down.

Victor stood over her, still in raptor mode. He lowered his head, putting his snout close to her face. 'You're such a fool! You should have listened to me! You should have listened to me years ago!' He opened his jaws slowly, drool dripping from his jaws. 'If you had stayed with me, if you had continued to help me bring back the rightful heir to the planet, the dinosaurs, maybe you would still have a chance to survive!' With that, he raised his hand, claws poised to strike her.

'No!' Fiona ran as fast she could. When Victor was within striking distance, she clamped her jaws around his body tightly and pulled him into the air. She tried to toss him away, but Victor managed to land a blow with his hands on her face. Three long gashes appeared on the side of her muzzle and she screeched in pain, releasing Victor.

'I can see Joanne's foolishness has spread to you, too.' Victor said coldly, shaking his head. 'Humans are such foolish creatures. I guess it's like an infestation...' With that, he suddenly let out a roar and jumped into the air, aiming his jaws straight for Fiona's neck, smelling the blood trickling down her neck.

'Leave her alone' Caruso dashed towards Victor, forgetting about his fears of the red Velociraptor. He intercepted Victor, placed himself between Fiona and the raging raptor. Caruso cried out in pain as Victor clamped down onto his neck and knocked him into the ground. He started to struggle to get up, but it was short-lived. Victor was suddenly yanked from him and lifted high into the air. Caruso watched as Fiona threw Victor away, slamming him into the ground. Caruso got back onto his feet. He wondered how much more of a beating Victor could take before he would finally call it quits. But not surprisingly, Victor was back in an attack posture, hissing at them angrily. 'You're outnumbered here!' He stood by Fiona. 'Why don't you give up?'

Victor chortled. 'Give up? Give up?!' He let out a series of horrible sounds that Moynihan was able to interpret as dark laughter. 'It is you who must give up! And it is you who is outnumbered! Take a look over there.' He pointed a claw in one direction. The trio looked over to see what Victor was talking about and their eyes widened.

Coming their way were Kista and Oscura. They were moving a little slower due to the cold water that they were both in. But they were recovering fast, quicker than Caruso had. They stood next to Victor, ready to attack. Caruso frowned slightly. Victor had said that they were outnumbered, but he only saw two dinosaurs ready to fight with Victor. That would make three total and thus they were evenly matched in numbers. But then he looked over and noticed there was someone else approaching. Or in this case, something else. The cheetahsaur that Fiona had been fighting earlier arrived onto the scene. It stood next to the dinosaurs. Despite it being a cheetah, it was driven by Victor to be ready for an attack. It hissed at Moynihan, Caruso, and Fiona.

As if things couldn't get back enough, the ground shook as the final contender approached the battle scene. Fiona had to crane her head up to see the face of the final opponent. She had a hard time believing it. How could he have recovered so quickly? With that broken arm, he should have been out of commission for a much longer time. Even with his dinosaur side speeding up the healing process, he still shouldn't be in any condition to fight. And yet here was Peter, in his Apatosaurus form, storming towards them. He swing his tail from side to side, knocking down a couple trees as he did so. It didn't take long for the trio to notice he was limping, holding his broken leg off the ground. Yet unlike before, he was able to support and move around on just three legs. Regardless of how he was able to do it, it was still bad news for the team. They could barely manage him before. How will they succeed now?

Caruso looked up at the Apatosaurus in fear. 'Who is that?'

'That's the dinosaur that was going to destroy the lighthouse!' Fiona told him, not taking her eyes off the gray-skinned beast. 'He nearly defeated us, but we managed to win. He's the one who first gave us some kind of hint as to what Victor had done with you.'

Peter narrowed his eyes and lowered his long neck, placing his small head close to Fiona's face. 'I only gave you pipsqueaks information because your friend tricked me!' He then lifted his head up and looked around. 'Where is he..?' He asked darkly. Fiona narrowed her eyes, keeping herself quiet. 'Where is he?!' He asked again, this time in a louder voice.

'I am not telling you!' Fiona said defiantly.

'Tell me, or I'll...!' Peter took a step forward, baring his teeth.

'Peter!' Kista said, her eyes slightly wide in shock. 'What are you doing here? You shouldn't be in dino mode with that kind of injury.' She eyed the foot that was still lifted off the ground. 'Why don't you go and relax? Let us take care of business.'

Peter shook his head stubbornly. 'No. I am not going to allow these brats to get away again. I will have my revenge!'

'And your revenge will get yourself killed...' Oscura muttered, shaking her head as she stared up at the Apatosaurus. What an idiot, she thought to herself. But it wasn't her concern. Right now, her main focus was to help Victor kill Caruso and Fiona. But what about the old woman? What did Victor want with her? 'Sir? What about Moynihan? Do you want us to kill her too?'

Victor glanced at Moynihan. She hadn't changed back to raptor form, but Victor guessed that it would only be a matter of time before she would transform to defend herself. Right now, she was just glaring at him hatefully. Words echoed back to Victor's mind, something that Moynihan had stated the last time he had her in his custody. She had told him that she never wanted to see his scaly face again. He chuckled. Moynihan should have known better. She should know that she would not have been able to hide from him forever. Now here they were, standing face-to-face, prepared to engage in the final showdown. His mind control chemical had lost its hold on her, but no matter. He could always whip up a stronger batch.

Victor then turned his attention to Oscura. 'Let her live. She is still of some use to me...'

* * *

'Max!' Rodger called out. He charged forward, driving his nose horn into the side of the wolverine mutantsaur. It screeched in pain, but then turned its attention on him. It struck Rodger across the face, nearly blinding him. Rodger bellowed in pain and tossed the wolverinesaur away.

Suddenly the bear mutantsaur attacked him from behind. Rodger was lifted off the ground and tossed across the floor like a rag doll from a single blow of the creature's paw. He crashed into a nearby tree. It suddenly snapped in two, and Rodger bellowed again as he found himself trapped under the thick tree. He struggled to get up and watched in horror as the bearsaur started to make its way towards him, mouth open wide for the attack. Just then, a loud screech caught the bearsaur's attention and it looked up to see a green flying creature coming straight at it.

'Leave him alone!' Buzz brought out his talons in front of him and struck the bearsaur across the head, knocking it to the ground. He circled around and dove at the bearsaur again, this time landing a blow across its shoulders, leaving several cuts across the skin. Buzz then turned his attention to Rodger and landed nearby. 'Rodger! Are you okay?!'

Rodger struggled to get up, but the weight of the tree kept him pinned down. 'Do I look like I'm okay?!' He snapped at Buzz.

Neil flinched and took a step back. 'I'm sorry, dude.. I'm just worried about you.'

Rodger closed his eyes tightly, clenching his beak. 'If you're so worried about me, help me get this tree off of me!'

'I'm on it!' Buzz took to the air and landed behind Rodger. He looked at the tree, slightly impressed with how big it was. He placed his wings against the tree and started to lift up as best as he could. Rodger helped him, pushing his back as far up as he could go. But even with their combined strength, the tree was not budging an inch. Buzz realized they were going to need Max's help. He turned his attention towards Max, who was busy trying to keep the mutantsaurs at bay. 'Max! We could really use your help right now!'

'Can't it wait?' Max struck down the wolverine mutantsaur with his tail. 'I am kind of busy right now!'

'But it's Rodger! He needs help! He's stuck!' Buzz called out to him.

'Rodger?' Max took a moment to look over to see what Buzz was talking about. Max was shocked to see his best friend pinned under a tree. And judging from Rodger's expression, he was having trouble breathing too. 'Rodger!' Max turned his attention to the mutantsaurs and roared at them. There was no way he could help Rodger with these two mutantsaurs in his way. He would have to disable them as quickly as he could. The wolverine mutantsaur leaped into the air, trying to snap its jaws around his neck. Max was able to avoid the attack, though just barely, and then clamped his mouth onto the creature's leg. The wolverinesaur howled in pain as it struggled to get free. Max closed his jaws as tightly as he could and there was a sickening cracking sound.

CRACK!

Down the wolverinesaur fell, one of its hind legs broken, bent at an odd angle. Max was certain that this particular mutantsaur would not be a threat any longer. He then turned his attention to the bearsaur. The creature hissed at him and went down on all fours, charging him at full speed. Max narrowed his eyes. He only had one chance at this. Once the bear mutantsaur got within striking distance, Max immediately moved to the side, letting the bear mutantsaur pass him. Once Max saw the target that he wanted, he immediately turned his body around and clamped down, sinking his teeth into the tail of the mutantsaur. He clamped down as hard as he could, hearing a cracking sound as the tail was snapped. The bearsaur screeched in pain and turned around and tried to bite the Tyrannosaurus Rex. But Max reacted too quickly, lifting the mutantsaur up by its broken tail and slamming it into the ground several times. Finally he tossed the mutantsaur aside, its head slamming against a tree. It twitched a few times, and then closed its eyes.

Max snorted and then turned his attention back to Rodger. He quickly ran to his friend's side, and stared at him for a few seconds. Then he looked at the tree. It was pretty large, and was too wide for him to grab with his mouth. But that was not going to be a problem. He could just use his head and push it off of him. He nodded to Buzz and Rodger. Then he got into position next to Buzz. The Pteranodon put his wings onto the trunk again. Rodger prepared to push upward the best that he could with his legs and back. And Max put his massive head underneath the tree. 'On the count of three. One, two, THREE!' Using as much strength as they could muster, the three pushed on the tree trunk. It was heavy, even with Max's help. But after a couple seconds, the tree budged. A few more seconds of pushing and Rodger could feel it sliding off his back. Finally, the three were able to push the tree completely off of Rodger's back.

Rodger breathed a sigh of relief as he was suddenly able to breathe again. 'What a relief...'

Max narrowed his eyes. 'But it's not over yet. We still have to deal with Veloci.'

Rodger struggled to his feet. 'Yes, I know that. Buzz, let's go.' When no answer came, Rodger looked around. 'Buzz? Where are you?' He finally found Buzz. He was standing in front of the wolverine mutantsaur, although he was keeping his distance so the creature couldn't attack him. Rodger tilted his head to the side. Why was Buzz standing so close to the creature? 'Buzz? What are you doing?' He asked as he and Max approached the Pteranodon.

Max noticed Buzz's horror-stricken face and became concerned. 'Buzz? What is it?'

Buzz's eyes were glued on the wolverinesaur, his body trembling slightly. 'It's..It's my father..' He said in a low tone of voice. 'That's him...It has to be..'

'What...?' Max glanced down at the mutantsaur. After a few seconds, he slowly shook his head in denial. 'No, that can't be him.. Veloci doesn't mutate humans..'

'Did you forget what he said to me?' Buzz asked, glaring at Max.

'No, but..' Max started to say.

Buzz shook his head. 'But nothing, Max. I recognize my father anywhere..' He stared back at the cheetahsaur, who was hissing at him although its eyes were wide open, as if it were afraid. 'When I look into those eyes..I see my father.' Buzz said softly. He wanted to take a step closer to the cheetahsaur. He wanted to find someway to change his father back. But something told him that he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. 'I wish..I wish there was something that we could do..'

Rodger looked up at Max. 'We could try to de-ooze him.'

Max lowered his head. 'That would be an option, but I fear that Veloci might have used a more powerful ooze. I don't think we can change him back..' He said sorrowfully. He looked at Buzz sympathetically. Max had not lost any members of his family to Victor's ooze, but he could understand how Buzz was feeling. It was hard to lose someone that one cared about. Even if Buzz's father wasn't really dead, he might as well be gone. Whatever was left of his mind has been warped, transformed by the primordial ooze. The Drew Buzmati that Buzz once knew was no longer around. Then an idea came to his mind. 'Perhaps Ms. Moynihan can help.. I mean after this is all over.'

'Perhaps..' Rodger started to say. But before he could say anything else, a loud roar caught his attention. He immediately looked over. 'What was that?!' Then he saw it. Although he had to squint his eyes so he could see it, he could make out the forms of Fiona and Caruso battling against Oscura and Kista. He could also see Victor, who was still in raptor mode, and he also saw Moynihan. Rodger felt a wave of relief when he saw that she was in human form now, which means that Victor's hold on her must have been broken. But he realized this was no time to celebrate. Moynihan was being cornered by Victor. Rodger couldn't think of why she wasn't transforming unless she was afraid of being controlled by Victor yet again. 'The others need our help!' Rodger shouted.

Max looked over and opened his mouth in shock at what he saw. How could he have missed this? 'Moynihan! Caruso! Fiona!' He cried before charging towards the scene. The others followed close behind him, Rodger by his side and Buzz flying in the air.

Buzz glanced down at his father briefly. 'I'm sorry, dad...' He then turned his attention towards the battle that was going on not too far away.

* * *

'I'll kill you right now!' Kista charged into Fiona, pushing her hard against the tree. Fiona let out a yelp of pain, her muzzle pointed towards the sky. Kista clamped her jaws firmly on Fiona's shoulder, cutting in deeply. Fiona slashed out at Kista with one of her hands, succeeding a couple blows across the white dinosaur's neck and chest. But Kista just ignored the pain and bit down harder, threatening to rip a huge chunk of flesh from Fiona. 'I was considering killing you quickly, but I changed my mind..' Suddenly Kista released Fiona and then quickly bit down onto her arm. She pulled Fiona onto the ground and placed a massive foot on her side. Then she pulled back, threatening to rip Fiona's arm straight from its socket. Fiona howled in pain.

'Fiona! No!' Caruso rushed over to try to help her, but suddenly a large, gray leg blocked his path. Caruso slowly craned his head up, eyes widening in fear as he stared at the massive bulk he knew was Peter. He was so big that he couldn't even see Peter's head. Peter had to lower his long head to look Caruso in the face, his eyes narrowed. Caruso took a few steps back, intimidated by the dinosaur's huge size. But realizing that Fiona was in danger, Caruso glared and bared his teeth. He let out a bellow and lifted up his head. 'Get out of my way!'

Peter grinned slightly. 'And how are you going to get me out of your way, pipsqueak?' He asked in a sarcastic tone of voice. Although it was hard for him to move around on just three legs, he still managed to move a little closer to Caruso without too much trouble. He kept his head low, close to Caruso's head as if he wasn't afraid of Caruso trying to bite him. So what if the boy bit him? It's not like it is going to cause any real damage. This is what Peter was thinking. If the boy dared to bite him, he could easily strike him down with his massive bulk or long tail. Caruso continued to glare at him, but took another step back, his expression softening slightly. Peter just smirked. 'I didn't think so..'

Suddenly Caruso charged forward, slamming his body against Peter's uninjured leg with as much force as he could muster. Caruso nearly bit his tongue as he tried not to cry in pain when he felt several of his plates nearly break under such force. Peter pulled his head back and let out a heavy bellow of agony as he felt the plates cutting into him, leaving deep, though bloodless, marks. Peter stammered back, nearly losing his balance. But he managed to regain his footing and now he glared at the Stegosaurus with hate-filled eyes. He let out a roar that shook the ground and lifted up his tail. Caruso's eyes widened as he watched the tail coming towards him at high speed. He tried to dodge it, but he was too late. The tail slammed into him, causing him to fly across the floor.

Fiona saw this and called out to him. 'Caruso! No!' She tried to get free, but she cried in pain as Kista pushed her harder into the ground. Her large talons dug deep into her skin and the dinosaur's weight was making it harder for her to breathe. Fiona was suddenly reminded of when Moynihan had her pinned down like this. But this time, she wasn't going to get out so easily. She lifted up her head and looked over at Kista. At this position, she was helpless to do anything, except try to land a blow with her feet. Narrowing her eyes slightly, Fiona pulled her leg back, claws poised to strike Kista. She tightened up her muscles, getting ready to strike. Suddenly, she struck out forward, kicking Kista on the leg. Her foot claws slashed across the leg, blood spewing from the cuts.

Kista's eyes widened in pain, but she refused to scream. That is exactly what the little brat wanted her to do. She wasn't going to allow her to get away, not without a 'trophy' from her. 'You've just made a very big mistake..' She said as she started to clamp down harder onto Fiona's arm. 'Now not only will you lose this arm, but you'll also lose something else...' Fiona's eyes widened, horrified that her kick did not force Kista to let go of her. She closed her eyes and just waited.

But the blow never came.

'Leave her alone!' Max's voice rang out, causing Fiona to open her eyes. She lifted up her head to see what was going on. At her angle, it was hard to tell, but she was certain that she saw a green form rushing towards Kista. The white dinosaur didn't have much time to react when she felt something clamp down onto her neck. This time, Kista did let go, realizing that her own life was in jeopardy now. She tried to snap at Max, but he just lifted her off the ground slightly and tossed her into the ground. Kista hit the ground with a loud thud. But Max wasn't over yet. He immediately rushed to Kista's side and pressed his massive foot on the side of her neck. Kista hissed and snapped at him, but wasn't able to land a bite. Max lowered his head slightly. 'Stay away from my friends, you monster!'

Kista hissed, narrowing her eyes. 'You are not the boss of me, you waggling little shank!' Kista told him, struggling on the ground. She kicked her legs into the air, trying to kick at Max. But the T-Rex was smart enough to keep his distance away from her. At that kind of response, he pushed his foot harder onto the white dinosaur's neck. Kista opened up her jaws in shock, eyes wide. She struggled to take a breath, but Max had pushed pretty hard on her neck. She could feel her wind pipe being constricted to the point where it was nearly impossible to take a breath.

'Just remember, you're bringing this upon yourself..' Max said, narrowing his eyes. He didn't really want to kill Kista. He didn't want to stoop down to her level. But if it means protecting his friends, he knew he must do it. Kista was far too dangerous to be taken lightly. He lowered his head, prepared to bite her. But then a horrible pain erupted from his leg. Several small sharp teeth clamped down. Max howled in pain and staggered back from Kista. As the white dinosaur got back onto her feet, Max looked to see who had bitten him and he gasped in horror.

Oscura had wrapped her arms around his leg, using her claws to provide some traction as she sank her teeth deep into his leg. 'I've got you now!' She said. Before Max could do anything, she immediately released him and jumped back. She didn't need to do anything else. She had already bitten the boy. Now all she had to do was wait.


	33. Turned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Max hissed at her and took a few steps towards the Troodon. He let out a roar and was about to attack when he felt his legs start to wobble. He staggered forward, but regained his footing. He lifted up his head and shook it, trying to shake off the sickening feeling that was starting to well up inside of him. He knew what was happening. He knew that Oscura's poison was getting to him. But he couldn't let that happen. He must fight it! He tried to get at Oscura again, but his head started to hurt him, pounding in his head like some huge hammer hitting against his head. He let out a groan, his eyelids feeling so heavy that he couldn't keep them open. After a couple seconds, he found himself falling to the ground with a loud thud. 'What is..happening to me...?'

Oscura walked up to him. 'You know what's happening to you. I've done the same thing to you before.' She got within about three feet of Max and lowered her head slightly. 'How could you forget? Or are you really that stupid?'

Max opened his jaws, showing his teeth. 'Why don't you..get a little closer..you little..brat..'

Oscura pulled her head back and laughed. 'You're in no position to be telling me what to do..' She lowered her head, her mouth close to Max's head. 'Or do you want me to bite you again? Another bite, you will definitely die...'

'Back off!' Fiona shouted. She managed to get away from Kista and was now barreling down onto Oscura. She clamped her long jaws on the Troodon's small body and lifted her into the air.

'Put me down, you pathetic excuse for a crocodile rip-off!' Oscura hissed, thrashing wildly in Fiona's jaws.

But the Spinosaurus refused to let go and instead clamped down harder. Oscura let out a screech of pain, but didn't stop struggling. Fiona narrowed her eyes. 'You had best watch it, Troodon. I'm the bigger opponent here.'

Oscura bared her teeth evilly. 'Yes, that's right... And the bigger they are...' Oscura suddenly launched her head forward, sinking her teeth deep into Fiona's snout. The Spinosaurus screeched in pain and released Oscura. The Troodon quickly go back onto her feet and glanced up at Fiona. 'The harder they fall!'

Max weakly lifted his head up and stared at Fiona. His eyes were wide with horror at what had just happened. 'Fiona..no...' He whispered softly before he collapsed his head onto the ground, his strength being zapped away by the bacteria in his bloodstream.

Fiona wobbled from side to side, struggling to keep her footing. She shook her head, and then glanced down at Oscura. She wasn't going to allow this minor setback keep her from fighting the Troodon. She had to make sure she didn't get her filthy jaws on Caruso, Buzz, Rodger, or Moynihan. Fiona started to rush towards Oscura, who just stood there, watching her with a smirk on her face. Fiona's speed rapidly decreased as a pounding headache started to overwhelm her. She gripped her head, groaning in pain. 'N-No...I mustn't give in...' Fiona told herself, lifting her head up, teeth clenched tightly. If she failed to do anything about Oscura now, then they were in big trouble.

'You can't fight it..' Oscura said coldly. 'Within a few seconds, you'll be just like your friend here. But let me tell you what I'm willing to do.' Oscura took a couple steps towards the shaky Spinosaurus. 'Once you fall down, I'll let your friend live a little longer...' Fiona looked over at Oscura, tilting her head slightly to show that she was confused. Oscura chuckled. 'You're probably wondering why I am going to let him live a little longer. Well it's simple, Spinosaurus. I am going to let him watch you die first...'

Fiona's eyes widened. 'You're not going to kill me...' She said sternly, opening her jaws and showing her teeth threateningly. 'I-I won't give you that opportunity...' She took a step forward, but suddenly a wave of dizziness came over her. She let out a cry of pain as she fell to the ground a couple feet away from Oscura. Fiona lifted her head up, teeth clenched. But she felt herself fall back into the ground. She was feeling a lot like how she was when she was bitten by that spider. But this felt even worse. She glanced up helplessly as Oscura started to approach her slowly.

Oscura stood a couple inches from Fiona's mouth, confident that Fiona was feeling too sick to try to bite her even from this short distance. To show how brave she was, Oscura lifted up a foot and placed it square on Fiona's muzzle, between her nostrils. 'Are you ready to die..?' Oscura asked her, narrowing her eyes. Fiona hissed at her, but didn't respond, and instead closed her eyes. Oscura blinked, slightly disappointed that she wasn't going to get at least a small struggle from the Spinosaurus. But she shrugged her shoulders. No matter, at least she would get her job done. She opened her jaws again and prepared to bite Fiona...

'FIONA! NO!' Caruso screamed, now back onto his feet from suffering another blow from Peter. He forgot all about the Apatosaurus as he made a mad dash towards Fiona. He saw Oscura lowering her head towards the girl. His eyes widened in horror. He had to stop Oscura before she got her filthy teeth into Fiona. He mustered as much strength as he could and went as fast as he could, baring his teeth in determination. He could feel Peter's heavy footsteps behind him and immediately thought of an idea. Smirking, he narrowed his eyes and waited for the right moment to make his move. Once he was in the right position, he immediately moved out of the way at the last second, positioning his front half above Fiona and bellowed at the red-skinned dinosaur.

Oscura hissed and took a couple steps back. 'So..have you come to watch?' Oscura asked, baring her teeth. Suddenly she felt heavy foot steps rapidly approaching. She looked up and saw Peter's large leg coming right for her. Before she could react, the thick leg slammed into her and she grabbed on tightly. She screeched in fear as she felt herself moving forward had a rapid pace. It all happened within seconds, but to Oscura, it felt more like a few minutes.

While this was happening, Caruso turned his head towards Fiona, gently nudging her with his muzzle. 'Come on, Fiona..we've got to get out of here!'

Fiona tried to get up, but fell back down again. 'I..I don't think I can, Caruso..'

'You've got to try!' Caruso looked over at Max, who was just a few feet away. 'Max! Can you get up either?'

Max attempted to get up, but found himself falling back down again. He let out a soft moan. 'I'm sorry, Caruso. I can't either..I-It's Oscura's fault.. She bit us..she bit both of us...'

Caruso's eyes went wide. If Fiona and Max didn't get somewhere safe soon, they would be easy prey for Victor and his minions. He had to think of something. Something did come to his mind, but he wasn't sure how well it would work. If he could just carry them to safety, maybe they would have a chance. Caruso lowered his body close to the ground and looked at Fiona. 'Change back to human form.' He looked at Max. 'You too, Max. I'll carry you two to safety.'

'But..where would you take us?' Fiona asked. 'There isn't any..safe place around here..'

'Are you suggesting I should just leave you guys here while those monsters come to kill you?' Caruso asked, lifting his head slightly into the air.

Max shook his head weakly. 'N-No..I don't think that's what she means. There is no safe place to take us, Caruso.' Max coughed a couple times. 'You're better off fighting them...'

'But..what if I get hurt too?' Caruso asked in a worried tone. 'That is why I wanted to get you guys out of here. I-I don't want...'

'Caruso, it's all right.. we...' Suddenly Fiona's eyes flew open wide. 'CARUSO! LOOK OUT!'

'Huh... AAAAAHH!' Caruso screamed in pain as he felt Kista's powerful jaws clamp down around his leg, the same one that Victor had injured earlier.

'I'VE GOT YOU NOW!' Kista pushed Caruso into the ground, blood pouring the leg as she bit down almost hard enough to crack the bone. She released Caruso, but kept her foot on his body, pinning him down. 'Now I am going to finish when I came here to do! Congratulations, kid, you were a challenge to get rid of.. But now playtime is over!'

* * *

'Let me go, you big oaf!' Oscura hollered up at the large Apatosaurus.

'Well gee..sorry...' Peter said, rolling his eyes. After Oscura had grabbed onto him, he had continued to run forward, despite knowing that he had missed his target entirely. Due to his massive bulk, he would need a lot more room to turn around. He saw a clearing up ahead and moved quickly towards it. He was annoyed with Oscura, who continued to complain to him about not listening to her. Stepping on her was so tempting right now, but he had to restrain himself. Victor would have his head if he were to do something like that.

'When are you going to stop and let me go?' Oscura dug her claws in deeper into the skin. She wanted to let go and drop down, but she was afraid that Peter's big foot would crush her underneath his weight. The dizzying sight of seeing the ground coming up at her swiftly, then shrinking just as quickly, and repeating itself was starting to get to her. She looked away and closed her eyes, waiting for Peter to stop moving.

Peter saw this and rolled his eyes. How pathetic, he thought. The Troodon could handle any punishment Victor tossed at her. She could even handle the missions he'd send her on. But she couldn't handle something like this? He shook his head slowly. 'Oh calm down, Oscura. I'm almost at the clearing.' Sure enough, within about a minute, Peter reached the clearing. It was small, only slightly bigger than the space he was running through. But it was enough to allow him to turn around without hitting any of the large trees around him. He stopped briefly to allow Oscura to slide off of his foot. Once the Troodon got away from him, Peter turned his attention back to Caruso.

Oscura looked herself over and swooshed her long tail from side to side. 'Well finally! Do you know how long it's going to take to get your rancid smell off of my body?' She sniffed herself and grimaced. She couldn't understand how predators were able to get so close to a sauropod. Or maybe it was just Peter. She shook her head and snorted, trying to get the horrible smell out of her nostrils.

'Quit your complaining.' Peter said, giving her a sideways glance.

'Whatever..' Oscura said before making a mad dash towards where the battle was going on.

Peter just looked at her and shook his head in disgust. Other than being able to turn into a dinosaur, he couldn't really understand what Victor saw in that girl. He started to run after her, although a bit more slowly than her due to his massive bulk. But then he stopped suddenly. Why was he going over there? Kista already had Caruso taken care of. And Oscura already bit Fiona and Max, so they were out of the picture now. That only left the Pteranodon and the Styracosaurus. He heard a loud screech and noticed Buzz flying overhead, heading straight for Victor. Peter started to move quickly to stop him, but then saw who he was looking for: Rodger.

'You...' Peter said, narrowing his eyes angrily. The Styracosaurus was also charging straight towards the scene, although he was aiming for Kista. At long last, Peter finally had a chance to get even with that meddling kid for making such a fool out of him! Without hesitation, he ran as fast as he could towards Kista to try to intercept Rodger.

* * *

“Terri!” Nevina called out to her daughter. Terri was rushing towards the Dino SUV, which was still parked near the back of the lighthouse. Terri wasn't old enough to drive and it shocked Nevina to see her youngest daughter rush towards the vehicle. When Terri didn't stop when she called her, Nevina rushed forward to try to catch up to Terri. “Stop, Terri! Stop right now!”

This time, Terri did stop. She barely had enough time to turn around before her mother seized her in her arms. “Mom! What are you doing?” She asked, trying to wriggle her way free.

But Nevina didn't let go. She held onto Terri tighter and looked at her in the eyes. “Terri, where do you think you're going? You can't drive!”

“I know that, mom!” Terri said

“Then why were you running towards the Dino SUV?” Nevina asked, glancing over at the vehicle, which was only a couple feet away. She wasn't sure if the doors were unlocked or not. And would Terri even know where the keys were?

“I was running over here to unlock the Dino SUV.” Terri said, producing a pair of keys from her pocket. Nevina's eyes widened slightly and opened her mouth to say something. Terri had a guess at what her mom was going to ask her. “Before you even ask, these were on the table.”

Nevina was confused. They all had seen the tables inside the lighthouse and they don't recall ever seeing a pair of keys anywhere. “Well, I didn't see them...” Nevina said, eyeing the keys.

Terri smiled faintly. “That's because you didn't look.” Terri looked over at the Dino SUV. Did she really need to be the one to unlock it. She looked back at her mom. She glanced at the keys briefly before tossing them to her mother.

Nevina quickly caught the keys and looked at them. “Why are you giving me the keys?”

“Well, someone needs to drive.” Terri said, shrugging her shoulders. “And as you said, I can't be the one to do it. I don't know how to drive.”

Nevina glanced at her daughter and then back at the keys. She then looked at the Dino SUV. While she could drive herself, she usually lets her husband do it. She looked behind her and saw her husband standing in the doorway of the lighthouse. He was looking at her and Terri, wondering what is going on. “Hey, dear? Can you come over here, please?”

“Sure thing!” Bryant quickly made his way towards his wife and youngest daughter. When he reached them, he asked, “What is it?” Nevina tossed him the keys. “Why are you giving me these?” Bryant asked, staring at the keys in confusion. He hadn't seen them before, but he knew that they didn't belong to their car. And he was certain it didn't belong to the Mr. Caruso or his wife.

“They're the keys to the Dino SUV.” Nevina said. “We need someone to drive it.”

Bryant was confused. “But..why? We aren't going anywhere...”

Terri spoke up. “But, dad, we have to get to Boston!”

“What?” Bryant said, his eyes widened in shock. Had Terri lost her mind? They couldn't go to Raptor Dyne. They were ill-equipped, even with the Chiller and Spiller on their side. He and the others had discussed this and they had decided it was too dangerous to go to Raptor Dyne. But Terri was persistent. She really wanted to do something to help her sister and her friends. While Bryant admired this trait, it also made him feel very worried about her. What if something were to go wrong and they, themselves, were captured? And besides, the kids could take care of themselves, couldn't they? They could all turn into powerful dinosaurs anytime they wanted to. “It's too dangerous to go Boston. Didn't you listen to what me and the other grown-ups were saying?”

Terri narrowed her eyes. She didn't like being treated like a little kid. This is the same way the Dino Squad treated her when she first started hanging around the lighthouse. But then again, their behavior towards her was justified. She can't transform and they just didn't want her to get hurt. But now she must do something to help them and she wasn't going to let her parents stop her. “I know it's dangerous, dad. But it's just as dangerous to not do anything. If Victor gets DNA from those kids, he could create an army of perfect dinosaurs!”

Bryant's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't thought of that. He looked back at the keys, feeling like he should do something. But at the same time, he still felt a pang of doubt. What if they made the situation even worse for the Dino Squad? They could have gotten away, couldn't they? Besides, they had fought with Victor several times in the past and always won. What would make this situation any worse? “I know what you're feeling, sweetie..but...” Bryant closed his eyes and lowered his head. “..I just don't think we're cut out for this mission.”

“What? Why not?” Terri asked him. This didn't sound like the father she knew. What happened to the father she knew who looked at a mutant mole without breaking a sweat? What happened to the father she knew who watched Fiona transform into a Spinosaurus for the first time and didn't scream?

“I'm sorry, dear.” Bryant said, feeling regretful. “It's just too dangerous. I can't risk losing the rest of my family to Dr. Veloci.”

“But what about Fiona?” Nevina asked, taking a step towards her husband. “Don't you want to do something to save her? She's in Boston, probably fighting Victor as we speak. Don't you want to try to save her?”

Bryant nodded his head. “Well, yeah, but...”

“Then let's go.” A voice sounded out behind Bryant. He turned around to see Jack and Amanda walking towards him. It was Jack who had spoken up. He and his wife walked towards the Flagstaffs, looking determined. Jack glanced at Terri and then back at Bryant. “Our kids are in danger.” Jack said, his voice filled with seriousness. “As their parents, we have to do something to help them. They might really need our help this time.”

“But they can take care of it..can't they?” Bryant asked.

“Do you really want to take that chance?” Amanda asked, eyes narrowing deeply.

Bryant didn't answer her. Instead, his expression slowly changed to that of slight horror, realizing that what Amanda had said to him was true. Did he really want to take that chance? Bryant glanced down at the keys. He closed his eyes tightly and tilted his head slightly to the side. His grip on the keys tightened as he tried to think of what to do. After several moments, he looked at his family and the Carusos. He took in a deep breath and said, “...okay, let's go.”

* * *

Rodger let out a loud bellow as he felt something thick and heavy strike him at the side. He was taken by complete surprise. His mind was focused on getting Kista away from Caruso. That was his big mistake. He should have kept an eye out for other dangers. Kista wasn't the only one he should worry about. But instead, he got so caught up in saving Caruso that he had failed to see Peter rushing towards him. And by the time he would have realized what was happening, it was too late. Peter, out of fury, struck him with his tail and knocked the Styracosaurus aside, smashing him into a tree, which proceeded to snap, but fell backwards rather than on top of the Styracosaur. Rodger shook his head and got back onto his feet. He immediately recognized Peter and bellowed at him and lowered his head. He immediately charged towards the Apatosaurus, hoping to drive his horns into Peter's other front leg. But Peter wasn't going to let that happen. He struck out forward with his long neck. Although his teeth were not as strong as Rodger's beak, he still bit down into Rodger's front leg.

Rodger lifted his head and roared in pain. He tried to use his other front leg to push the mouth off, but his body design didn't permit this kind of movement. Instead, Rodger turned his head towards Peter's head. It was within striking distance. Rodger opened up his sharp beak and struck out towards Peter. His beak clamped around the top of Peter's head. Using his mouth like a pair of scissors, Rodger was able to cut a deep gash across the top of Peter's head, close to his eyes. Peter's eyes widened in pain, but he didn't let go of Rodger. Instead, he bit down as hard as he could, although his jaws weren't strong enough to crack the bone. Flexing the muscles in his neck, he lifted Rodger straight up into the air by his front leg. He continued to lift Rodger up until he couldn't lift him any higher. Then he proceeded to slam Rodger into the ground at full force. A loud bellow rang out as Rodger impacted the ground, mud flying into the air. Peter took a step back to see what damage he had caused.

Rodger was laying on his side, his mouth part way open as he tried to gasp for air. His eyes were closed, but slowly fluttered open, a faint glow coming from his eyes. There was no blood, but some bruising started to develop, particularly on the leg Peter had just bitten. Rodger's thick skin protected him from having Peter's peg-like teeth cut it, but Peter had still managed to bruise him pretty badly. Rodger could have sworn he heard some vertebrates crack as well, but he might have been just hearing things, or perhaps he had crushed some rocks beneath him with his massive weight. He was almost completely covered in mud, although there was a clear outline around him. Anyone who was looking in his direction would know what he was. Rodger groaned in pain and tried to get back up. But when he put weight onto his front leg, the one that Peter had bitten, he cried out in pain and slid back down into the mud. Groaning, Rodger weakly lifted up his head, glancing up at Peter.

'Why...?' Rodger asked, although he had a feeling he knew the answer already.

Peter lowered his head slightly. 'You should know very well why, little boy.' Peter took a step forward. 'You are going to pay for making a fool of me! Stating the Chiller..or Spiller..or whatever they were called.. were actually a threat!' He chuckled darkly, pleased to see Rodger in pain. This is what he was hoping to see. Perhaps now, the boy would not dare pull such a dirty trick on him ever again. 'How does it feel, Styracosaurus? How does it feel to go through the pain I did when you kids defeated me..?' Rodger didn't answer and instead frowned and looked away. Peter glared back, baring his teeth. He moved a little closer. He turned to the side, lifting his tail. 'HOW DOES IT FEEL?!' He hollered at him, striking Rodger again with his tail.

Rodger screamed in pain as he was tossed across the air again by the powerful tail. When he landed in the ground again, he shook his head, trying to get the mud off of his face. He looked up at Peter. 'You're...you're just a coward...'

Peter's eyes widened in anger. 'What?! What did you just call me?'

'Coward...' Rodger repeated. '..and I..I stand by it.. You choose to attack me because I'm smaller and weaker than you are... That was a coward's move..'

Peter growled and let out a heavy bellow, feeling the vibrations of his own voice move throughout the ground beneath him. 'I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S A COWARD!' With that, he charged straight for Rodger.

Moynihan noticed what was going on. She was horrified to see Rodger laying in the mud, struggling to get up, while a large sauropod was thundering down his way. The mud provided little traction, causing his feet to constantly slip from underneath him, causing him to fall back into the mud. The sauropod would likely have the same difficulty, but being larger, the mud wasn't as deep for him as it was for Rodger. Moynihan took a quick glance over at Victor, who was walking her way slowly, teeth bared. Moynihan looked back over at Rodger. Despite her fears of transforming, she had to do something to help Rodger. “Don't worry, Rodger! I'm coming!” She started to make a run for it, but Victor moved faster, and stopped her before she had the chance.

'Oh no you don't!' Victor struck her hard with one of his hands, striking her in the back of her head. Moynihan's eyes flew open in pain as she was struck forward. She crashed into the ground, landing on her stomach. She tried to get up, but fell back down. Victor slowly approached her from behind. He placed his foot on top of her, keeping her pinned down. Moynihan struggled to turn her head to look at her opponent. Victor lowered his head. 'Do you really think I would allow you to foil my plans again, Joanne?'

Moynihan narrowed her eyes. “I'm just as strong as you are, Victor.”

Victor chuckled. 'Only if you are in dino mode. And I will not permit you to transform. Not yet..' He lifted up his hand again and hit Moynihan on top of her head. Moynihan tensed up only momentarily before falling limp on the ground, her eyes closed. Satisfied that she was knocked out, Victor stepped off of her and proceeded to grab her shoulder with his teeth. He lifted her up off the ground and then tossed her away like a rag doll. 'That is what you get for ever considering going traitor on me, Joanne..' He said coldly.

Suddenly a loud squawk filled his head, causing Victor to flinch in pain and pull his head back in surprise. He looked up and saw Buzz, in dino mode, swooping down in his direction. Victor's eyes widened only slightly, but he quickly moved out of the way, allowing Buzz to slash nothing but air with his beak. But the Pteranodon wasn't finished yet. He quickly circled around and came back for Victor, letting out another loud squawk. Victor narrowed his eyes and lifted up his claws threateningly. When Buzz was nearly within striking distance, Victor leaped into the air, snapping his jaws at the Pteranodon. But Buzz saw this coming and quickly pulled up, Victor missing him by a couple inches. Then Buzz quickly swooped around for another go, and this time managed to strike Victor with his beak, causing the raptor to fall into the ground. But Buzz had lost sight of him quickly.

Buzz landed nearby, his feet sinking into the mud. He looked around, trying to see where Victor had landed. Suddenly he heard a screech behind him. He quickly turned his head and saw Victor in mid-jump behind him, mouth split wide open. Buzz, panicking, quickly took to the air, hoping to dodge the Velociraptor. But he felt a sharp pain in his leg as he felt the teeth biting into him, around the same spot where Victor had slashed him weeks ago. Buzz screamed in pain and flapped harder to try to get away. But Victor managed to pull him back down and threw him to the side. Buzz landed on his back, his body now covered in mud. He shook his head and saw Victor jumping towards him, his sickle claws facing forward. Buzz widened in his eyes and quickly scrambled out of the way. As he heard Victor land next to him in a thud, Buzz quickly stood up and opened his wings. Before Victor could attack him again, he took off into the air, flapping as hard as he could to get up into the air as quickly as he could.

Victor watched Buzz take to the air and scowled. He held his hands up again, claws glinting in the moonlight, the rain dripping from them. Victor and the others had forgotten it was still raining. They were so caught up in the fight that they forgot. The ground around them was getting muddier by the second. But despite that, they still fought with each other. The Dino Squad simply wanted to get away and go home, but Victor and his minions were going to make sure they don't get home alive. Victor watched Buzz circle above him. He could tell the Pteranodon was going to be foolish enough to attack him again. Victor narrowed his eyes. He lowered his haunches, poised to pounce, and just waited for the right moment to strike.

Buzz was seeing how Victor was acting. He knew that if he messed this up, Victor could easily attack him. But Buzz felt he didn't have a choice. He had to keep someone at bay to help his friends. As long as he was keeping Victor busy, his friends would have a better chance of escaping. He gulped, feeling as if this was the end for him. But the feeling of knowing that he may be sacrificing himself for a good cause was enough for him to take risks and fight Victor anyway. He mustered up as much courage and strength as he could and dove down straight toward Victor at full speed. Victor raised his claws up, waiting, watching. Buzz flexed the talons on his feet, wanting to dig them into Victor to make him pay for the misery he had put them through. Buzz opened up his mouth, prepared to slice into Victor...

Suddenly, a wave of pain enveloped Buzz before he had time to react. He screeched loudly as he felt the raptor sink his teeth into his wing. He flapped frantically with his free wing, but found himself being pulled into the mud, regardless of his efforts. Once Victor got him on the ground, he proceeded to bite into Buzz's wing membrane, tearing the delicate skin, ignoring Buzz's howls of pain. He shredded first the left wing membrane and then the right. He didn't tear the membrane completely off. Instead, he used his teeth and claws to make several lacerations in the wing to prevent Buzz from taking off into the air again. He then proceeded to clamp his jaws tightly around Buzz's head, threatening to bite hard enough to crack the skull.

'You aren't going anywhere, little one...' Victor said, narrowing his eyes. 'I should kill you right now, but I would take pleasure in knowing Caruso dies first.'

'Leave him alone!' Buzz shouted, despite his current predicament.

Victor released Buzz and lifted up his head. He grinned, baring his sharp teeth the little light that was available. 'Considering your position, Pteranodon, I wouldn't be giving orders, if I were you..'

Buzz opened his beak threateningly. 'I don't care! I'm not going to let you...'

But Victor stopped him before he had the chance to finish. He struck Buzz hard on the head, causing him to smack his head into the mud. Buzz let out a cry of pain as this happened, and then he fell silent save for the several breaths he took in rapidly, painfully. He tried to move his wings, but there was so much damage caused to them, it hurt too much to move them. And even if he did change back, there was still going to be gashes. He was pretty much stuck. He weakly glanced up at Victor, who just smirked at him. 'Now that you're out of the way...' Victor said in a low voice. '..let's see how long your little friend lasts...before he dies..'

Buzz's eyes widened. 'No...' He tried to push himself off the ground, but cried out in pain and fell back into the mud. He could only watch in horror as Victor approached Kista and Caruso. 'No..Caruso...get out of the way..' He called out weakly.

Caruso charged into Kista despite his pain. His body slammed into hers, causing her to stagger back. But Kista wasn't letting up. She smacked her head against him, knocking him back onto the ground. Caruso let out a bellow and got up as quickly as he could. He lowered his front half closer to the ground, his back end raised up. He held his tail high into the air in a threatening manner. He swished it from side to side, getting ready to smack Kista with it. The Tarbosaurus/Tyrannosaurus Rex hybrid watched the tail with a cautious expression. But she wasn't going let something like that stop her from finishing her mission. She charged towards Caruso, but was knocked into the ground by his tail. Roaring in pain and in anger, she scrambled to her feet, just in time before Caruso's feet slammed into the ground.

Kista's eyes widened slightly, realizing Caruso was trying to smash her into the ground. She glared in his direction, opening her jaws to show him her sharp teeth. 'You dare try to smash me? You're such a pathetic child... You still have no idea who you are dealing with...' She advanced on him quickly. Caruso moved in a sideways angle, tail held in striking distance. 'Now you'll see what a true fighter is truly capable of doing...' With that, she charged towards him again.

'Not unless I can stop you first..' Caruso declared. He struck out with his tail again, but this time, Kista moved out of the way before the tail could hit her. Caruso was taken by slight surprise and didn't have enough time to react as Kista attacked him yet again. He bellowed in agony as teeth sank into his neck again, closer to his chest this time. Kista pushed him into the ground with a heavy thud, mud shooting up into the air due to the force of the impact. Then she placed her foot on his side again, keeping him pinned down.

Kista kept her jaws clamped around his neck. She was not going to give him another chance to escape this time. She had been foolish enough to let him go earlier; that is what gave him the chance to strike out at her. But in this position, Caruso's tail would do him no good, and with her jaws clamped around him, he was not going to be able to get up. 'This is the end for you, my little one...' She declared. She slowly started to compress her jaws around his neck.

'No....' Caruso muttered. He quickly thought of an idea on how to get away, but it was risky. Before the jaws could clamp down any closer, he quickly transformed back into his human self. Now much smaller, he managed to slip from Kista's grasp. As the jaws slammed shut where his Stegosaur body once was, Caruso scrambled to get onto his feet, slipping in the mud, and started to run away.

Victor noticed this and let out a loud roar at Kista. 'Don't let him get away!'

Kista lifted up her head and spit out the mud that she had accidentally bitten into. She shook her head, getting the rest of the mud off her muzzle. When she heard Victor's demand, she turned to see Caruso was trying to get away from her. Kista narrowed her eyes. She wasn't going to let her prey get away from her, not this time. She roared loudly and ran towards Caruso. It didn't take her long to catch up to him, just a couple long steps. He hadn't gotten very far, partly due to the mud slow him down. Caruso didn't seem to care that his favorite shoes were getting dirty; he just wanted to get away from here. Caruso looked behind him and saw Kista barreling down on him at full speed. He widened his eyes and let out a scream. He tried to run faster, but he ended up nearly losing his footing in the thick mud.

Kista rushed passed him and then moved in front of him. She lifted up her tail and roared at him. Caruso panicked and tried to get away. But he felt himself slip in the mud and fall down onto his back. He opened up his eyes and glanced up. Kista towered over him, her glowing eyes narrowed as she stared at him intently. The cheetahsaur, which had hung back this whole time, decided to make its move. Victor was telling it to help Kista secure Caruso, so it obeyed. The cheetahsaur hissed, coming up from behind Caruso. The boy saw the mutantsaur and felt his heart start to race. He wanted to transform again, but he was on his back, an uncomfortable position to be in when he was going to turn into a dinosaur with a row of plates going along his spine.

Caruso attempted to get up, but he felt himself being tossed back by the cheetahsaur. It gripped him in its mouth, its saber-shaped teeth missing him just barely, and it threw him to the side. Caruso screamed in pain as he slammed into the ground against some hard rocks that weren't visible due to the mud. He groaned and looked up. The cheetahsaur was heading straight towards him, its mouth wide open. Caruso's eyes widened and he put his arm over his head protectively. Suddenly, Kista, who didn't want the cheetahsaur to have the chance to kill the boy, snatched the creature in her jaws. She lifted it into the air and threw it to the side. She glanced at it momentarily to make sure it wasn't going to get back up. She had slammed it into the ground pretty hard, knocking it out. She could have sworn she heard some of its bones break too. Once she was certain it was out of the picture, she turned her head back towards Caruso.

'I guess this is the end for you, kid.' Kista said softly. She started to approach him slowly, her head lowered as she prepared to attack. 'At least for your sake, you better hope it's the end. We wouldn't want to let you suffer..now do we...?'

“Why..why would you care i-if I s-s-suffer?” Caruso said, his eyes narrowed slightly. “V-Victor sure doesn't...”

'You're right. I don't care.' Kista looked over at Caruso's friends, who were laying on the ground nearby. Peter was also on the ground, having suffered another injury to his other leg. Kista could see blood pouring from the wound where Rodger managed to skewer him. But despite now being disabled for the fight, Peter had managed to disable Rodger himself. The Styracosaurus, although awake, looked too badly hurt to get up. Caruso's other friends were all awake, but too weak to get up. Max and Fiona were looking very sick and Buzz was groaning in pain. 'But..would they want to see you suffer?' She asked, grinning evilly.

Irwin's eyes went wide. “G-G-Guys...” He whispered in a soft voice, a feeling of defeat suddenly washing over him. It felt like his world was caving in on him, and he could sense that his end was coming. His body started to shake violently as he realized that they might not make it out of here alive after all. He tried to get up, but his legs were too shaky from fear, and the mud was too slippery for him now. “No...” Caruso whispered, shaking his head in denial. It couldn't end this way. It just couldn't!

Kista walked slowly towards him. Once she reached him, she lowered her head, putting her muzzle close to his head. Caruso looked up at her with fear-filled eyes. 'There is no use running anymore, kid. You've had your chance. You and your friends.. And you all failed. You must pay the consequences...'

Caruso's lip trembled. “N-No.. You're wrong....”

'Look around you kid.' Kista said, chuckling darkly. 'Do you see any image of hope around you?'

Caruso gulped and looked at each of his friends. They were all looking at him with concerned, sympathetic, even fearful expressions. Fiona tried to get up, but she only slid back down. Her face was slightly reddened because of the fever that had stricken her. Max wasn't looking any better. His face was just as red as Fiona's, and he couldn't even try to get up because his arms were too small. The two were breathing heavily, gasping, as if it was harder for them to take in air. Caruso looked over at Rodger and Buzz. Rodger was covered in dark purple bruises. His body was shaking slightly from pain. He was struggling to keep his eyes open and he tried to get up as well, but lost his footing as he yelped in pain; one of his legs was so badly bruised that he couldn't even move it. Buzz's wings were still bleeding from Victor's attack. The membrane was badly shredded. Buzz couldn't even move them without crying out in pain. He couldn't even lift his head out of the mud because this would require the use of his wings, which he just couldn't move because it hurt him too much.

Caruso felt any feeling of hope start to slip from his fingertips. He didn't have any form of communication with him. He knew his folks wouldn't come here. They didn't even know he was here, and what could they do to help? And Moynihan couldn't help either. She still lay unconscious nearby and he didn't think she would be able to come by in time to safe him. He felt Kista's hot breath against his body as she started to open her mouth. Caruso slowly turned his head to see where Victor was. When he spotted him, Victor was back in human form, probably seeing no use using his raptor form at this point. Victor had a twisted smile on his face. He was looking very satisfied with that was going to happen. He just stood there, smiling darkly as he waited until Kista finished him off. Next to him was Oscura, although she was knocked out because she was attacked by Buzz earlier.

“Finish him.” Victor said, folding up his arms, smiling evilly.

'N-No...' Fiona struggled to get up. 'Please..don't...'

'F-Fiona..it's no use..' Max said sorrowfully. 'There's nothing we can..d-do...'

'There's..got to be...something..' Buzz groaned, struggling to lift his head up despite the pain he was in.

'I-I guess the..guy's got us...' Rodger groaned softly. '..He finally..got us..'

“It...it can't be t-true...” Caruso whispered softly. But there was no denying it. Even his friends were accepting defeat. They couldn't fight anymore. They all had been foolish to think they could get away from Victor this time. They were foolish to have underestimated his capabilities and to think they could outmuscle him. Victor had gotten the upper hand this time. He had made sure that there was no way for them to escape, no loop holes that they could exploit to survive. Caruso felt his lip quiver again as he tried not to cry. Kista didn't even bother to say anything this time. She pinned him down with one of her feet, and then raised her head. She opened her jaws, prepared to strike him. Caruso felt tears of fear and regret stream down his face as he watched teeth coming in at him. He closed his eyes and waited for the blow.

All of a sudden, Kista let out a loud roar of pain and she pulled back from Caruso. The action took both Caruso and Victor by surprise, as well as the Dino Squad. The scream happened so suddenly, so expectantly, they weren't sure what to make of it. At first, it seemed like Kista had hurt herself somehow, perhaps an old injury had reopened. But it soon became clear of the true cause: Michelle. She had rushed forward from where she was standing and had leaped towards Kista, shouting 'No' as she did so. Her teeth had sunk as far as they could into Kista's thick neck, and she clung on as best as she could with her hands. Kista hissed as she turned her neck and tried to bite Michelle. When that didn't work, she shook her body violently from side to side, managing to knock the Guanlong into the ground with a thud.

But Michelle wasn't letting up. She immediately got back up, hissing at Kista angrily. Kista was a little confused as to why Michelle was attacking her. But at this point, she didn't really care. She now perceived Michelle as a threat and she must eliminate her. Michelle should be easy to take care of. She charged forward, snapping her jaws at the small dinosaur. Michelle managed to get away in time and jumped back onto Kista. The white dinosaur roared in anger and frustration as Michelle climbed up her body and bit down into her neck again, tearing at the flesh. She shook her body, forcing Michelle to let go. This time, Kista managed to snatch Michelle in her jaws and started to shake her. The Guanlong howled in pain, and slashed Kista along her jaws, forcing her to let go.

Caruso watched this scene play out in total shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He never would have thought that Michelle would risk her own life to save his. He tried to get up, but still found himself to be in too much pain and too weak to even try. He slid back down, and all he could do was watch. He glanced over at his friends. They, as well, were shocked to see Michelle doing something so brave and courageous. Even Buzz and Rodger looked impressed. Looking harder, Caruso could have sworn he saw regret in their eyes, too, as if they felt back about something, perhaps of how they had treated Michelle in the past. But when Caruso looked over at Victor, he felt his heart start to race.

Victor had a shocked look on his face as well for a little while. He was in total shock that one of his minions, particularly one of his dinosaur morphers, would actually betray him openly like this. He had never suspected Michelle of betrayal. His hands started to shake as a feeling of anger started to come over him. He was trying his best to keep his cool, to keep from losing control. But seeing how close he came to successfully killing the Dino Squad, and for it to be ruined by one of his own, made his blood boil. He slowly clenched a fist, shaking it. He should have listened to Oscura. He should have taken her advice and gotten rid of Michelle before he proceeded with this plan. As he watched Michelle attack Kista, he whispered one thing to himself, making a promise. “You are going to pay for this treachery, Michelle...” He hoped that Kista would finish her off, for her own sake. If Kista failed, Michelle wasn't going to like what he was going to do.

'Stop this nonsense!' Kista shouted. She struck at Michelle with her puny arms, using enough force to strike down the Guanlong. Two long cuts appeared on Michelle's side. She winced in pain as she stood back up, but she wasn't backing down. She rushed towards Kista's leg and bit down hard on the calf. Kista lifted her head and roared in pain before lifting up her foot, balancing her body delicately on two legs as she shook her foot, trying to get Michelle off of her. Once Michelle was forced to let go, Kista wanted to know something. 'Why are you doing this? Why are you fighting for this...this whelp?'

Michelle let out a hiss. 'Because it is the right thing to do!' She declared before lunging back up at Kista. But the white dinosaur was more than prepared for this attack. She quickly turned to the side and struck Michelle with her powerful tail. The black dinosaur slammed into the mud, grunting in agony. But she still drove herself on. Even though she might as well be committing suicide, she didn't stop. 'No matter what..I won't stop.. I'll keep fighting you until my last breath...'

Kista narrowed her eyes. 'That can be arranged...' With that, she bit down onto Michelle's body and lifted her up. She started to bite down, aiming to crush her body. Michelle struggled violently in the dinosaur's mouth. Finally she managed to use her hand to slash across Kista's face, close to her eye. This caused enough pain for Kista to release her. But before Michelle fell down, she quickly grabbed onto Kista's head with her two hands, digging her claws onto both sides of her head. Her stomach was pressed against the front of her jaws, tail dangling in front of the white dinosaur's body. Michelle opened her jaws as wide as she could and bit down on Kista's head. She knew the consequences she may suffer if she failed. But she didn't care, not at this point.

Kista violently shook her head from side to side. It was annoying her how Michelle was continuing to try to actually do her a lot of harm when in reality she was only going to make the situation even worse for herself. Michelle's dinosaur form was pathetic. It wasn't going to do much damage at all. She didn't even bother saying something to Michelle this time. She continued to shake her head from side to side until Michelle wasn't able to hold her grip any longer and let go. Kista wasn't finished though. Before Michelle hit the ground, she snatched her back into her jaws, squeezing tight enough for her teeth to poke through into the skin. She proceeded to slam Michelle into the ground. With the last blow, Kista released Michelle and watched her lay there in pain.

But to Kista's surprise, Michelle still managed to get up. Kista took a step back, completely surprised by this. Despite the injuries, Michelle was still able to find the strength and courage to get back up and back into the fight. Swishing her tail from side to side, Michelle looked up at Kista, baring her sharp teeth at her. 'It's going to take..a lot more than that, to stop me!' She declared before rushing back towards Kista.

'As you wish...' Kista let out a loud roar and rushed towards Michelle to meet her charge. When she got close enough, Michelle lunged into the air, her claws held forward as she prepared to slash into Kista. She was able to keep away from Kista's jaws and her blows reached their mark. Several cuts appeared along Kista's side and back. The white dinosaur roared in pain and quickly turned around as Michelle landed on the mud nearby. Kista charged towards her again, but again, Michelle managed to dodge, running between Kista's legs before she had time to attack. Michelle was using her small size and her greater agility to dodge Kista's advancements. She quickly turned around and jumped onto Kista, landing on her thick tail.

Not caring what part of Kista she attacked, Michelle sank her sharp teeth into the tail, slashing it up with her claws. Kista twisted her body constantly, moving in circles, as she tried to get at the annoying raptor-like dino. But Kista's body didn't allow this kind of flexibility, so instead she slammed her tail continuously into the ground. Michelle's eyes widened in pain every time she hit the ground, but she still held on tightly to the tail, refusing to let go. She clamped her teeth deeper into Kista's tail, drawing more blood. Getting frustrated, Kista slammed her tail against a tree this time. A sharp branch that was jetting out struck deep into Michelle's side. This caused her so much pain that she was forced to let out a loud scream of agony. She fell from Kista's tail and hit the ground in a thud. She glanced up as Kista closed in on her.

'I've had it with you!' Kista said as she charged at Michelle. 'You will pay for your actions, traitor!'

'I regretted them..a long time ago...' Michelle retorted, flinching in pain.

* * *

Bryant gripped onto the wheel as he quickly swerved to get out of another car's way. Traffic wasn't too horrible. It was late at night and most drivers were probably home sleeping. But that didn't mean there weren't still people on the road. Several times, Bryant found himself running through red lights and nearly running into someone because he was in the wrong lane. He usually wouldn't act like this; he was a sensible driver and would obey the laws. But at the moment, his mind was more focused on getting to Fiona as quickly as he could. Boston was a few hours away and the faster they get there, the better. He pushed on the pedal, making the car move even faster.

The other passengers in the car, especially Terri, were frightened by Bryant's somewhat reckless driving, gripping onto their seats as if they were going to get run off the road or something. But they understood why he was acting like this. Because Boston was hours away, by the time they got there, it may be too late to save the children. They had to get there as quickly as possible, even if it meant breaking the law. The only good news about Bryant's reckless driving is that there weren't as many people on the road and it was too dark to really report anything. But there could be a cop anywhere, hiding from sight and waiting for a speeder or other law breaker to come within distance. Nevina had tried to coax her husband into slowing down, telling him about the cops that might suddenly show up if he isn't too careful. But Bryant simply shrugged it off, saying that nothing was going to stop him from doing his best to get to Raptor Dyne as quickly as possible.

Nevina had leaned back in her chair, sighing in frustration. Usually her husband would actually listen to her and consider taking her advice. But this time around, he was mostly ignoring her, wanting to do things his way. This wasn't like him at all. But what could she do? She wasn't the one driving. She let out a soft sigh. She wished she had taken Terri's advice and taken the wheel instead. But then again, her husband probably would have constantly been on her back, commanding her to go faster. Perhaps it was better this way, despite the obvious chances of them getting caught by the police or being reported by one of the drivers on the road.

Terri looked at her father somewhat fearfully. She had never seen him act or drive like this before. He looked so determined and so focused. It scared her. She was so used to his laid-back personality, that something like this seems to just come out of the blue. “Dad's...scaring me...” She said softly. “He's frightening like this...”

Next to her, Amanda managed to slowly nod your head. “I can't disagree with you there.”

“I'm sure it's just temporary.” Jack was trying to look on the brighter side of things. He was a father just like Bryant was and he understood what it felt like to almost lose a child. After all, he and his wife nearly lost Irwin a couple weeks ago. “Besides, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can get those kids back.”

“But can he at least slow down a little?” Amanda said as Bryant turned the steering wheel almost violently to avoid hitting a street sign. “At this rate, we'll probably crash before we reach anywhere near Raptor Dyne.”

Bryant narrowed his eyes and growled in anger. He would have turned to look at Amanda, but he had to keep his eyes on the road. So instead, he leaned back and tilted his head slightly to the side to show that he was trying to address Amanda. “Well if you're so worried, why didn't you volunteer to drive, then?!”

“..because this isn't my car...” Amanda fell silent.

Nevina carefully reached out towards her husband and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Settle down, dear. She is just worried for our safety.” She hoped that her husband would calm down at least a little. She hated to see him take his anger out on someone else, especially when it wasn't even their fault to begin with.

Bryant looked at Nevina briefly before looking back onto the road. “Our safety?” He said in an almost sarcastic tone. “What about the safety of our daughter? Isn't that more important?”

“What good is trying to achieve their safety..” Nevina explained. “..if we disregard our safety and end up killing ourselves before we even reach the destination?”

Bryant's eyes widened slowly. He realized that his wife was right about this. How would he be able to help his daughter if he was lying dead somewhere? How would his reckless driving be of any use to them at this point? This kind of driving is what he would usually scold Fiona for, but now he was doing it himself. What kind of father was he? How could he completely disregard the safety of himself and the others inside the vehicle all because he wanted to get to Raptor Dyne first? Sure, he knew that he had to get there quickly, but if he endangered himself and the others, and perhaps even get themselves killed, how would they be of any help?

Bryant slightly stepped on the brakes to make the car slow down slightly, much to the relief of the passengers. Bryant closed his eyes for a second and then said, “I'm..sorry everyone. I don't know what got over me.”

Nevina wrapped her fingers around his arm and gently squeezed it to try to comfort him. “Don't worry about it, Bryant. I understand why you were acting like that. You were just concerned about Fiona. I'm worried about her too...”

“Just as we are worried about Irwin.” Jack said softly, trying to show that he held no hard feelings towards Bryant for the way he was driving.

Although still shaken up by the driving herself, Amanda spoke up. “Y-Yeah...no hard feelings or anything.”

While this was going on, Terri was glancing at the hand held scanner that she took with her when they got into the car. She was looking at the dinosaur signatures that still flashed on it. They hadn't really moved too far from where she originally detected them. For a while, the dots still moved, although not far from their original position. She guessed that the Dino Squad were caught up in some kind of battle. But then, most of the dots had stopped moving completely. Terri started to fear the worst. Why had they stopped moving? Could it be possible that they were...dead? No, that couldn't be right. Terri shook her head, getting rid of such thoughts the best that she could. There had to be another reason. Perhaps they were just knocked out or something. Yeah, that was probably it.

“What's the matter, sweetie?” Nevina asked, noticing her daughter's pale expression.

“Nothing, mother...” Terri responded, although it was slightly delayed. She leaned back in her chair, waiting for them to reach their destination: Boston, or more specifically, Raptor Dyne.

* * *

Kista roared loudly as Michelle bit into her tail. 'Stop it, you little benevolent! You are only going to make things worse for yourself!' She tried to twist he body around to bite Michelle, but her body's limits prevented her from doing so. Just like before, she found herself slamming the tail into the ground in order to make Michelle let go of her.

'Do..what you..want...' Michelle hissed, biting as hard as she could. 'I am not going to stop fighting you.'

'You would die for someone who isn't even a friend?' Kista glanced down at Caruso, who was watching the fight with fear-filled eyes. Kista chortled softly, finding this situation rather amusing. Michelle wasn't responding, wasn't even looking at her. Perhaps her thoughts were correct. Michelle would indeed sacrifice her life for someone whom she shared no bond with. What a fool, she thought as she slammed her tail into the mud once again. Sacrificing one's life for another they shouldn't even worry about, what a waste of a life. 'You're so pathetic..'

'Giving my life for him isn't weakness!' Michelle snapped angrily.

'You don't even know what weakness is!' Kista responded. She slammed her tail into the ground one more time. Michelle let out a screech as she lost her grip on the tail. Kista approached Michelle and quickly placed her foot onto the black dinosaur's body. Michelle struggled violently under Kista's foot, snapping her jaws wildly in the air, but not able to bite anything but air. Kista lowered her head and opened her massive jaws. A low, guttural growl sounded out as she moved her head closer to Michelle.

* * *

The Dino Squad watched this scene in horror. They hadn't seen anything like this before. A small dinosaur going up against a bigger dinosaur, not caring if she lost her life or not, that was something they hadn't witnessed before. Even after Michelle was slammed into the ground time after time, even after she was slashed over and over again, or bitten by Kista, she continued to get back onto her feet and fought with the hybrid dinosaur. Her body was covered in several cuts and gashes, blood was staining her skin, and yet she still continued to fight. She kept placing herself between Caruso and Kista and refused to allow Kista anywhere near him. Even though she was getting badly injured and that she could lose her life, she continued to fight for Caruso.

The Dino Squad, including Caruso, had just changed back into human form. There was no reason to remain as dinosaurs in their current state. Besides, they wouldn't be any immediate danger. The other villains had been defeated, including Oscura. And the only villain still able to fight was Kista, and Michelle was taking care of her. Victor was too busy fuming in anger at what Michelle was doing to pay attention to the weakened Dino Squad that lay around him. The Dino Squad's clothing was torn and ripped, although still mostly intact. Usually some of them would complain about this, but why should they now? After all, they were more worried about their lives than stupid clothing. Shirts and pants and other stuff can be replaced easily. Lives cannot.

“She's still going for it...” Fiona whispered under her breath. How could Michelle just keep going at it like this? All the injuries on Michelle caused Fiona to shudder. Just how much blood was Michelle losing? Fiona had a feeling that, sooner or later, Michelle was going to get so weak that she won't be able to defend herself. And when that happened, then what? Fiona wanted to get up to help her. She really did, but the fever that plagued her body was keeping her from even trying to just get up off the ground.

Max nodded his head, but didn't respond to Fiona. He glanced over at Rodger and then at Buzz. He remembered how harshly those two had treated Michelle in the past. Memories came back to him how they treated her back at the lighthouse and he felt anger start to rise up inside of him. All those times they accused Michelle of being a liar, to be nothing but trouble, and yet in the end, Michelle was actually going to sacrifice their lives for them. “Do you two still believe that...she's a threat..?” He asked them in a hoarse tone.

Buzz and Rodger looked at Max and flinched at the glare that he was giving them. They then looked over at Michelle and they both felt a pang of guilt tug at them in their stomachs. They realized that Max was right to be angry with them. They couldn't help but feel angry at themselves for not listening to Michelle. They remembered how they had outright threatened Michelle back at the lighthouse. Back then, they would have wanted to see Michelle get hurt, believing that she had deserved it. But now that it was happening, now that Michelle was getting hurt, they regretted ever wishing that kind of fate on her. This was not at all how they imagined it to be.

“I'm sorry, Max..” Rodger managed to say through his pain and guilt. “We..we didn't know that she would..do something like this...” He looked over at Michelle. She had managed to get back onto her feet and was now biting Kista's foot. “I thought she was still with Victor...I mean..she never left...”

“That didn't mean she was still on his side completely.” Max said, his eyes narrowed.

Buzz couldn't take his eyes off of Michelle. It amazed him how she could stand all that pain, could take all those blows, and still have the strength and courage to still fight back. He felt a pang of guilt again as he thought back to how harshly he spoke to her, and the horrible thoughts he had concerning her, particularly the thoughts of getting revenge on her. “Even after the way I treated her, she still wanted to help us, including me. She still helped us...” He muttered softly, barely audible.

Max was still able to hear him. He turned his head towards Neil. “Weren't you the one who kept on saying that Michelle couldn't be trusted?”

“Rodger too..” Buzz said sternly, but his expression quickly softened up. He lowered his head, glancing at the ground. “I admit..I was wrong..we were wrong about her.. I didn't know that...” But he couldn't bring himself to say anything after that. After a few moments of silence, he took in a deep breath. “I'm sorry..I'm so sorry..”

Max narrowed his eyes slightly, then cocked one eyebrow. “Am I really the one you should be apologizing to?” He gestured towards Michelle.

Buzz looked over at Michelle, watching her as she continued to fight Kista. Right then, Buzz made his decision. He narrowed his eyes in determination. “You're right, Max... You're absolutely right...” If they made it out of this alive, he was going to have a word with Michelle.

* * *

Michelle let out a loud scream of pain as she felt herself being tossed into the ground yet again. This time, she found it too difficult to stand back up again and she fell back down. Kista narrowed her eyes, waiting for her to make a move. She watched Michelle, expecting her to get back onto her feet and fight back. But this time around, Michelle was just laying there, eyes closed softly. Kista tilted her head, a little confused at first. Had she just killed the black dino? She sniffed the air. No, she could still smell the life on the dinosaur, could still see her breathing. Kista slowly walked up to the dinosaur, lowering her head close to Michelle's body. She sniffed it a few times, and wondered what she should do now. She opened her jaws to bite the dinosaur, but then she paused. She glanced over at Victor, waiting to see what he wanted her to do with the girl.

Victor noticed Kista's confusion and his eyes slowly narrowed further. He pointed a finger roughly in Michelle's direction. “Finish her, Kista.” He ordered her.

'As you wish...' Kista glanced back down at the prone body. She started to wonder if it would really be worth it to kill Michelle. She wondered if she would get any real joy out of it. After all, Michelle wasn't much of an opponent, in both human and dinosaur modes. And yet, she knew she had to obey Veloci. She opened her jaws again and prepared to deliver the killing blow to the Guanlong Wucaii.

'Oh no you don't..' Suddenly Michelle's eyes snapped open. Before Kista's jaws could close in around her, Michelle jumped up into the air. She landed on Kista's back and hung on tightly as the white dinosaur started to shake her body violently to get her off of her. Michelle scanned with her eyes to try to find what she was looking for. Once she found it, she opened her jaws as wide as she could and bite down, targeting the back of Kista's head, where her skull connected to her spine. Kista roared in pain and tried to force Michelle off of her. But Michelle refused to let go. She continued to bite down until Kista's eyes suddenly flew open, and then slowly closed. In a few seconds, Kista's body fell to the ground, throwing Michelle a couple feet away because of the force of the impact.

Michelle's body glowed and she shifted back into her human form. She glanced over at Kista. She didn't kill her; she instead just hit a sensitive spot, a pressure point to be specific. She knew about it recently from rumors she heard from some people in Raptor Dyne, who were talking about theories of dinosaurs. She can safely say that these theories turned out to be true. If the theory was right, then Kista should be knocked out for a while. Michelle slowly got up to her feet and began to walk away, believing her mission here to be completed. She headed towards a slight ditch in the ground, likely caused from when the machines came to make the artificial water source. Hoping the mud and rain would cover her scent a little, she quickly jumped down, wincing in pain as she landed in the soft mud.

Victor stood there in total disbelief. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. No one had ever managed to actually knock Kista out during combat. And he didn't think anyone could have known about her one weak spot at the back of her head. Even Victor himself didn't know this until he saw Michelle target that area. He walked over to Kista's body, watching her as she slowly breathed in an out. He placed a hand on her head and gently nudged her to see if she would awaken. But of course she didn't. Victor looked at the Dino Squad teenagers. They cringed slightly, knowing that if he decided to attack them, they wouldn't be able to fight back. But Victor's mind was focused on something else at the moment. He looked back to where Michelle had been and noticed she had disappeared from view.

Veloci scowled, baring his sharp teeth. “Now where did you run off too?” He hissed under his breath. He wasn't going to allow Michelle to get away with this. He wasn't going to allow her another chance to screw up his plans. He moved around Kista towards the spot where he last seen Michelle. He noticed there was muddy tracks in the ground. His eyes narrowed softly. Did Michelle forget about this? There was no attempt to cover up the tracks and they led straight to a dent in the ground caused by the machines that came near Raptor Dyne earlier. Clenching his fist tightly, Victor started to make his way along the tracks, following them to wherever they led.

* * *

Max struggled to get up, but felt a powerful headache strike him back down. He groaned softly and opened his eyes and watched Victor walk away, disappearing from view. Even though Victor hadn't said a word on what he was going to go, it was no mystery on what he was going to do. Max tried to get back up again, and managed to stand on his feet momentarily before his knees buckled forward and he fell back down. “No..we have to..do something...” He said, his voice filled with concern.

“What..what can we do?” Buzz said, trying to hold himself up on shaky arms before falling back into the mud. “We're too w-weak to do anything...”

“B-But..there has t-to be something we can d-do... We c-can't just...” Caruso started to say. But he didn't need to finish. He could see, from the look in the others' eyes, that they knew he was right.

Rodger slowly pushed himself off the ground. He managed to stand up, but when he took a step, he wobbled violently, nearly falling back down. He held out his arms desperately, trying to keep himself from falling down. Once he managed to balance himself, he tried to take another step forward. He nearly lost his balance again because of how thick the mud was, clinging to his feet and pulling him back down. He tried to take another step, but yelped as a combination of pain and the mud pulled him back to the ground. His chin hit the soft mud with a thud and part of his face became covered in mud. He wiped off his mouth with one of his thick arms, eyes narrowed slightly in disappointment. He looked up back where Victor had disappeared.

“Darn...I can't get up..” Rodger muttered, gripping at the ground angrily.

“Neither can we, Rodger..” Max said, turning his head to face him. “I don't think we..make it in time...”

Fiona now tried to get up. She pushed her body up using her arms and then put her foot out in front of her to try to get a footing. She managed to raise herself up off the ground and stand nearly straight up. She held out her arms to try to provide some balance for herself. She was starting to feel dizzy because of the fever she still had. She coughed a couple times, each cough nearly causing her to fall back down again. She managed to get farther than Rodger did, but eventually, her fever got the better of her and she found herself on her stomach in the mud once more. The rain caused her hair to get in her face, forcing her to keep her eyes closed. She lifted up one of her arms and brushed her hair out of her face. Thunder roared in the background and Fiona could have sworn she could feel its vibrations underneath herself. “What..what are we going to do?” She asked as she closed her eyes softly. “We can't even..g-get up out of the ground..”

Max looked at her helplessly. “I..I don't know, Fiona. I just don't know..” He looked towards the ground, then back at Fiona. “But..we can try to think of something...” Caruso nodded his head sympathetically, glancing at Max and then at Fiona. But he wasn't sure what they could do. He really wanted to do something to stop Victor, but he was too weak and hurt to do anything. They all were. Caruso looked over at where Michelle and Victor disappeared. He realized the chances of them all surviving this were quickly fading away to nothingness. He gulped softly. They were going to need a miracle to survive. All Michelle did was delay the inevitable.

* * *

A few minutes later, Michelle was making her way up a small hill. She felt her feet slip beneath her, but she managed to regain her footing. Each step she took felt like a horrible torture to her. She constantly felt pain in her legs and other parts of her body. She could feel her blood soaking her clothes. It stung her whenever mud touched her. The rain continued to fall on her, hitting her face and skin, washing away the red blood. Her walking was hindered because of the blood she lost and the pain she was in. She nearly fell over a few times, but still managed to keep her footing. She saw there was a tree nearby and immediately made her way towards it. She gabbed onto the tree and leaned up against it. She closed her eyes and began to breathe slowly, letting herself rest before she would try to get more distance between herself and the Dino Squad.

“I-I hope they get away..” Michelle told herself as she started to walk further away. The area she was in now had some trees, but they were spaced apart, and she realized she was heading towards one of the open spaces. She gulped, knowing that she might be walking herself into a trap. But she continued to make her way towards it anyway, knowing that anywhere was better than where the Dino Squad lay. She took a few more shaky steps, constantly feeling her body wobble from side to side as more blood seeped from her body. She reached another tree a couple feet away and leaned up against it. She was about to move on again when she heard something behind her. It sounded like a muddy footfall. She gulped and turned around.

Michelle felt her heart started to race as she saw Victor coming up over the hill, standing not too far from her. His eyes were glowing softly, and she could see his sharp teeth bared. Although it was hard to tell for certain because of the darkness, she saw his hands shaking in rage as he started to walk up to her, moving at a faster pace than he had been a little while ago. Michelle turned around and tried to run, but found herself limping because of her pain. She was moving so slowly, making so little progress, that Victor would reach her very quickly without even having to break into a run. Michelle suddenly felt her leg snag in a root that was uplifted from the ground and she fell down hard. She groaned and started to get back up again, but it was already too late.

“You...” Victor hissed under his breath, venom dripping from each word he spoke as he closed the gap between him and Michelle. When he reached Michelle, she was still trying to stand back up. Without hesitating, he grabbed her by the throat with a partially transformed hand. Michelle grunted in surprise and tried to struggle to get free, but Victor's grip was like a vice. He lifted her up off the ground with little effort, watching her struggles decrease slowly. “You have made a very big mistake!” He shook her with one arm violently before throwing her to the side.

As Victor watched her hit the ground, another realization came to him. His mind went back to when the Dino Squad were still trapped inside Raptor Dyne and chained to the wall. Them getting free was no accident. He realized that Michelle must have been behind it all. She must have freed them. And she was protecting them from his mutantsaurs. This realization made his blood boil, anger sweeping over him like a plague. He clenched his teeth so hard he thought they would pop from their positions. “It was you all along, wasn't it? You were the one who freed the Dino Squad...” He started to walk towards her again. “And it was you who made sure they had a chance to escape!” He reached Michelle's side. His fist shaking, he pulled his foot back and kicked her hard in her side. Michelle screamed as she rolled violently across the floor, hitting against a tree before coming to a stop. She started to groan again, and tried to get up.

“N-No..p-please...” Michelle begged him. She looked up at Victor with fear-filled eyes. “D-Don't....”

“SHUT UP!” Victor shouted. He kicked her again, making her slam back into the tree, this time with more force. Michelle rolled across the ground again, and landed on her back. She opened up her eyes just as Victor pressed his raptor foot against her chest, pushing her roughly into the ground. Michelle's eyes widened and she opened her mouth a little wide to try to breathe. Noticing this, Victor pressed even harder, as if he was trying to suffocate her, but he had something else in mind. “The Dino Squad might get another chance.. but you won't...” With that, Victor raised his now completely transformed raptor hand into the air, positioning it above Michelle's head and neck. “I will make sure that you never ruin another brilliant plan of mine ever again!” He prepared to strike, his claws glinting in the moonlight.

Michelle trembled in fear. “N-No...” She closed her eyes and turned her head way. “Please..don't do it...” But she knew Victor would just ignore her. She kept her eyes closed and waited for the killing blow.

But the killing blow never came.

Michelle opened her eyes to see what was going on. She noticed that Victor's gaze was no longer on her. He was looking at something else, in front of him. His expression had changed as well. He looked surprised, as if he wasn't expecting whatever he was seeing. Michelle craned her head to try to see what Victor was looking at. Although she was seeing an upside down image, she was able to recognize Moynihan, who was in human form. Michelle was surprised too. She thought Moynihan had been knocked out. But here she was, challenging Victor as if she wasn't afraid of anything.

Victor's initial shock disappeared and he couldn't help but smirk at Moynihan. “Why, hello Joanne.. Did you have a good nap?” He asked in a sarcastic tone of voice.

“Shut up!” Moynihan snapped back at him, eyes narrowed dangerously. “You know why I came here.” She pointed at Michelle, who still lay at Victor's feet. “Release her. Now.”

Victor glanced down at Michelle, who looked back up at him fearfully. He couldn't help but laugh. “How ironic this is...” He looked back over at Moynihan. “This is the same girl who almost killed you by throwing you down some stairs in your light house..” His expression hardened slightly, but the smile was still on his face. “And now you're here, trying to save her? Oh please, Joanne...she's no good to any of us. She betrayed me, she almost killed you. Give me one good reason why I should consider allowing her to live...”

“What you are doing is cruel, Victor!” Moynihan took a few steps forward, her eyes starting to glow faintly. “How can you allow yourself to take the life of a child?!”

“This child, as you call her, is a traitor, Joanne.” Victor lowered himself towards Michelle so he could touch her throat with his finger claws gently without hurting her. As he lightly scratched her throat without cutting the skin, his way of showing who was in charge, he smiled evilly at Joanne. “This is what must be done, Joanne, and you know that..”

“No...” Moynihan said, taking a step closer.

All of a sudden, Victor pushed his claws harder against Michelle's neck, drawing some blood. Michelle let out a cry of pain as Victor shouted, “Don't take another step or I'll kill her right now!” Moynihan froze, her eyes widened in horror, and she stopped moving forward. Victor smirked. Moynihan's years of being with the humans had made her too soft. “You're so weak, Joanne... Allowing yourself to stop all because you're afraid for the life of a worthless teenager.”

“All life is precious..” Joanne said, narrowing her eyes.

“Then what of the dinosaurs?” Victor asked, baring his teeth as he felt his own anger start to increase again. “What of them? They are life, just like you and me, and yet you had turn your back on them a long time ago...”

“I told you this before, Vic. The dinosaurs died out millions of years ago! They've had their chance!” Moynihan responded. “It would be against nature to try to bring them back!”

“And what of the humans?!” Victor spat angrily. “What about what they are doing to this beautiful planet? Isn't that against nature? Humans don't belong here! They don't even deserve to exist!” As he spoke, his voice filled with more and more resentment. “All their technology, their machinery, everything..they think it makes them powerful. They think it makes them strong. But it doesn't! It is only destroying the planet!”

“Then what about you?” Moynihan asked.

“What do you mean?” Victor cocked an eyebrow.

Moynihan inquired, “What about all the machinery and technology you have made? What about all the damage to the environment you have caused? You say humans are a curse upon this planet, that everything that happened to this world is their fault. But you fail to mention yourself.” Moynihan shook her head. “You contribute to environmental changes, the very same the humans are trying to prevent, at least some of them. These changes are hurting the other animals, Vic, not just the humans. In fact, about half of life will be wiped out if it continues on how it is.” She took a small step forward. “If anything, you've been causing just as much harm to the environment as the humans. But you know how the humans differ from you, Victor? The humans realize they were wrong and are trying to do something about it. But you refuse to admit you're wrong and don't care of the consequences. You don't care about the environment, only achieving your dream. How are you any better than a human?”  
Victor stood there in silence as he listened to Moynihan's speech. This is the sort of thing he would expect from a weakling like herself. He narrowed his eyes again. Moynihan had been blinded by what the humans had told her. She had forgotten what it was like to be a real dinosaur. Not even temporarily blocking her human mind helped her see the light. She would never be able to be converted back to way she should be. The humans had corrupted her too much. There was only one way to free her now. “...you must die too.. I'm sorry, Joanne. I was hoping it was not going to come to this. But I must kill you, too, for the sake of the dinosaurs. They are not safe with the likes of you around.” He slightly tightened his grip on Michelle. “As soon as I'm finished with this little traitor, you're going to be next.”

But Moynihan remained unfazed, trying to keep her cool as she tried to talk Victor out of killing Michelle and to try to get him to realize the error of his ways. Although she knew she wasn't going to be successful in getting Victor to change his ways, she knew she had to at least try. “But, Victor... Even though you say that you hate humans, even though you want them gone, you still need them. I hate to say it, Victor, but you need the humans, and you know it as well as I do.”

“No I don't!” Victor shouted in denial. “I can go on with my work without the aid of those hairless monkeys!”

Moynihan shook her head. “No..no you can't. And that's because of their technology and their scientific advancements. If it weren't for the humans, there would not be any method to bring back the dinosaurs. Without them, you wouldn't have Raptor Dyne, or the primordial ooze. You would be stuck in a world filled with mammals with no way to change that.” Moynihan narrowed her eyes. “So in the end, Victor, no matter what you say, you still need the humans to fulfill your plan. You owe your very dream to them. In a way, humans are your salvation, your key to doing what you want to do: bring back the dinosaurs.”

Victor felt his heart start to race. His other hand started to tremble. He knew Moynihan was right, every word that she said. But he wasn't about to admit it. “No! You're wrong!”

“Am I?” Moynihan said, sensing that Victor didn't have much to say to justify his own actions. “And what about what you're doing right now? Do you really think you murdering an innocent child to be justified? Do you really think that you have any right to do this?”

Victor bared his sharp teeth. “Michelle is my employee! I can do whatever I want to her! She knew the consequences for betraying me!”

“You might be her employer, Victor...but that does not give you the right to commit murder!” Moynihan shouted back.

“It is not murder!” Victor shouted. “This is justice! This is how we Velociraptors took care of traitors millions of years ago! It was the only way to deal with members who went against the pack's ways!”

“We were wrong back then, too, Victor.” Moynihan said, her tone softening up a little. “Please, Victor..Don't do this. If you kill this child, you will be no better than a human yourself. Humans commit murder, Victor. Do you want to commit murder and be just like what you believe humans are?”

Victor's expression softened a little, as if Moynihan's words were starting to get through to him. But then his expression hardened again. “I am better than a human...and I will prove it to you, Joanne. I will rid the world of this traitor!”

Michelle trembled violently. “P-Please..don't...”

“Shut up, you little traitor...” Victor said, glaring darkly at her. “No one can save you this time!” He looked over at Moynihan as he raised his claws above Michelle's head once more. “Watch this, Joanne. This is what happens to those who go against me!” With that, he turned his attention back to Michelle, his claws raised into the air, poised to strike her.

Michelle's eyes traveled to where Moynihan was. Staring at the old woman with fear-filled eyes, she whispered under her breath, “Please...help me...” Then Victor's hand came down.

“Victor! No!” Without thinking, Moynihan rushed forward as quickly as she could. She closed the gap between herself and Victor quickly, and slammed into him before he could deliver the blow. As Victor fell into the ground, Moynihan immediately positioned herself in front of Michelle in a protective manner. Michelle looked up at Moynihan in shock. She struggled to get up, but couldn't find the strength to get on her feet. Victor got up off the ground and glared at Moynihan, but she remained unfazed. “I told you not to harm her.” Moynihan said, her voice low. “I will tell you this only once, Vic. Do not ever come near my children again!”

Victor blinked a few times. He glanced down at Michelle, then at Moynihan. “Your children?” He chuckled, finding it rather amusing that Moynihan would consider the Dino Squad as her kids, even though she never had any children of her own. “And what of her?” He pointed at the brunette which lay behind Moynihan. “How would you regard her as? Your pet?” He chuckled.

Moynihan bared her teeth. “No... When I said 'my children', I was talking about her too.”

At this statement, Victor and Michelle's eyes widened in shock, thinking that they had misheard at first. But Moynihan said nothing after that and made no movement to indicate she was mistaken. She really did mean what she said. Moynihan understood why they were confused. She didn't know Michelle very well and she had tried to kill her in the past. But Moynihan felt that she was still responsible for Michelle. After all, if it weren't for this girl, they wouldn't have found Caruso, and she sensed that it was this girl who also helped the Dino Squad escape after they were captured, something she found out when she nearly regained control of herself back at Raptor Dyne. She owed it to Michelle to protect her from Victor Veloci.

Victor wasn't sure if he should laugh or feel insulted by what Moynihan had just said. It infuriated him that she was willing to take in a worthless traitor like that girl in and to call her one of 'her children'. This further backed up his justification for wanting to kill her. Moynihan had integrated with the humans too much. She had adopted their ways. She would never be able to see the truth again, nor would she be able to understand why the dinosaurs should still be the rulers of the planet. He glanced down at Michelle, looking at her in the eyes. Michelle cringed from his gaze, but didn't say anything. Smiling darkly, Victor then shifted his eyes towards Moynihan's and said, “You would actually take in someone like that?” He laughed. “You are something, aren't you, Moynihan? You think you're doing the right thing, but all you are doing is breeding the corruption.”

“By protecting an innocent child?!” Moynihan exclaimed.

“By allowing a traitor to live.” Victor said. “You know as well as I do if you allow a traitor to live, they could perform another heinous act..or worse, spread their behavior to others.”

“That has never been proven, Vic.” Moynihan replied. “And besides, if the 'traitor' learns what they did was wrong, they should be given another chance.”

Victor shook his head slowly. “That is not how dinosaurs dealt with traitors, and I plan on carrying on their traditions.” Victor raised his claws threateningly.

“The dinosaurs lost out to reason and love, Victor!” Moynihan showed her own claws instinctively. “Strength is not true power, Victor. With the ability to reason and make judgments, and the ability to love and form strong bonds, the humans have more 'power' than any dinosaur could ever have!”

“No! You're wrong! Love and reason don't make a true species! Only those who abide by survival of the fittest deserve to live on this planet!” Victor shouted, saliva dripping from his jaws as his anger rose up inside of him. “And you are a fool to think otherwise!”

“The only real fool around here is you, Victor Veloci.” Moynihan said, her voice softened up slightly. She lowered her claws a little, but not all the way. “Your own judgment is clouded by the hatred inside of you. You won't let go of the past. You still continue to seek to bring it back, disregarding what might go wrong. I feel sorry for you, Victor, for you are not able to see the benefits of human civilization, nor are you able to see how much power comes from love and reason. In the end, it will all bite you back.”

Victor hissed angrily. Unable to take this anymore, he glowed and quickly transformed into his full Velociraptor form. He towered over Moynihan and let out a loud hiss, taking a step towards her. Moynihan's eyes widened and she took a step back. Michelle let out a small whimper, expecting Moynihan to fall on top of her. Realizing this, Moynihan managed to stop herself, but her eyes were still locked on Victor. He opened his jaws wide, hissing loudly at her, saliva dripping from his red jaws. Moynihan didn't want to do it. She was hoping she wouldn't have to resort to it. But she saw there was only one way to save Michelle, herself, and the others. Moynihan's eyes glowed again as her skin rapidly changed to a green tinge. In an instant, she was in her Velociraptor form once again. She kept herself between Michelle and Victor, trying her best not to allow him to get close to her.

Victor narrowed his eyes. 'You will regret this decision, Joanne. I will personally see to it that you regret ever turning your back on your own kind!'

'And I will make sure you never lay a filthy paw on any of my children again!' Joanne declared, raising up her hands in a threatening manner. 'You have a choice to make, Vic. Either you back down now...or fight, and trust me. You will lose...'

Victor laughed. 'On the contrary, Joanne...' Victor started to circle around Moynihan. In an attempt to make sure she was still facing him, Moynihan started to follow his ever move, making sure her body was positioned so that she was looking right at him. 'It is you who is going to fail this battle...'

'We will see about that!' Moynihan shouted. Victor just chuckled. He turned his gaze towards Michelle for a brief second. Moynihan was so busy keeping her eyes focused on him that she failed to realize that he was actually herding her away from Michelle. The two raptors continued to walk in a circle, much like they did when he used the labrador mutantsaurs. Eventually, the two were now on the opposite ends as they were originally, with Victor now standing in front of Michelle.

Noticing Moynihan's shocked expression, Victor couldn't help but smirk. 'Why are you so surprised I outsmarted you this time, Joanne? You should know be better by now...'

Moynihan had quickly realized her mistake, but what could she do about it? She hissed at Victor, hoping to keep him distracted long enough for Michelle to try to get away. 'Get away from her!'

'And what do you plan on doing about it, Joanne?' Victor sneered, baring his teeth. He took a step towards her, attempting to assert his dominance. 'You're weak! You will never be able to save this pathetic girl, or anyone else, from me!'

'You don't have to go though with this, Vic!' Moynihan pleaded. 'You don't have to be a murderer!'

Victor narrowed his eyes. 'And you don't need to be a weakling fool, and yet here we are...' He lifted up his foot, attempting to take a step forward, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He let out a loud screech before looking down. Victor's eyes widened slightly, and then narrowed angrily. 'You...'

'Michelle!' Moynihan called out in shock.

Michelle had transformed her head and jaws partially, just enough so that her skin had started to taken on a blackish color and her teeth had become sharp. She had gathered enough strength to push herself upwards towards Victor's ankle and was now sinking her sharp teeth into it. She glanced up at Victor, her eyes widening as she met his cold stare. But she refused to let go. She bit down as hard as she could, hoping that she would buy Moynihan some time. She could feel some of Victor's blood start to trickle into her mouth, making her taste the salty red liquid. She grimaced, but it wasn't enough to make her let go.

Victor narrowed his eyes. He wasn't going to allow this pathetic girl slow him down for very long. Just how idiotic and desperate did she have to be to bite him, anyway? Given her situation, she shouldn't be trying to do anything else against him. Victor bared his teeth at her. 'You little whelp...!' He lifted up his other foot. 'Let go!' He slammed his foot against Michelle's body. His sickle claw cut deep into her skin, starting from her shoulder and across her back, just above her right arm. Michelle released her grip on Victor as she felt herself being flung back into the ground. She screamed as she felt Victor's sickle claw slash her in the shoulder. Victor turned around, nearly forgetting about Moynihan, and walked up to Michelle. 'I should just kill you now....' Michelle coughed and looked up at him fearfully. Too weak to get up anymore, she just lay there, watching him as he approached her.

Moynihan, furious by what Victor had done to Michelle, suddenly leaped into the air. She landed on Victor, knocking him to the ground. 'LEAVE HER ALONE!' She shouted before slamming her jaws around the back of Victor's neck. Victor screeched in pain and started to struggle underneath her weight. He clawed at the ground frantically, trying to regain his footing. He snapped his jaws wildly from side to side, hoping to land a bite on Moynihan. But it was to no avail. Moynihan stepped off of Victor, but still kept her jaws clamped tightly around the back of his neck. Mustering up as much strength as she could, she threw Victor onto a tree.

Victor screeched again as he slammed into the tree and fell down. He opened his eyes and shook his head. He looked at Moynihan, who, just like before, had positioned herself between him and Michelle. Victor scowled, frustrated that Moynihan had, once again, interrupted him. 'Back off, Joanne. I must get rid of that traitor. She is of no good to you either. Remember, she almost killed you. She doesn't deserve to live.'

'And neither do you, some would say.' Joanne responded, opening her jaws. 'And yet you don't see them trying to get rid of you.'

'That's because humans are pathetic creatures, Joanne. And you should know that better than me because you ARE a human...' Victor said the last word with extreme hatred and disgust. He couldn't even consider Joanne a dinosaur anymore, not after what he's seeing. The humans changed her too much. What happened to the Joanne he once knew? The one that would willingly help him with experiments? That Joanne died a long time ago, he had told himself countless times. 'You're even more pathetic than most of the humans I've met...'

Moynihan hissed angrily. 'Your underestimation of humans will be your downfall, Veloci...'

'As your underestimation of me will be your downfall, Moynihan.' Victor sneered.

* * *

While the two raptors were facing off, Michelle tried to get up. Her arms wobbled as she tried to support her weight on them, and ended up falling back down. She cried out pain as she accidentally hit her injured shoulder. She immediately clutched it with one hand, wincing as she felt a sharp pain, feeling blood seeping from the wound and staining her hands. She felt tears of pain running down her face. She looked back over at Moynihan, who was fighting Victor. She started to tremble in fear. What was going to happen to her if Moynihan had lost the fight? Michelle looked away, lowering her head as she felt her body growing rapidly weaker. She felt her eyes start to flutter, becoming harder and harder to keep open, and she slumped back into the ground, groaning softly. Michelle heard footsteps, and she managed to look up.

Max, who looked like he was still suffering from Oscura's bite, looked down at her with a worried look on his face. “Michelle...?” He whispered softly. All around him stood the other members of the Dino Squad, who all looked equally worried, including Buzz and Rodger. Michelle opened up her mouth and tried to speak to them. But she felt her strength leave her completely and her head collapsed to the ground, her eyes closed.

The Dino Squad stood there in silence. All around them were a mixture of sounds from the storm, the thunder and the rain, and the battle between Moynihan and Victor, their hisses so loud it nearly masked the sound of the storm. But from the team themselves, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of their own breathing as they looked down at Michelle, who was now unconscious due to blood loss. The team had managed to get on their feet after some encouragements from Caruso and managed to walk up to where Michelle currently was. Upon seeing the condition she was in, they were struck speechless. Memories flooded back to them and they were suddenly reminded of how they felt when they found Caruso on the ground, unconscious. Michelle looked even worse off, having even more injuries and a lot more blood loss in comparison to Caruso. She was going to need help, and fast.

“Is...is she...?” Caruso asked, reaching a hand out towards Michelle as if he thought he was the one who struck her down. He looked over at Max, who had taken another step towards Michelle.

Max knelt down next to Michelle. He gently flipped her over onto her back. He took two fingers and pressed them against her throat, where the jugular was. After a couple moments, he looked up at his team mates and said ,”Don't worry. She's still alive...”

“We have to get her to a hospital.” Rodger said, noting the injuries on Michelle's body. “With all that blood that she's losing, she isn't going to last for very long.”

“B-But..how are we...going to get her t-to a hospital in time?” Caruso asked, not taking his eyes off the girl.

Buzz decided to volunteer. “I could fly her to a hospital. It would be very easy. And it's late at night so it's not like anyone is going to see me.”

“And what of Moynihan?” Fiona glanced over at Moynihan, who was still in combat with Victor Veloci.

“She can take care of herself, Fi.” Max said, smiling in Moynihan's direction. “She's a tough fighter. She can handle that rancid reptile.” He then glanced down at Michelle, a worried look on his face. “Right now, we should be getting Michelle to a hospital as quickly as we can.” He nodded in Buzz's direction. “Buzz, if you would do the honors..?” He held out a hand in Buzz's direction and smiled, a way of trying to encourage Buzz to go for it.

Buzz smiled and saluted Max before letting himself get engulfed by a glow. His body morphed quickly into that of a Pteranodon's. He glanced down at Michelle and suddenly realized a problem. How was he going to hang on to her without hurting her? He looked at his feet. Those sharp claws were going to be a real problem. And Michelle's clothing was pretty torn up so he couldn't use his beak, or risk ruining her clothes further. He looked over at Buzz. 'Umm..how am I going to carry her without making her condition worse?'

“I'll ride with you.” Max said. “You carry me, I'll carry Michelle.” Buzz nodded his head and waited as Max walked up to Michelle. Being as gentle as he could, he lifted up Michelle into his arms. Buzz took to the air and grabbed Max by the shoulders with his feet before flying up higher and towards the city to reach the nearest hospital.

* * *

While Buzz and Max were taking Michelle to the hospital, Rodger, Caruso, and Fiona looked back over to where Moynihan was fighting Victor. They were impressed with how well she was handling herself. Moynihan and Victor snapped at each other, circled each other to try to find a weak spot. Victor tried to snap his jaws around Moynihan's arm, but she dodged and snapped back, missing his neck by a couple inches. Victor slammed his head into her, knocking her down before jumping into the air, trying to slash her with his sickle claws. But Moynihan was faster, dodging out of the way before he could land a blow. She came up behind him and bit down into his tail. Victor screeched in pain and twisted his body around, trying to bite her.

Suddenly the two were engaged in a continuous moving circle. Victor kept running forward to try to get Moynihan. And Moynihan kept running forward to try to avoid Victor's jaws while still biting into him herself. After a few moments of this, Moynihan released her grip just in time before Victor's jaws nearly slammed into her. She turned around and held up her claws threateningly, hissing a warning at him. Victor understood what the warning meant, even if it wasn't spoken in human language. Moynihan was trying to give him another chance to run. But it wasn't going to work. Victor rushed forward and this time managed to bite into one of Moynihan's arms.

Moynihan screeched in pain as Victor managed to knock her onto her side. Before she could get up again, he got on top of her, putting one of his feet on her to make sure she remained pinned down. His eyes traveled to her legs. He bared his teeth. He remembered when he had broken Moynihan's leg years ago in an attempt to make her come back to him. But that plot didn't work back then, and he knew it wasn't going to work now. So he thought of something different to do to her. He would give her a more permanent reminder of himself. Even if she did win this battle, this little 'gift' would ensure that, no matter what she does, he would still have the last laugh.

'Remember when I broke your leg, Joanne?' Victor asked her, watching her struggling underneath him. He lowered his head towards her leg, opening his jaws close to them. 'You should have joined me back then...'

Moynihan hissed at him, kicking her legs wildly to try to knock him off of her. But it was to no avail. 'That plan would never have worked on me, Vic!'

'I see that now..' Victor just smirked at her. 'So instead of breaking your leg, I have something different in mind...'

'And that is..?' Moynihan inquired.

Victor eyed her leg in an almost hungry manner. 'Ripping the whole leg off!'

Moynihan's eyes went wide at that statement. She tried to move her leg out of the way, but she was too late. Victor's teeth clamped down onto her left leg, the same one that he had broken before. Moynihan howled in pain as Victor bit into the leg as hard as he could as he prepared to twist it. But she knew that this time around, it was going to be much worse. Victor planned on ripping her leg off. She couldn't let him have that opportunity. Moynihan kicked wildly on the ground with her right foot, which was pressed against her side as Victor pushed her into the ground with his foot to secure her. Moynihan lifted up her head and snapped at Victor's leg, which was just out of reach of her jaws. She hissed and laid her head back on the ground, trying to think of what she was going to do.

Victor noticed her attempts to get free. 'You can try all you want to, Joanne. But this is going to end exactly how it did thirty years ago!' He began to pull on the leg, started to twist it at an odd angle to snap the bone once again. 'You are going to lose and I will have the las laugh! Let's see how well you fight against me when you are minus one leg!' He paused for a moment and continued. 'And after I am finished with you, I will go after your precious Dino Squad and finish them off as well!'

Moynihan's eyes went wide again. 'No!' Moynihan lifted her head up once again, looking at Victor, who still had his jaws clamped onto her leg. She wasn't going to allow Victor to come anywhere near those kids, or anyone else she cared about, ever again. She wasn't going to go down like this, not again, not like the last time. She felt anger rise up inside of her, coupled with determination and courage. She started to push her body upwards slowly. Victor attempted to keep her pinned down, but he found himself slowly being pushed upwards as Moynihan slowly rose up off the ground slightly. She reached her head out as far as she could go, pushing her neck to its absolute limit, and managed to bite down onto his leg, the one that was pinning her down.

Victor didn't have time to question how Moynihan managed to read his foot in the position he was in compared to her. He felt her jaws slamming into his leg. He pulled his head back and let out a loud roar of pain as Moynihan pulled on the leg as hard as she could. Victor quickly lost his footing and found himself falling down onto the ground. He hit his head against the ground pretty hard and he closed his eyes momentarily, letting out a soft hiss of frustration. He was going to make sure Moynihan paid for what she did to him now. As he tried to get up, he felt something grab his neck. He opened his eyes and noticed Moynihan's head was uncomfortably close to his field of vision. That's when he realized that Moynihan was biting into his throat. Eyes widening in a panic, Victor started to struggle, shaking his head left and ride as he did so.

Moynihan bit down harder, but not enough to cause any real damage. Her eyes slowly turned to look at him directly in the eyes. 'I will kill you, Victor, if you do not give into my demands...' She hissed at him. She wasn't being serious, of course. She didn't think she could ever really bring herself to kill Victor. Even though she wanted to for the sake of the world, she never could manage to do it. She couldn't figure out why, except it might be because she still had feelings for him and long for the day when he would realize the error of his ways and they could truly be together again. 'So what's it going to be, Victor?'

Victor continued to struggle for a few minutes, but he was at a severe disadvantage. With Moynihan's teeth up against his throat, he couldn't struggle too hard, or bend too much or he would risk driving the teeth further into his neck. Eventually, he gave up struggling and closed his eyes softly. Seeing no other choice, he decided to hear what Moynihan wanted him to do. 'All right then...what do you want me to do?'

'I think you already know that...' Moynihan replied, her eyes narrowing deeply. 'I want you to stay away from Caruso and Michelle. If I catch you anywhere near them, you will have to deal with me. The same goes for the rest of the Dino Squad.' She tightened her grip slightly, placing a foot on top of Victor's side, pushing her sickle claw into the skin. Victor winced in pain but kept his mouth shut. 'Do you understand me...?'

Victor growled under his breath. He didn't want to give into Moynihan, a weakling with a soft heart for humans. Even given the situation he was currently in, he still felt like he shouldn't give into her demands. And yet, if he didn't give into her demands, and she does go through with killing him, then his dream would be all for nothing. He would have be alive in order to achieve his dream. For now, he would have to give in, for the sake of the dinosaurs. He relaxed his body and stopped struggling against Moynihan. 'Okay, I understand. Now will you let me go?'

Moynihan pushed her foot harder against Victor, causing her sickle claw to penetrate his skin. 'Only if you promise to keep your word not to lay a filthy claw on those kids again!' Victor hesitated, narrowing his eyes at her and bared his sharp teeth. Moynihan bit down harder, causing Victor to yelp in pain. 'Answer me!'

Victor growled and closed his eyes. 'All right, fine! I promise I won't touch those pathetic kids again!'


	34. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to slip Veloci's grasp, always prevented him from discovering that they were the 'perfect' dinosaurs he so sought after. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought?
> 
> What follows is a dark story of sorrow, pain, loss, betrayal, and the grim reality that, sometimes, the bad guys do win.

Moynihan narrowed her eyes. She was angry for how Victor was talking about her kids, but she had to keep her end of the deal. She did indicate that she would release him if he promised that he would leave the Dino Squad alone. How much of that that she should believe, she wasn't sure. 'You'd better...for your sake...' She said in a tone very much like Victor's whenever he said that himself. Cautiously, she released him and took a few steps back. Victor got up off the ground and stared at her, but didn't do anything. After about a minute of just standing there, watching each other, Moynihan finally decided to leave. She slowly turned around. She hesitated briefly, glancing back at Victor, and then turned and started to walk where Fiona, Rodger, and Caruso were.

Victor watched Moynihan start to walk away. His heart was racing from the thought of defeat and he felt a pang of anger and fury in his stomach as he realized what he had just done. He could still feel Moynihan's teeth in his neck and he could still feel her claw digging into him. He wasn't sure if he should feel happy or angry. On one hand, Moynihan was acting more like him, whether or not she wanted to admit that. She was behaving more like a dinosaur, and he couldn't help but feel somewhat proud of her. Perhaps there was hope yet for her to be reformed and come back to him. But on the other hand, she was still willing to defend the humans from them, and she was still willing to put a protective wing over the traitorous Michelle. And if she kept her word, and he had a feeling she would, he would have to deal with Moynihan herself again if he came near Michelle again. But then again, he was rather resourceful and clever. He could come up with a way to deal with his enemies. Besides, why should he heed to Moynihan's threat completely?

As he watched Moynihan walk away, all sorts of thoughts ran through his mind. He still didn't want to admit defeat. And he could sense the Dino Squad were nearby. They were still weak. He could finish them off easily. He narrowed his eyes. He made up his mind. He was going to go against his so-called promise he just made and deal with Moynihan right now. If he killed her now, he would be able to go after the Dino Squad and eliminate them completely. Victor lowered his head and tightened up his leg muscles as he prepared to run. After a few seconds, he charged forward, keeping as quiet as possible so Moynihan wouldn't realize what was going on until it was too late.

Fiona had noticed this and called out to Moynihan. “Ms. M! Look out!”

Moynihan turned her head around, but didn't react in time. She was suddenly pushed into the ground, Victor having landed on her back. Her chin slammed into the ground, and she cried out as she accidentally bit her tongue, tasting her own blood. She tried to get up, but then she felt Victor clamp his jaws around her throat, the way that she had just a few minutes earlier. 'Victor! Let me go!'

'Not until you give into my demands..' Victor said darkly, repeating the same thing Moynihan earlier.

'Why should I give into your demands?' Moynihan demanded, struggling in Victor's grasp.

'Because now you're at my mercy...' Victor said, a smile spreading on his dinosaurian jaws. He looked up and noticed the three teens were starting to come down his way, albeit limping or stumbling. He immediately slammed a paw into Moynihan's side, digging his talons into her, forcing her to scream. 'DON'T COME ANY CLOSER OR I WILL KILL HER!' The Dino Squad immediately stopped, only several feet away but too frightened to move any closer for fear Victor will keep his word and kill Moynihan.

Moynihan bared her teeth at Victor. 'You're a sore loser, Vic. You always have been. You can't take losing and you will do something as underhanded as this to get even.'

Victor's eyes traveled back to Moynihan. 'Underhanded, Joanne? And what about you? Threatening to kill me just so that I wouldn't bother a couple of worthless whelplings?'

'Isn't that what you are doing now?' Joanne asked him.

'At least I'm doing it for the right reason.' Victor replied calmly.

'You call murder a good reason?' Moynihan hissed at him. 'At least I did it for the welfare of all life..'

'The welfare of all life, eh? What about the dinosaurs?' Victor said darkly. 'They are life, so why not include them?'

'I told you before, Vic, they are dead!' Moynihan snapped back.

'So what?! Dead or alive, the dinosaurs are the most superior species that ever lived on this planet! They deserve to be resurrected from the dead and the humans deserve to be pushed away like the vermin that they are!' Victor hissed, biting harder into Moynihan's neck, threatening to rip out her throat. 'And since you continue to deny the dinosaurs the same right as you are giving the humans, I will make sure you join them!'

'You don't have to do this, Victor!' Moynihan cried out. 'Listen to reason, Vic! I never wanted to go against you, but you forced it on me! If you had only lightened up in your views, I would have stayed!'

'But it's too late for that now, isn't it? It's many years too late...' Victor started to bite down harder, causing Moynihan to start to gasp for air. All Victor needed to go now was give a sharp twist, and then it would all be over...

“STOP!” Fiona shouted angrily. Victor looked up at her and was about to say something, but his eyes widened at what she was holding in her hands. It was the same weapon that he had wanted Oscura to get. Victor couldn't think of how she had gotten a hold of it, unless Oscura had brought it with her and forgot about it, and Fiona just found it laying on the ground. It would make sense. The battle was intense and something like a weapon could have been easily forgotten about or overlooked in the chaos. Either way, Victor found himself starting down the barrel of this dangerous weapon. Fiona sensed Victor's hesitation and took a step forward. Rodger and Caruso just looked at her in shock. “Get away from Moynihan! Now!”

Victor released his grip on Moynihan and lifted up his head, eyeing the girl suspiciously. He wondered if the girl even had it in her to shoot him. He chuckled. He remembered how this girl made him pay thousands of dollars to an animal shelter. He was aware of her soft side for animals. He opened his mouth part way in a grin. If she didn't have the stomach to harm an animal, then she would be too work to shoot him, no matter who or what he was. 'Is that a threat, little girl?'

Fiona lifted the Troodon-like gun a little higher, trying to level it with Victor's head. “I said get off of her!” She demanded again, placing her finger on the trigger, threatening to pull on it.

But Victor remained unfazed. He did get off of Moynihan, but now he was walking towards Fiona. The girl took a few steps back as the large raptor came up to her, but she refused to run away. Moynihan slowly got up onto her feet and looked over at where Fiona was. Her eyes widened and she attempted to rush towards Victor to stop him, but her foot got caught in the thick mud and she fell forward. Victor, on the other hand, didn't have any trouble walking straight up to Fiona, lowering his head close to hers, his teeth bared. 'Go ahead and shoot me, little girl. Let's see you do it.' He dared her.

“I will!” Fiona started to pull at the trigger, but her hands had started to become shaky, and she found it difficult to go through with the task. It wasn't because she was afraid of shooting Victor. It was because she still had no idea what this weapon was actually going to do. What should she expect? Is it going to knock out Victor or kill him? Would it cause an explosion? She didn't know, but she didn't lower the weapon and just continued to glare at Victor.

Veloci, on the other hand, took this hesitation as a sign of weakness. Sensing the girl was afraid to actually use the weapon, Veloci got a little closer to her. 'I knew you were too weak to do it, kid. All humans are too weak to do it...'

“Don't judge me so easily, Veloci!” Fiona told him, baring her Spinosaurus teeth. “Miscalculating your opponent's strengths and abilities will be your downfall!”

'Don't make me laugh. Even if you were to shoot me... what would that do for you? It would only delay the inevitable.' Victor put his head close to Fiona's. 'Why don't you just give up your futile pursuits and give into me? Trust me, death would be a far better option for what I might have in store for you if you continue to resist my authority.'

Fiona tightened her grip on the weapon, poised to shoot Victor. But she still couldn't bring herself to shoot. Instead, she took a step back. Behind her, Caruso and Rodger noticed her hesitation and tried to encourage her. Rodger was the first to speak up. “Come on, Fiona! Shoot him! You have a clear shot!”

Caruso joined in. “Y-Yes! Do it! B-B-Before it's too late!”

Victor lifted up his head, glaring evilly at the two boys. 'You two stay out of this!' He turned his attention back to Fiona. 'Regardless of what they say, you're weak...just like all humans are. Why don't you put down that gun? And I will make your death a swift one...'

“No!” Fiona shouted, keeping the gun level to him. She had taken a few more steps back, putting distance between her and the ravenous dinosaur.

Victor licked his chops. 'If you say so, kid...' He lowered his haunches briefly before spring into the air, mouth wide open and claws brought out forward. A loud screech filled the air.

“FIONA!” Caruso and Rodger shouted in unison and they both looked away, not wanting to see what would happen next.

Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound, mixed in with crackling, sounded out, and then a few seconds later, a horrible scream mixed in with it. Rodger and Caruso opened up their eyes to see what had happened. Victor was laying on the ground, twitching multiple times, especially in the hands and legs. His eyes were wide open, the expression a mixture of shock and pain. His eyes slowly moved up to Fiona, who shoot over him with the weapon still aimed at him. Victor looked on in disbelief, in total shock that Fiona would actually shoot him. He really had misjudged her. Victor tried to get up, but his body was too shaky and he fell back down.

“I told you I would shoot you...” Fiona said to him, her eyes still narrowed.

Victor stared up at her and let out a groan of pain. But he still wasn't willing to admit defeat. Despite the pain he was in, he still wasn't going to give into this human. He started to push himself off the ground and was able to support himself a bit on his arms, although they shook terribly. 'I will not admit defeat to the likes of you..' Victor said, baring his teeth. 'Only a weakling would give into humans...'

Fiona shook her head. “And only a fool would continue to try to fight an opponent when they have been clearly defeated.”

Suddenly, Victor struck his foot out towards Fiona. Before Fiona could react, Victor's sickle claw slashed one of her legs, directly on the shin. Fiona cried out in pain, dropping the weapon at her side. Fiona dropped to the ground, holding her injured leg close to herself. Rodger and Caruso were horrified and called out her name, trying to get her to move. But Fiona couldn't hear them for at that moment, Victor let out a roar, finally managing to get up. Although he was still clearly in pain, stumbling as he took a step towards her, he was still poised to attack. Using the last of his strength, Victor leaped into the air, bringing his hand forward to slash her with his claws. Fiona looked up at him and screamed and looked away.

Victor's eyes suddenly flew open wide. He pulled his head back as if some kind of force had struck him from behind. Then his kneels buckled forward. Fiona struggled to move back as the large body fell to the ground heavily. Victor's head landed just inches in front of Fiona. His eyes were now closed and his mouth open, tongue hanging out. Fiona stared at the body for a few seconds before turned her head up to see what had struck Victor. Fiona found herself staring at another Velociraptor, whom she knew was her mentor. Moynihan had one hand lifted up, positioned towards the other arm, indicating that she had struck Victor on the back of his head. Moynihan stared at Fiona, her expression softened up into a worried expression. She then bit down onto Victor again, this time throwing him to the side, then looked back at Fiona.

“Ms. Moynihan...” Fiona whispered.

'Are you all right, Fiona?' Moynihan asked, lowering her head close to Fiona's.

Fiona nodded her head, placing her hands on Moynihan's head. 'Yes...' She then wrapped her arms around Moynihan's head and neck, pulling her into a hug. 'Thanks to you...'

Behind them, Caruso and Rodger found the strength and courage to walk up to them. They were, however, a little hesitate because Victor was still there. Even though he was unconscious, they didn't know how long he would remain that way and were worried he could spring at them any second. Caruso especially was frightened. He had never truly gotten over what happened to him at the warehouse and seeing Victor, awake or not, brought back horrible memories. Rodger tried to comfort him by making Caruso look at him or straight ahead where Fiona and Moynihan were. Within a few minutes they had reached Fiona and Moynihan. By this time, Moynihan had changed back to human and was hugging Fiona. Noticing Caruso and Rodger coming up to them, Moynihan and Fiona let go of each other and turned to face them.

“Come on..let's go..” Rodger said, pointing his thumb back behind him. “Max, Buzz, and Michelle are heading towards the hospital. We should head there as well.”

Moynihan nodded her head. “You kids should get admitted too.”

“Why?” Rodger inquired. Before Moynihan could answer, he realized what she meant. “Oh...” Michelle wasn't the only one who suffered in the battle. Max, Caruso, Buzz, Fiona, and himself had all suffered injuries, as well as Moynihan.

“How..how do we explain to them what happened?” Caruso asked. “I mean, I don't think w-we can tell them that we were in a d-d-dinosaur fight...”

“Well we could always come up with a lie.” Fiona said, glancing at Caruso. “That's what I ended up having to do when we had to take care of the mutant ants.”

“And besides..how are we even going to get there?” Rodger asked. Silence fell upon them. Not even Moynihan had an answer for that. They had no vehicles way out here. They were taken here against their free will. And there was no one here that they knew could help them. The only option that they had was to walk to the hospital.

Just then, a loud beep rang out, startling the group. A bright light shined in their eyes. They held up their hands, trying to get a good look at a large, dark shadow that was approaching them. They tensed up, prepared to fight in case it was a new threat. But when the lights dimmed down, they recognized the color of the vehicle. They realized it was the Dino SUV. Confused, they relaxed slowly, wondering how the Dino SUV even got here and who was driving it. Then the door opened up, and a figure stepped out.

Fiona's eyes went wide. “Dad...?”

Then other doors opened up and more people stepped out. Caruso took a step forward as he recognized one of the last people to come out. “Mom...?”

“Fiona..” Bryant said. Standing next to him was his wife and other daughter, Terri.

Fiona rushed towards them and flung her arms around her father. Then she went over and hugged her mother. But one thing was on her mind. “How did you guys find us?”

Nevina looked down at her oldest daughter. “We realized something was wrong when you didn't come home, so we went to the lighthouse and Terri was able to use the lighthouse's scanners to find you guys.”

Fiona looked over at Terri, who was looking at her with a smile on her face. Fiona walked up to Terri. She wasn't at all surprised that Terri was able to do this. She was a smart girl and she could have figured out where they were even if the scanners weren't working. But something felt different about this time. If Terri hadn't been able to find them, they would have been dead. Unable to hold back her smile, Fiona wrapped her arms around her sister and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you, Terri...”

Terri was surprised at first, but she returned the hug, closing her eyes contently. “I'm just glad we were able to find you.”

Irwin was over with his parents, hugging his mother tightly as she cried happily, overjoyed to have her son back. Jack was equally happy, putting his arms around both Amanda and Irwin. “I'm so glad you're safe..” Amanda said, her voice slightly cracking.

“I-I'm just h-happy to see you again...” Irwin whispered softly, smiling. “I-I thought I'd never s-see you again..” Tears streamed down his face.

Amanda hugged her son even tighter. “I thought I'd never see you again either...”

Jack continued to hug his family. Although he had no tears in his eyes, he was just as emotionally struck as his son and wife. One part of him wanted to ask what had happened, but the other part was just glad to have his son back and didn't want to ask any further questions. “We should be heading home now...”

But Irwin shook his head. “No..we should head to the hospital.. We all need treatment...” Jack nodded his head and everyone started to head to the Dino SUV.

The following morning, Michelle groaned, and slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was very blurry and she had a pounding headache. She didn't have any idea of where she was. The color white filled her vision and at first she thought she was staring into a blinding light. But as her vision cleared up, she realized white was the color of the room she was in. She was confused. This wasn't the color of her bedroom. She sighed softly and tried to move. But a wave of pain caught her by surprised. She cried out and quickly laid back down. She glanced down at her body. She was wearing a nightgown of sorts and she could see bandages that wrapped around her, keeping her cuts from bleeding. Surgical tape wrapped around her shoulder, a blood soaked pad in the middle of it. A thin sheet covered herself in the soft white bed and next to her, there was a cup filled with water. She started to reach out for it when something else came into view.

Michelle looked up and saw a face staring at her. She didn't recognize it at first, but as her vision cleared up, she started to see some of the detailed features of the face. After a few moments, she recognized who it was and she couldn't help but be surprised. “Buzz...?” She muttered, her voice slightly hoarse.

Buzz smiled at her. “Hey, how are you feeling?” He asked gently.

Michelle tried to sit up, but was wracked with pain again and she laid back down. “I've been better...” She muttered under her breath.

Buzz chuckled lightly and said, “Well if you stop moving around so much, maybe you could heal faster.” It wasn't meant in a harsh tone though, and Michelle could sense that. “The others were admitted too, but their wounds were easier to treat. You on the other hand...” He pointed at her. “..they said they would need to keep you longer. You suffered more than any of us had.”

Michelle winced. Isn't this just her lucky day, she thought to herself. She took notice of the bandages wrapped around Buzz's arms. “What happened to you?”

Buzz frowned lightly. “Victor happened...”

At the mention of Victor, Michelle shifted her head quickly, looking left and then right. “Victor?! Where is he?” She asked in a frightened tone of voice. She still remembered the look that he gave her when he was going to deliver the final blow, his paw raised up in the air. That image would forever be imprinted on Michelle's mind.

Buzz reached out and touched her uninjured shoulder carefully and said, “Don't worry. He isn't here. He's still back near Raptor Dyne.”

Michelle started to relax, although she was starting to become confused again. She thought Buzz hated her. She couldn't understand why he was being nice to her now. She looked up at Buzz and narrowed her eyes slightly. “Why...?”

“Why what?” Buzz asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Why..after all those threats...why are you being nice to me now?” Michelle asked, her voice a little low.

Buzz looked ashamed and turned his head away. “About that...I'm sorry...” He looked back at Michelle. “I'm so sorry.. I.. I was just... I don't know...” Buzz rubbed the back of his head, unsure of how to explain it to Michelle.

“Did I remind you of Victor?” Michelle asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Yeah..you did..” Buzz said, still feeling bad about what he did. “What you did to us a few weeks ago, tricking us and invading the lighthouse, it reminded me of what Victor did to me. You see, he pretended to be a girl about my age and tricked me into thinking that 'she' was in trouble. It turned out to be a trap and he almost got me. If it not been for my friends...” Buzz stopped and looked away again.

Michelle looked at him sympathetically. It did make sense now. That would explain why he continued to give her a hard time even after she apologized and tried to make things right. She reached out towards him and grabbed his arm. Buzz looked down at her, slightly surprised. “Don't worry about it.. I forgive you.”

Buzz looked at Michelle in shock. Those were the words he never expected to hear from her. “You would forgive me..? After what I've done to you?”

Michelle nodded her head slowly. “Well of course... I-I can't really blame you for the way you've acted. I just hope that..we can start over and be...” She hesitated on the last word. “..friends..?” She looked up at him hopefully, a small smile on her face.

At first, Buzz didn't know what to say. At last, he smiled back at her. “Of course we can...”

Just then, Michelle heard footsteps of other people approaching her bed. She didn't have to look to know who it was. The other Dino Squad members had arrived, each of them looking at her sympathetically. Michelle was pleasantly surprised by what was happening to her now. She had expected to either be dead, or wake up alone and hurt. But instead, she's getting a warm welcome from the very people she once called her enemies. It felt so strange and yet so good to her at the same time. This was going to take some getting used to; she wasn't used to so many people actually feeling concerned about her. Not even her own family cared about her as much as these people seemed to.

For a while, the room was silent. The only sound that could be heard was the beeping that was monitoring Michelle's vitals. Finally, the first one to speak up was Max. “Hello, Michelle.” He said, his voice filled with concern. He walked right up to her side, next to Buzz, and asked, “How are you feeling right now?”

Michelle smirked softly. “Your friend Buzz here already asked me that question.” She then winced softly as she tried to reposition herself on the bed. “And the truth is..I've seen better days, that's for sure...”

“Don't move around so much.” Rodger said somewhat sternly. “You'll only hurt yourself more.”

Michelle chuckled almost bitterly. She turned her head to look at Rodger. Not so long ago, he would give her a cold stare and wouldn't give her much of a chance. But now he seems to genuinely care about her, or perhaps it was as simple as he found out he was wrong and wanted to make up for it. “I didn't know you actually cared...” Michelle said softly, a tinge of slight anger in her voice. She might have forgiven Buzz, but she still hadn't forgiven Rodger. He hadn't yet explained why he acted the way he did. And Michelle couldn't think of any reason for him to act like that, anything that would somewhat justify his actions anyway. “I thought you hated me.”

“I did hate you..before.” Rodger said, lowering his head slightly. He had been expecting such a reaction from Michelle, especially after the way he had acted towards her. He rubbed the back of his head as he tried to come up with something to tell her. He was certain that Michelle was capable of understanding if he explained in a certain way. He had to admit, he was wrong about her. He and Buzz thought they figured her out, but they were both so wrong about her. And he was glad that they were wrong. “I couldn't help it..the way Buzz reacted towards you..the fact that you helped Caruso get captured..and almost killing Moynihan, how could I not hate you?”

Michelle had nearly forgotten about that. Feeling bad for getting angry with Rodger, she lowered her head and apologized. “You've got a point there... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get upset with you.” She took in a long, deep sigh. “My actions weren't very justified either.. I mean, how can I justify what I did to you guys?” She closed her eyes, allowing a tear to stream down her face. “I was just so scared...frightened of what Victor would do to me if I dare disobeyed him.. He forced me into it...” She shook her head. “But..that's not good enough of a reason, is it?”

“No.” Said Moynihan, who had just arrived in the room. Michelle expected Moynihan to be still angry with her, but instead, the woman greeted her with a soft smile. “But the point is you did help us. You risked your life to save Caruso.”

“Yeah.” Caruso said. “Y-You realized your mistake..a-and you did something about it... That takes c-courage.”

“Even though what you did was terrible, you more than made up for it...” Fiona said, smiling softly. She gave Caruso a sideways glance. Although Fiona didn't say anything, Michelle sensed that the two were in love, and if it weren't for her horrible actions, they never would have grown so close.

Max nodded his head. “And by going against Victor the way you did, you've shown you do have a strong sense of justice and found the courage you needed to do the right thing. You're not the fool Victor thinks you are.”

Michelle smiled, touched by what they all said to her. It made her feel more welcome among the group. This was a strange new feeling for her still, as she is not used to people being this nice to her. If she were still at Raptor Dyne, there was be no visits from anyone, or if there were, they would just be either Victor annoyed she wasn't healing faster or just a message about a mission she is supposed to be on or something. But even though the team seemed to have forgiven her, she still didn't think she belonged with them. She wondered if they still held any bitterness towards her, any buried anger that they hadn't released yet. She tried to smile. “Thanks, you guys..but..” The faint smile faded and she lowered her gaze. “..I still don't think I deserve it...”

Moynihan blinked a few times and then smiled. “Well of course you deserve it, dear.” She reached a hand forward and gently cupped Michelle's chin. “Your bravery and fighting skills were extraordinary, and without them, none of us would be here today. And it's because of what you've done for us, that I think you would make an excellent addition to the team.”

This caught Michelle off guard. She was glad she wasn't holding the drink now despite her thirst, or else she would have dropped it from the initial shock of what Moynihan had said. Did she hear her right? Did Moynihan actually say she considered putting her on the Dino Squad team? Michelle stared wide-eyed at Moynihan. “What...? You would consider putting me on the Dino Squad?”

Moynihan nodded her head slowly. “Well, why not? You've certainly proven yourself. And you'll be much safer with us than anywhere else.”

“Yeah. We could use someone like you on the team.” Max said in agreement.

“Well..I don't know..” Michelle started to say. “I mean...I never expected...”

“I know. I never would have expected it myself.” Buzz said, shrugging his shoulders. Then he smiled. “And yet, here we are.”

“So..what do you say?” Moynihan asked. “Will you join us and help with our cause to save the world?”

Michelle wanted to say yes, but there was still something holding her back. While she didn't think her folks would even care, they could easily stop her. And they would probably ask her what happened, and if she told them, they would condemn her, thinking she had done a terrible wrong. They wouldn't be as forgiving as the Dino Squad. “I..I would, but...” She lowered her gaze.

“What is it?” Moynihan asked her gently. “Is something holding you back?” Michelle looked up at her and nodded slowly. “What's wrong?”

“It's my folks...” Michelle said softly, her gaze low. “I'm..not sure if they would approve of me joining. They don't really pay much attention to me, I admit...” Michelle closed her eyes, recalling of the multiple times she would come home or leave and not once did they say anything to her. “...but they are also not very forgiving people. If they find out what I did, and I know they will, I'll be in big trouble.”

Moynihan thought about this. It would be a problem, indeed, if Michelle's folks found out about her powers and the Dino Squad. And if what Michelle said was true, it would also be a problem for Michelle herself. Moynihan tried to think of what to do. She wanted to do something to return the favor for Michelle helping them out. There had to be a way for her to help Michelle. For a couple minutes, there was nothing but silence as Moynihan tried to think of something. The Dino Squad kept quiet, watching her, waiting for her to answer. Moynihan started to think about her own lighthouse. She had some rooms there that she didn't use that often. And she did have a decent amount of money coming in. After all, how else could she afford all her equipment? And she did have a bird and a dog to take care of. She could probably use another helping hand. She glanced at Michelle, having made up her mind about what she was going to do.

Moynihan said, “Well what do you think about moving in with me?” Michelle looked at her in shock. The Dino Squad looked at Moynihan, surprised as well. “I wouldn't mind. I have some extra rooms. You could stay in one if you'd like... And if you're worried about financial issues, don't worry about it. I've got it covered. And I can be very persuasive.” She winked, smiling. “I could convince your folks to let you move in with me. What do you say?”

Michelle couldn't help but feel very happy about Moynihan's offer. She wasn't sure if she should say yes, though, because she still felt bad for what she did to Moynihan a couple weeks ago. But she did like this idea more than going back to her folks. And she had seen how kind Moynihan could be with those she cared about. And Moynihan seemed to be much more understanding and fair than Victor was. Living in the lighthouse might not be such a bad idea. It would be safer in the lighthouse than it would be anywhere else. At least in the lighthouse, she would be able to keep an eye on Victor.

Michelle finally nodded her head slowly, a smile tugging on her lips. “I'll do it.” As the Dino Squad expressed their approval of the decision, Michelle gestured for Moynihan to come closer to her. Moynihan did so, leaning down so it wouldn't be as difficult for Michelle to talk to her if she didn't want the others to hear. Michelle put an arm lightly around Moynihan and said, “Thank you...” She pulled herself as far up as she could to put her other arm around Moynihan. “..for saving me..”

“It was no trouble..” Moynihan hugged her back. “..not trouble at all.”

* * *

Back at Raptor Dyne, Victor sat at his computer, looking very angry. None of his workers had gone near him since he came back into the building. They could tell from the look on his face that he was in no mood to talk. He hadn't left his chair for the past several hours, with the exception of succumbing to human medicine to stop the bleeding from his wounds. He spent most of the time pondering what had just happened. He had planned all this out so perfectly. He had figured out almost everything so he could counter the Dino Squad with something else. He had even had them in his custody for a while. He would have succeeded, too. He would have been able to finally be rid of his enemies, the ones that had been combating him since the 'perfect dinosaurs' had first shown up. But it all came tumbling down, all because of that treacherous Michelle Brown.

When Victor mentioned that it was Michelle who foiled his plans, Oscura had told him that he should have listened to her. Victor told her to shut up and threatened to strike her. He wasn't in the mood to be listening to her boasting on how right she was. But she was indeed correct. Victor's foolish trust in the girl lead to his own downfall. He would need to be more careful in the future. Because of this, he was going to keep an extra eye on his remaining dinosaur employees: Kista, Peter, and Oscura. He knew they weren't going to like it, but he didn't care. He had come so close to achieving his dream, only to have it snatched away from him because of someone he had put too much trust in. The next time he saw Michelle, he was going to make sure she could never interfere with his plans ever again.

He was able to recapture Zoom and O'Ryan. They were currently caged in the mutantsaur containments in the back room. He had figured out a flaw in the primordial ooze he had given them. Although they couldn't be removed by the Chiller or Spiller, the ooze had a shorter lifespan, much shorter than he had thought. Zoom and O'Ryan were going to revert back pretty soon, probably the next day or later on today. It frustrated Victor. But he could always whip up another batch. Primordial ooze, he always had plenty of, a lot to manipulate with. But it was dinosaur DNA that he had so very little of. It's dinosaur DNA that he needed to complete the primordial ooze batch that he wanted to use on the entire planet. He was hoping to do it as soon as possible. It would have been sooner if it weren't for Michelle and her traitorous actions.

Oscura had been disappointed that she missed out on the fight against Michelle. She complained that she had wanted to see Michelle finally get what she deserved. She even wanted to help him kill her off. This only angered Victor further at that point. He had to resist the temptation to strike the girl. He had scolded her, asking her why she wasn't there to help him when he needed it. Oscura had tried to justify her actions by saying that she had been knocked out at the time. But that wasn't good enough for Victor. He had said that he would have expected better from a dinosaur. But he just left it at that and left Oscura alone. Kista, on the other hand, wasn't as sourly disappointed as the rest of them were. Even Peter was more down than she was, but that was because he felt embarrassed about being defeated by a kid. Kista had actually enjoyed the battle, having finally found a worthy opponent to go against. She had stated to Victor that if he ever wanted her to go after the kids again, she would do it, even for free. She enjoyed the adrenaline she felt when she fought against the Dino Squad. While Peter and Oscura thought she was a little weird, they said nothing to her. After all, why would they argue against a sixty-five million year old dinosaur with more fighting experience than they did?

Victor was interrupted by this thoughts when he heard someone approach him. He was only mildly surprised. He did call someone down earlier to give him some news. He suspected that the Dino Squad sabotaged his laboratory while he was knocked out. Instead of disappointing himself, he had asked some of his men to check it out and tell him the bad news. After all, if he got angry, he could just take it out on his employee. “What is it, Adam?”

Adam approached Victor cautiously. He knew what would happen if he did anything to upset Victor at this point. He kept his head low and his hands clasped together. “Well, sir..we checked the entire laboratory like you said.”

Victor cocked an eyebrow. “And...? Did you find anything?”

Adam nodded his head slowly. “Yes, Dr. Veloci. We did find something of definite interest.”

“Well then...” Victor smiled. “..tell me what it is.”

Adam gestured to a couple of men who had come with him into this part of the lab. They were hanging back nervously, as if they were frightened Victor would attack them at any second. “We were able to find all the vials of blood that you have taken from the children.” Victor's eyes widened slightly at this. “They're all in perfect condition. They haven't been contaminated or anything. At least...not from what we can tell...” Adam lowered his head a little more. “I hope that is enough for you.”

Victor lifted his head up slightly and looked out at the men standing near the elevator. They were looking at him, a little frightened, but they were also holding something in their hands. They were wearing gloves, although it was rather unnecessary. Victor didn't answer Adam. Instead, he got up from his chair and walked over to the two men. They took a step backwards, but remained where they were. Victor held out a hand and said, “Give me one of those vials. Now.”

“Y-Yes sir.” One of them said before dropping one of the vials of blood in Victor's hand.

Victor grabbed it immediately, squeezing it tightly in the palm of his hand for a few seconds. Then he held it between two strong fingers and looked at it. The vial was still filled with dark red blood, just as it had been when he first drawn it from the kid. He couldn't tell which one this belonged to, but he was certain that this was one of the vials he was hoping to find. And if what his men said were true, the others should be in tact, all five different varieties of them. Victor couldn't help but smile at this. Perhaps this plan wasn't all in vain. He now had the DNA of all five of the 'perfect dinosaurs', and he could use them to create his own perfected dinosaurs.

“It feels ironic, don't you think...?” Victor asked, holding the vial up into the air, staring at it in the light.

“What does, sir?” One of the men asked.

“That the Dino Squad kids think they have defeated me, think they have won today's battle...” An evil smile spread across his face. “..but instead they have only opened the doorway to their own downfall...” The vial itself seemed to glow a reddish color. A moment later, dark laughter filled the room, sending chills down the spines of Adam and his two friends...

* * *

One week later, Michelle was still trying to get adjusted living at the lighthouse, as well as trying to feel a part of the team. Moynihan had spoken to her folks and, sure enough, just like Moynihan promised, she was able to gain permission to allow her to stay. Michelle didn't know how she was able to do it, but she was glad she was able to. The day after she left the hospital, she packed up her belongings and moved in with Moynihan, staying in one of the spare rooms the old woman had available. Of course, there was a price to pay to live with Moynihan and that was chores. Michelle was often put in charge of taking care of Rump or Cerulean, or simply doing household chores before and after the Dino Squad left. Although frustrating and often not so much fun, Michelle did willingly obliged. After all, this beats working with Victor any day.

Rump didn't seem to hold much of a grudge against her. The first day she came over, she was able to befriend him. He was rather nervous around her at first, especially considering what she had done to him weeks before. But Rump seemed to put that behind him quickly after Michelle started to play with him to show him she wasn't going to hurt him again. She had heard complaints about Rump from some members of the Dino Squad, particularly Caruso, but Michelle didn't really understand it. Rump seemed to be such a nice, friendly dog. She couldn't understand how anyone could be upset with such an adorable little dog. She was glad she was able to clear things up so easily with Rump, but she wished she could say the same for the Dino Squad.

Although they had accepted her as part of the team, the teens still hadn't completely forgotten what happened the last time they trusted her to be in the lighthouse. Max was the most easy-going around her, hardly tense at all. Fiona was slightly, but she would always shrug it off, figuring it would take a while to get used to having Michelle around. Caruso was slightly scared of her, but he seemed to be mostly comfortable with her around. It was probably because he was grateful for her risking her life to save his. Moynihan didn't seem to hold a grudge against her and hasn't once brought up what she did when she was still working with Victor. But Buzz and Rodger were another story entirely. They didn't attack her anymore or try to push her away. They did try to treat her as they would their other team mates, but Michelle could tell that they still had some hostility buried deep inside.

There was still some anger inside of them, and Michelle understood that. Rodger and Buzz would usually do nothing more than glare at her, although sometimes they would outright refuse her help if she offered any. It hurt, but she knew the two boys were still trying to get used to having her around and that they probably still didn't get over what she did. She knew they didn't mean it; they just couldn't help themselves. She did feel a glimmer of hope, though, when Buzz did offer her a smile after showing some anger towards her. It wasn't much, but that smile meant a lot to her. It made her feel a bit more at ease at the lighthouse and being among the Dino Squad. Rodger had yet to give her one of these smiles himself, but she wasn't going to rush him. Trust is something she must earn, not force upon people. And she knew that well, particularly from what she had witnessed with the Dino Squad.

Michelle hadn't been on any missions yet. She thought it was because the Dino Squad did not yet fully trust her enough to allow her to go on a mission with them. But they had insisted it was to have her take care of Rump and to help Moynihan with the computer. Michelle wasn't too into computers, but did know enough to offer some help to her. Although despite some apprehensions that still existed between them, Michelle's knowledge of Raptor Dyne did come in handy, and would be a valuable asset for whenever Victor planned to strike again. She just wished they would at least give her a chance on a mission. Another reason they said they wanted her to stay behind was so that Victor wouldn't have a chance at her. Although she was still frightened of Victor, she still wanted to prove herself on a mission. But Moynihan would always convince her to stay at the lighthouse, whether she wanted to or not.

Michelle had also recently been introduced to Fiona's little sister. The girl had never seen Michelle before and was surprised at her presence in the lighthouse. Terri almost thought she was an enemy at first until she saw her petting Rump. Michelle had introduced herself to Terri. She didn't need to know Terri's name; Fiona had mentioned her before in the past, much to Terri's surprise. Michelle had complained at least once to Terri on how she was tired of hanging back at the lighthouse and doing nothing. Terri had told her that she should be patient, but also expressed jealousy when she found out Michelle, as well, could transform into a dinosaur. Terri expressed how she felt like an outsider to the team because she lacked this ability. Michelle had tried to assure her that being a dinosaur wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but Terri was still interested in having a dinosaur body. Michelle simply shrugged her shoulders and thought that, if Victor succeeded in his plans, she would be a dinosaur.

Buzz's father was recaptured before they had left the Raptor Dyne area. They had kept him locked up in one part of the lighthouse, although it was difficult to maintain him. It didn't take long, however, for the effects of the primordial ooze to reverse itself and the wolverine mutantsaur changed back into human form. Moynihan had theorized that Victor didn't properly calculate the primordial ooze, assuming that it would last forever. This primordial ooze had an even weaker lifespan than the others she had seen in the past, 'dying' even when inside a living host. Regardless of how Drew was able to change back, Buzz didn't really care. Drew immediately apologized to his son about what he had done to him, but Buzz didn't blame him. Buzz felt he was the one who should apologize for thinking that his father didn't care about him.

Afterwards, Buzz did confess to his father that he was a dinosaur, a Pteranodon to be precise, but that he and his friends were trying to save the world from Victor Veloci. After what Victor had done to him, Drew was more than happy to hear that there was at least someone willing to stand up to the guy. He accepted Buzz's powers the best that he could, although he felt slightly uneasy around Buzz when he was in dino mode. Buzz had made his dad promise not to breathe a word of this to his mother. Drew promised, although he wasn't sure how long he could keep it. How easy could it be to keep a secret this big from his own wife? Megan was not too happy to see her husband at first, after what happened to Buzz, but Drew had convinced her he was forced to do it, and that he never meant to hurt Buzz. Megan still remained a bit sore, but since Buzz seemed to forgive his father, she figured she should give him another chance too, for the sake of their son.

Michelle sat down on the couch, staring at the television set. The TV wasn't turned on. But although the remote was sitting next to her, Michelle wasn't exactly in the mood to watch any television at this point. The Dino Squad hadn't left the lighthouse yet. There hadn't been any new warnings or anything. She assumed that they were all downstairs, working on their latest weapons. Since Victor knew what the Chiller and Spiller could do, and that he knew they were human and where the lighthouse was, they had decided to beef up on security and on offense. The weapons being worked on currently were going to be used for combat in case the kids got ambushed by Victor's men. With the help of Terri, a far more powerful lighthouse shield was developed to ensure Victor couldn't spy on them anymore. Another shield was created for the school for the benefit of the students. But even with these extra precautions, Michelle and the others still knew that Victor could still get the upper hand some day.

Michelle was about to get up when she heard someone walking up behind her. She turned around and saw Rodger coming up the stairs. She nodded to him. “Hello, Rodger.” She said to him.

Rodger stared at her momentarily, almost like he was trying to find the words to say. “Hello, Michelle.”

“What's the status on the new weapons?” Michelle asked.

Rodger shrugged his shoulders. “Don't know yet. The models are completed, but they haven't been tested yet.”

From the sound of his voice, Michelle could tell that he felt a little uneasy talking to her at the moment. So she tried to sound as polite as possible. “Do you..think they're going to work?” There was a slight tinge of fear in her voice.

Sensing that Michelle was feeling afraid, Rodger attempted a small smile. This was probably the first time he had tried to smile at her since she joined the Dino Squad. “Oh don't worry about it, Michelle. The weapons will work, I'm sure. After all, I designed them.”

“Didn't some of your inventions not work in the past?” Michelle asked.

“Don't remind me...” Rodger said in a slightly lower voice.

“Sorry.” Michelle realized she had touched a sensitive topic and quickly changed it. “So..any plans for the rest of the day? I mean if there's no sightings of Veloci?”

Rodger's face softened up as another smile crept onto his lips. “Well yes. I plan on taking my brother out to get some ice cream. I'm sure he'd love it.”

Michelle blinked. “I didn't know you had a brother.”

“Yep.” Rodger nodded his head. “Jeremie. He's a few years younger than I am.”

“Does he know..what you are..?” Michelle asked cautiously. She didn't want to press Rodger too much on this issue, especially since she doesn't really know him all that well.

Rodger shook his head. “No. I didn't tell him.” He had to admit to himself, though, he was tempted to tell his little brother. But Moynihan wanted him to avoid telling anyone unless it was absolutely necessary, if there was no other choice. Caruso only told his parents to help them understand why he didn't want to accept the scholarship to that college and Fiona only told her parents because the situation left her no other alternative. She had to transform to save her sister. But there hadn't been an incident where Rodger was forced to say anything his brother.

“Do you plan to?” Michelle tilted her head in curiosity.

Rodger thought of this for a moment, and then said, “I might... Well anyway, I better get back downstairs.” Rodger turned around and began to walk away. He stopped when Michelle called out to him.

“Oh? I thought you were finished.” Michelle said, sounding a little confused. Rodger smiled at her and shook his head. “Then why did you come up here?” It didn't make too much sense to Michelle. Back at Raptor Dyne, employees usually always had a reason to go from one place to the other, even if it was as simple as getting something to eat. She was taught not to engage in useless acts because that would waste time. Why would Rodger come up the stairs if he was only going to go back down again right away? Why didn't he do something else first?

“The others wanted me to bring you downstairs.” Replied Rodger.

“Oh? Why?” Michelle asked, scratching the back of her head. She was surprised. Why did the team want her downstairs? She saw no reason for it. “They never asked me to come down before...”

“You'll see..” Rodger gestured her to follow him. “Come on...” With not much else to do, Michelle followed Rodger down the spiral staircase.

* * *

Reaching downstairs, Michelle found herself in a very large room filled with equipment and all sorts of stuff. She could see a large rectangle, which she guessed would lead to the outside when it was opened up. There was a relatively long table in the room with several chairs. Seated in them were the rest of the Dino Squad, along with Moynihan herself. On the table were a couple prototypes of the new weapons that they were working on. Most of them seemed incomplete, but at least one looked like it was finished. It was positioned closest to Max, who was sitting near the end of the table. As Michelle and Rodger approached, the team, one by one, lifted their heads to see the two approaching the table.

After Michelle got a little closer, she stopped in her tracks, letting Rodger to walk out in front of her. Michelle just stared at the team, who were eyeing her in a way that made her feel a little uncomfortable. They weren't doing anything particularly hostile, but they didn't look like they were too happy either. Did she do something to blow her chances here? Did she do something wrong? “Why did you all want me down here?” She finally asked after a long moment of silence.

Rodger sat down in the chair next to Max and pointed at the weapon in front of him. “As you can tell, this weapon prototype is finished.”

Michelle eyed the weapon somewhat curiously. It resembled Victor's red-colored weapons that would shoot tar. But this weapon's head was more like that of a Stegosaurus, even having small bumps on it that resembled plates. Compared to the other models, this looked functional, but she guessed it wasn't tested yet. “Yes, I can see that. Is that what you wanted me to come down for? To show me that weapon?”

Max chuckled and shook his head. “No, Michelle. We wanted you to test it for us.”

Michelle blinked and took a step back. “Test it? Why would you want me to test it?” Michelle was confused now. Although she was a member of the team, they didn't usually want her to mess with any of their equipment. She guessed it was because they wanted to make sure they could trust her. For them to even suggest that she handle one of the weapons, let alone use it, was a sign that they did trust her completely now. After all, if the weapon worked, she could easily aim it at one of them and hurt them, depending on what the weapon could do. She wouldn't do that of course. But how was the team so certain she wouldn't? “I thought I wasn't allowed to handle any of that stuff.. You guys told me not to.”

“Well, yes..” Max said as he picked up the weapon and got up from his seat. “We did say that. But..” He glanced down at the weapon, a smile spreading onto his face. “..in the past week, you have proven you can be trusted with this stuff.” He looked back up at Michelle and started to walk towards her. “So we trust you to test this weapon and then give it back.” He stopped in front of her and held the weapon towards her, the smile still on his face. “So..are you willing to test this?”

Michelle took the gun tentatively into her hands. She stared at it for a few seconds, not really sure what to think. At first, she thought this was just a dream, but somehow, she could sense that it was no dream. Another thought that ran through her mind was that it was just a joke, and that they were only doing this to pick on her. But when she glanced at the team again, they were all looking at her, waiting for her to go to a safe distance to try the weapon. There were no smirks, no chortles, nothing to indicate that they were trying to fool her. Michelle bit her lip and smiled. “All right then. I'll be right back...”

* * *

An hour later, Michelle let out a soft groan. She was sitting on her bed in her bedroom, trying to get her mind off of the pain. What had happened was not what she was hoping, but it was just a mere accident. She had walked a few feet from the Dino Squad and aimed her weapon towards the ground, figuring it wouldn't do any harm. However, there was a malfunction in the weapon and it shot out a relatively weak laser that bounced off the ground, bounced off a few walls, and then slammed into her left hand. Although the laser was weak, it did cause considerable pain and left burn marks and some bruises. Moynihan immediately checked her out and said she would be fine, but she would need to apply medicine to her, just like how she had to apply medicine to Fiona and Max after they were bitten by Oscura. The other Dino Squad members also checked to make sure Michelle was all right, but Michelle couldn't help but feel that some of them silently thought that she deserved it. Michelle still didn't feel completely welcome in the team.

Michelle leaned back onto her bed, her stomach facing the ceiling. Her room was pretty simple. The floor was, just like in Moynihan's room, made of blue-tinted wooden floorboards. She had a small reddish rug in the middle of the room. There was a small mahogany dresser up against the wall where she kept her clothes. On top of the dresser, she had a small, round mirror, although she usually has it facing the opposite direction. She wasn't really the type of person who would want to spend so many hours just looking at themselves. She had more important issues on her mind at the moment. She stared at her left hand, which still stung in pain. It was completely wrapped in white bandages and was told not to remove them for a few days while the skin and flesh healed itself. Michelle groaned, wanting to scratch at the bandages. Her skin was so itchy there. She tried to distract herself by staring up at the light blue ceiling, thinking about what has happened to her recently.

As Michelle was in deep thought, she was suddenly distracted when she heard footsteps coming her way. They weren't particularly loud, but she could still hear them. Judging from how soft they sounded, she suspected it was either Fiona or Buzz. She guessed that they were the lightest teenagers in the team. She could see a shadow being casted on the floor as the footsteps grew louder, and then they stopped. The next thing she knew, there was a knocking on the door. Michelle hesitated, and then said, “Come on.”

The door slowly opened up. Michelle was mildly surprised to see Buzz standing in the door way. She would have guessed it was him. He wasn't particularly muscular and he looked relatively thin compared to the other boys. Even Caruso looked like he could be a little heavier than Buzz. The boy looked a little hesitant to come inside. He didn't look angry with her. The expression on his face suggested he was almost afraid of her, perhaps thinking that she was the one who was angry with him. But why would Buzz think that? He hadn't done anything to make her wish ill of him, not recently anyway.

Buzz took a few steps towards the bed, his face that of concern. “You feeling okay now? You took quite a nasty hit there.” He eyed the bandaged hand with slightly widened eyes.

Still laying on her back, Michelle just smiled softly. “Oh, I'm fine, Buzz, really.” She lifted up her hand and brought it closer to herself. “I've received much worse than this from Victor..” She added in a slightly darkened voice.

Buzz bit his lip. “He was harsh..wasn't he?”

“Harsh is an understatement.” Michelle said flatly.

“Yeah..I guess you're right.” Buzz rubbed the back of his head, smiling nervously. He couldn't help but agree with Michelle on that one. Victor was capable of doing things so cruel, it would make Michelle's little mishap look relatively tame. “So..um.. did you want to come back out? You've been in here for about an hour now. The others are wondering how you are doing.”

Michelle turned her head so that one side of her face rested on the bed. She looked at Buzz curiously. “Why would they want to know how I'm doing? Didn't Moynihan tell them that I was going to be fine?”

“Well..yes...” Buzz nodded his head. “..but we kind of... How should I put it...?” Michelle stared at him, waiting for him to finish. Buzz was having a hard time finding the words to say. He didn't want to sound like he was accusing Michelle of anything. He silently wished that he had thought about his choice of words before coming to Michelle's room. “..We can't help but feel you blame us..for what happened back there.”

Michelle slowly sat up in her bed, balancing herself with her two hands. She looked at Buzz as if she felt he was crazy. But deep inside, she was wondering if Buzz was a mind reader. Part of her did think the Dino Squad rigged the weapon on purpose. “What makes you think that?”

“The way you looked at us after you got shot.” Buzz said, his expression that of mild hurt. “When we came up to see how you were, you gave us a look that..seemed to say that you thought we were trying to hurt you.”

Michelle gulped and turned her head to one side. “In a way, I did think that...”

Buzz wasn't very surprised. “But..why?”

Michelle looked back at him. “I..I still don't feel like I'm truly a part of the team.” She lowered her head and closed her eyes. “You haven't done anything to make me feel better either, Buzz. You and Rodger both still look at me with hostility, even though it's not as intense as it once was. But still, it hurts.. It makes me feel like I don't really belong here.” She could feel tears forming in her eyes. “I can't help but think you two still hate me, regardless of what you said for the past week.”

Wanting to do something to comfort her, Buzz strode over to her bed and sat down beside her. He looked at her with a sympathetic expression on his face. “I don't hate you, Michelle. None of us do... I'm sorry about what happened. It was an accident. If we had known that the weapon was going to malfunction like that, we never would have asked you to try it out.” Buzz looked to the floor. “I hope you don't hate us for what happened.”

Michelle slowly shook her head. “No, I don't.” She couldn't bring herself to look at Buzz, though. Now a few tears had trickled down her face. She couldn't understand why, but she didn't want Buzz to see them. She didn't want anyone to see them. Victor had taught her that tears were for the weak. She didn't want the Dino Squad to think she was weak. “I..I'll be out later...”

Buzz noticed that Michelle was deliberately trying to avoid looking at him. He placed a hand on her shoulder carefully, trying not to hurt her. “Can't you look at me when you talk to me, Michelle?” He gave a small smile and chuckled. “I won't bite you.” He added in a somewhat cheerful tone, hoping to lighten the mood up a little.

Michelle closed her eyes. “I...I just...” She exhaled deeply. “Just leave me alone, please...”

But Buzz wasn't willing to just leave her alone, not now. He could sense that something was wrong with Michelle and he wanted to try to help her. In an attempt to comfort her, he moved his arm across her back and pulled her closer to him. Michelle was surprised by the gesture, nearly jumping out of the bed. Without thinking, she quickly turned her head towards Buzz. Almost right away, Buzz noticed the tears, few but noticeable, rolling down her cheeks. With a concerned look, Buzz asked, “What's wrong? Why are you crying...?”

Michelle stammered, not sure how to reply. She tried to look away, but found herself unable to tear her gaze from Buzz's eyes. Michelle started to feel her heart beat a little faster, but she didn't know why. Was it that she wanted to get up and run away from him? Was it fear that she was feeling? Michelle opened up her mouth to try to speak, but no words could come out. All she could do was stare at Buzz as more tears streamed down her face. Without realizing it until it was too late, she was starting to tremble too.

Buzz grew more concerned. Why wasn't Michelle answering him? And why was she shaking? He wasn't going to hurt her. Didn't she believe him? Buzz held onto her a little tighter. He reached a hand towards her face, but then stopped himself and lowered his hand back down. He didn't want her to feel like he was pushing her too hard or anything. “You can tell me. We're..we're friends now...”

Michelle tried not to laugh. “Friends? We're friends?” Buzz nodded slowly, confirming what he had just said. Michelle couldn't help but smile, but it wasn't completely genuine. It was obvious to Buzz that something was still bugging Michelle, and he was certain that she was going to tell him sooner or later. “I never thought anyone, especially you, would consider me a friend..”

Buzz closed his eyes. “I'm..I'm sorry we got off to a rough start..”

“But we didn't..did we?” Michelle narrowed her eyes slightly. “When we met..we could have been friends back then... but..” Michelle bit her lip. “..but then Victor's plan took effect...” The mention of Victor's name made her shudder again. She turned her head way from Buzz.

Seeing this, Buzz had an idea of what was really bugging Michelle. It wasn't just her concern of belonging to the Dino Squad. She was also worried about Victor. And that was understandable. Victor had promised to find her and kill her, despite Moynihan's warnings to him. Michelle was afraid to go anywhere alone, just like how Caruso was for a while. But while Caruso was able to regain some of his courage, Michelle hadn't been able to work up the courage to do even walk down the street alone, fearing that Victor's men would find her. And since Victor now knew their faces, he could easily disguise his men. They could even be in the school, watching them.

In another attempt to try to comfort Michelle, Buzz reached out with his hand again, and this time, he gently cupped her chin and turned her head so that she was looking at him again. “Is that what you've been afraid of..? Are you afraid that Victor will come for you again...?”

Michelle nodded her head slowly, trying not to cry. “I'm afraid that you and your friends will abandon me...leave me for Victor..and he'll kill me...”

Buzz's eyes widened in shock. “Michelle..we would never do that... You have to believe me...”

“How..how can I be sure?” Michelle asked, glaring at him. “How can I be so certain that you guys wouldn't...”

Buzz interrupted her abruptly. “I'm not sure if you could ever be certain. That's up to you...” A smile appeared on his face as he brought up his other hand and gently wiped a tear from her face. “But the least you can do is give us a chance... If we really wanted you dead, we would have just left you out there with Victor. But we didn't, did we?”

Michelle realized that Buzz was right. But she couldn't help but still be afraid. She lowered her head, still shaking like a leaf. “N-No..you didn't.. But.. what if something else happens...?” Unable to control herself anymore, Michelle started to cry, feeling the weight of her fears starting to bear down on her, becoming unbearable.

“Shhh....” Buzz put his other arm around her and pulled her into a hug. He rested his chin on her head and gently rubbed her back as Michelle continued to cry, pressing the side of her face against his chest. Buzz didn't know what else to do to make her feel better. He couldn't even understand completely why she suddenly broke down. She wasn't like this when he had first come in. But within a few minutes, Michelle was reduced to this. It frightened him. How dramatic it must have been to be working for Victor, to be used to violence and threats, and to suddenly come to a place like the lighthouse, where everything she was taught to believe no longer applied. Despite living in a much friendly environment, scars of her past life were still evident. “It's all right...”

“I-I hope you're right..” Michelle finally managed to say. She couldn't believe she was crying like this, but Buzz didn't seem to be judging her harshly because of it. She just held onto him tighter, and, slowly, she settled down. Soon, her sobs were reduced to nothing more than slightly harsh breathing.

Noticing that Michelle was starting to calm down, Buzz released her and looked at her in the eyes. Her tears had stopped flowing and her cheeks were a bit red in color from the tear stains. He placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, “Are you feeling better now?”

Michelle slowly nodded her head. She wiped a way a stray tear that just formed in her eye. “Y-Yes..thank you..”

Buzz smiled back at her. “I'm glad to hear that.”

For the next few minutes, the two remained in the room. Buzz hadn't left Michelle's side as he waited for her to calm down completely. She was still shedding tears, although it was slowly stopping. Michelle looked away, not really sure what to say now. She was feeling like a fool for being so weak in front of Buzz. But she did feel happy that he wasn't treating her like she was weak because of it. He seemed worried about her, and he wasn't leaving the room in a huffed hurry, which was something Victor or one of his men would have done. She glanced towards the door, wondering if she should just get up and walk out right now. But something compelled her to stay. She turned her head back towards Buzz.

Michelle then asked something that caught Buzz off guard. “..why did you do that?” She asked in a soft tone of voice. Buzz just pulled his head back in shock and just looked at her like she was crazy. Michelle hesitated, and asked again. “Why did you do that?”

“Do...?” Buzz asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. What was Michelle talking about? “What are you talking about, Michelle? Why did I do what?”

“..hug me.” Michelle said after a slight hesitation. “Why did you do that? No one's..ever done that for me before... It felt..strange...”

Buzz was a little confused. But judging from what Michelle just told him, if she truly never experienced this before, no wonder she was confused. “Well..I did it because you seemed upset...and I thought that I should..try to do something to help you feel better...” He rubbed the back of his head. “Did I do something to offend you or something?”

“No! No...” Michelle said quickly, shaking her head rapidly. “Umm..I mean..no you didn't. I was just wondering why you did it..” She looked down at the floor. “If Victor were involved, he would have...”

Buzz seized her by her shoulders and gave her a stern look. “Now listen to me!” He said in a tone that was a little more harsh than he had wanted it to be. “Don't worry so much about Victor. He can't get you here. And we aren't like Victor. We would never do to you what he would have done.”

Michelle nodded her head slowly, feeling bad about acting the way she was. “I-I know that.. I'm sorry..”

“It's all right. Now..” Buzz got up from the bed and held his hand out to her. “..why don't we go down to see the others? You shouldn't stay in this room and act so..emo.” He smiled at that statement to try to lighten the mood and show Michelle he wasn't serious about it. “You should try to cheer up and see the others. You're a part of this team now. You should at least act like it.”

Michelle looked at his hand for a few seconds. She realized Buzz was right. She offered him a small smile. “Okay then. I'll try... I'll try.” She reached out and took his hand, and, for a brief moment, she felt a strong sense of happiness and security. It seemed silly to her, but she couldn't help but think that she and Buzz would end up together. Would it be possible, two former enemies, one day, falling in love? She shook the thought out of her mind, regarding it as absurd, especially since they have just only began to get to know each other. But then again, stranger things had happened.“Let's go.” She finally said after a long pause, and the two disappeared out of the door.

* * *

At the end of the day, as the sun was setting and the stars were finally showing themselves, Rodger, Max, and Buzz had all gone home for the day. They weren't particularly tired or anything, but there was nothing more to do at the lighthouse and their folks were probably worried about them. After waving them goodbye, Michelle had went on to do some quick chores before she went back to her room. Moynihan wanted her to make sure the floor was swept and she also wanted Rump and Cerulean to be fed. In the meantime, Moynihan was busy working on the scanners. While she didn't have Rodger and Terri's 'technology touch', she usually did fine on her own. She was checking to see if Veloci was up to something and also trying to come up with more ways to shield themselves from Victor's watchful eye.

On the railing outside, above the ground, Caruso and Fiona stood next to each other, leaning themselves against the railing as they looked up at the stars above them. They hadn't left the lighthouse yet because they weren't ready to go home at the moment. They were both waiting for some time alone, and waited until the others left. Michelle would likely not bother them as they both knew Moynihan wanted her to do a couple things for her. And what were the odds of her coming out here anyway? Caruso and Fiona remained quiet for a while, not sure what to say. They both had a contented smile on their face as they watched the stars in the night sky. Up until recently, they usually wouldn't admire this too much as they took it for granted. But after narrowly escaping death, they didn't look at anything the same way again, especially each other.

The two had grown much closer these past few weeks because of the terrible things they had been through. When they first became a team, Fiona never thought she'd ever develop a crush on someone like Caruso, who seemed too vain to care about anyone but himself. Although from time to time, Caruso did prove he really did care about the team, setting aside his own interests to help them. But still, Fiona didn't believe he was boyfriend material and had always thought she'd end up with Max, or even Buzz. That changed when Caruso was captured. It was at this point she realized how much the kid meant to her, and see him laying on the ground, seemingly dead, it just tore her apart, making her believe that she would never get a chance to confess her newfound feelings for him.

Caruso glanced over at Fiona and quickly looked away, hoping she didn't notice him looking at her. Caruso couldn't help but feel surprised that he and Fiona were standing out here like this. He never thought Fiona would like him, well like him more than just a friend anyway. Caruso had liked her for a while, even before he was captured, but he never said anything because he felt she liked someone else more. It was just puppy love anyway. It didn't bother Caruso too much if Fiona didn't want to be with him. He still had liked her as a friend. He was taken a back in shock when she had confessed her feelings for him about a week ago. They had actually kissed. Caruso had thought he was dreaming at first, but he quickly realized he wasn't. He looked at her again. She still had her eyes glued to the stars. She didn't even notice him looking at her. Caruso gulped, wanting to end the silence somehow.

Caruso finally got himself to say something. “Beautiful night, isn't it?” Caruso's stammer was completely gone, his mouth having healed almost all the way. A slight pain here or there, but nothing too serious. Most of his scars, including ones they thought wouldn't heal completely, were faded away. The corner of his lips were still a bit scared, but there was almost no evidence of the horrible war bridle Victor had subjected him to weeks ago.

Fiona nodded her head slowly. “Yeah.. I never thought I'd grow to appreciate the night sky like this. And yet here I am.”

Caruso nodded in agreement. He moved a little closer to Fiona. He released his grip on the railing to lift up his hand, holding it out in front of him as if he were going to show her something. “I find it a little hard to believe that, just a few weeks ago, things were much different around here...” He put his hand back on the railing, but he accidentally placed it on top of Fiona's hand. The two quickly looked at each other, blushed slightly, and pulled their hands away. Caruso smiled nervously. “I'm so sorry, Fiona!”

Fiona smiled back. “Oh..it's all right, Caruso.”

Caruso looked down, still smiling. He felt like such an idiot for doing that. He scolded himself for not looking down when he went to put his hand back on the railing. Fiona didn't seem to mind though. That was a bit of a comfort to him. Caruso looked back at Fiona. She was no longer looking up at the night sky. She was looking straight at him. Caruso gulped and stammered, trying to find something that he could say to her. “Well...did you want to go back inside? It's starting to get a little chilly out tonight.”

Fiona slowly shook her head. “No, not now anyway... I..I still want to talk to you alone.” She glanced over at the door. “And I don't want anyone listening in to what we're saying.”

“Oh, okay. That's fine with me.” Caruso replied. He paused for a moment and then asked, “So..what did you want to talk to me about?” He was going to ask why she wanted to be alone with him, but he realized the reason why she wanted to be alone. He himself also wanted some time alone with her.

“These past few weeks..” Fiona said, her tone slightly softer than it was a moment ago. “..they've really changed everything, haven't they?”

“Yes..They sure have.” Caruso agreed. Due to the events that occurred the past few weeks, they got a new member on the team, Victor now knows who and what they are along with where the lighthouse was, he and Fiona got together, Moynihan managed to tame her dinosaur side once again, and Buzz's father learned of the Dino Squad. These were just among the things that stood out the most to Caruso. And in a way, the events had also changed him. He was no longer as vain as he used to be. His time spent with Victor opened up his eyes to how much of a jerk he could be, and learned that there were more important things in life other than stuff like hair gel. But he still went on with his little business, creating beauty products for the mall he likes to go to. Without thinking, he said, “I wonder what the future might hold.” He glanced back up at the sky. “I mean...Victor knows who we were now.. He knows where we live...” It was difficult for him to think about it. “He could attack at any time.”

Fiona looked at him with a worried expression. She didn't want to see Caruso stressing out over Victor all over again. She moved as close as she could to Caruso without actually pushing him away. Then she gently laid her hand on his. Caruso looked at her, startled. She just smiled at him. “Don't worry so much about it, Caruso. We'll get through this. I promise..” She moved her hand up and then wrapped her arm around Caruso and pulled him into a half hug. “Victor might know who we are, but he'll never defeat us. We have something he doesn't.”

“..a really good sense of humor?” Caruso joked.

Fiona chuckled lightly, feeling happy to see Caruso trying to act more like his old self. But she knew he would never be exactly the same again. But perhaps some of the changes were for the better. Caruso is more team-oriented nowadays. “No. Friends who actually care about him. Everyone working for Victor is only doing so in a business-like way. He doesn't have anyone who actually shares a bond with him. It's all professional.” She tightened her grip on Caruso. “But you and I, and our friends..we do share a special bond. And we're willing to protect each other, no matter the cost. Victor could never change that.”

Caruso couldn't help but smile at Fiona as she said that. Every word of it was true. He hadn't thought of it that way. Victor might have more people working for him then they have people on their team, but they didn't care that much about Victor. They just wanted to please him, or had their own goals in mind. But he and his friends were protective of one another. That's what Victor lacks. He lacks the ability to love, and receive love. He might have been capable years ago, but nowadays, according to Moynihan, Victor is so preoccupied with transforming the planet that he has forgotten about love and just tossed it aside like it was some parasite. It was love and devotion that was going to ensure their victory.

Caruso put his arm around Fiona. “You're right, Fiona... We will defeat Victor, and we'll do it...” He leaned in a little closer. “..together.” The two embraced each other in a hug, resting their heads on each other's shoulders. Then they moved away from each other, their arms still encircled around one another. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then they slowly closed their eyes and leaned in closer. They pressed their lips together and kissed.

* * *

Unknown to them, someone was watching them. Michelle was cleaning the window to the door that led to where Caruso and Fiona were, and she couldn't help but notice the two standing outside. She was a little surprised to see them kissing. Not wanting to intrude on them, she finished what she was doing and quickly made her way back to the kitchen. She had to feed Rump and she could tell he was hungry. As soon as he saw her, he ran up to her, and put his paws on her legs. She laughed and said, “Okay, I'll get you your food.”

Michelle made her way towards the cabinets and found Rump's dog food. It was a good thing she had asked Moynihan where she usually kept his food a few minutes ago, otherwise, she would be searching for a while. She still didn't memorize where the food was, and it almost felt like she would change the location almost every time. She knew this wasn't true, but she couldn't help but think that. “Okay..got it..” She stopped mumbling to herself and poured some of the dog food into Rump's dish.

Rump barked happily at her and immediately went to his bowl. He stuck his muzzle in, sniffed the food a few times, and then began to chow down, wagging his tail. Michelle chuckled, and stroked Rump's back gently before leaving the kitchen. She was careful not to leave the door open, otherwise Rump would get out. She was told of how Caruso didn't shut the door in time and Rump got loose. She made her way down the stairs. Now it was time to find Cerulean's bird food. But where did Moynihan keep it?

“Michelle...” A voice startled Michelle. She quickly turned around to see Moynihan standing behind her. How did she get there so fast? She hadn't even heard any footsteps. “I need to speak to you.” Moynihan said, walking a little closer to the girl.

Michelle started to wonder if she had done something wrong. She took a step backwards. “Oh? What for?”

Moynihan offered her a small smile. She gestured with her hand for Michelle to follow her. “You'll find out. It won't take long.” Moynihan headed towards the spiral staircase. “It's back down in the lab.” She said, looking over her shoulder. Michelle's eyes went wide and she took another step back. Moynihan realized why Michelle was hesitant and chuckled softly. “Oh don't worry. I'm not going to have you test another weapon. This has little to do with combat.”

Michelle sighed in relief. “I hope I don't have to operate one of those weapons again...”

Moynihan frowned lightly. “Well, you'll have to, sooner or later. For your own good anyway.” Her expression lightened up. “Well, come on. This will only take a few minutes. It'll go quicker if you hurry up.” Moynihan disappeared down the staircase.

“Coming!” Michelle took off after her, descending down the stairs.

* * *

Once she got down there, she saw Moynihan heading towards the table again. The chairs were still pulled out, even though the Dino Squad were supposed to push them in. She rolled her eyes. They were either really lazy or they just forgot to do it. Oh well, it wouldn't take very long to push them back in anyway. Then, Michelle started to wonder. Was this what Moynihan wanted her to do. She let out a soft sigh. If it was, she could have just asked when they were upstairs. Pushing chairs in wasn't much of a task. Anyone could have done it. She could have done it herself. But Michelle was quickly proven wrong when she saw Moynihan reach for a box that was on the table. Moynihan started to approach her. Michelle's eyes were glued onto the box. What could be inside of it?

“The Dino Squad and I wanted you to have this, Michelle.” Moynihan said, stopping a few feet from the brunette. Michelle eyed the box in curiosity. She wanted to reach out towards the box and see what was inside, but she didn't want to be rude. She waited for Moynihan to continue. “We weren't sure when the right time would have been to give you this, Michelle. You've only been with us for a week. But we feel you have done enough to prove that you can be trusted with this.” Moynihan opened up the box, revealing a communicator, just like the one the others usually wore around their wrists.

“You're giving me a wrist communicator?” Michelle asked. Moynihan nodded her head. Michelle glanced at the watch again. She reached in and slowly picked it up. She examined it briefly and asked, “Wait..what good is a communicator if I'm not actually going on any missions...?”

“Oh you'll go on missions all right...” Moynihan said, adjusting her glasses. “The team and I think you're ready to take part in the missions from time to time. And even if you weren't going on a mission, having that communicator will be an advantage. There is a reason why I gave the communicators to the other kids. What if something were to happen?”

Michelle smiled. “Well, I always thought they used cellphones.”

Moynihan chuckled. “Well yes.. But having a communicator is still important. It has a built-in tracking system. So if you were to suddenly disappear, I or the team would know where to find you..unless something happened to the communicator anyway.”

Michelle gulped and then glanced back at the communicator. It did help her feel better because Moynihan even thinking of offering it to her meant the team accepted her even more. But at the same time, she felt hesitant to accept this 'gift' from Moynihan. She still felt horrible about what she did to her a few weeks ago. Moynihan had forgiven her, but Michelle hadn't forgiven herself. She bit her lip and tightened her grip on the communicator. “I'll take it, but..”

Moynihan cocked an eyebrow. “But what?”

“But I...I still feel horrible about what I did to you...” Michelle said, lowering her head. “I mean, I know you forgave me..I know the Dino Squad forgave me..but I haven't forgiven myself. I mean..” She glanced at Moynihan with a sad look on her face. “..what if I had actually killed you?”

“Michelle... you need to stop thinking about the past.” Moynihan took a step closer. “If you keep dwelling on what has happened, and what might have been, you'll never truly recover. You must move on.” Moynihan closed her eyes. “I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I never turned against Victor. I don't like what I think about, but it, for a long time, had bothered me. I eventually learned that nothing will be gained by dwelling on these issues.” Moynihan opened her eyes and put a hand on Michelle's shoulder. “We all remember what you did, Michelle. But we won't judge you for your past. We'll judge you for who you are now.”

Michelle glanced at the communicator again. She unhooked the belt and strapped it around her left wrist, careful to avoid the injuries on that hand. Once it was strapped on, she glanced at it again briefly. The communicator immediately turned on, displaying a small radar on it. She looked up at Moynihan. “What's up with the radar, Ms. M?”

“That's the tracking system, Michelle.” Moynihan answered. “It's how we'll be able to monitor where you are.”

Michelle got some disturbing images in her mind. “You mean, you'll see me do anything and everything?”

“Well, no...It'll just tell us where you are.” Moynihan said. Michelle still didn't feel comfortable with the idea. Moynihan sensed this and chuckled. “Oh, come on, dear. It's only to be used for missions.”

“But I thought you said to have it with me all the time.” Michelle asked, confused.

“Well yes...” Joanne nodded her head. “But we'll only track you if it's important.”

“Like..a mission?” Michelle asked, tilting her heads lightly to the side.

Moynihan nodded her head. “That's correct.” She leaned in a little closer to Michelle. “We're not going to be using that to invade your privacy or anything.”

Michelle seemed to relax a little and glanced down at the communicator again. She pressed a fingertip against the glass screen, right above the green bar that kept blinking. She looked back up at Moynihan. “So...I'm going on actual missions this time? Not getting stuck behind doing chores?” She asked in a somewhat playful tone of voice.

Moynihan chuckled. “Yes. Well, not all the missions.. But if the mission could use an extra helping hand, you'll go with.”

Michelle nodded her head slowly. Then a thought came to her mind and it troubled her. Although she has received threats from Victor, usually from his men that the others encountered during their missions, Victor had yet to try to actually get to her. There were no attempted break-ins, and Veloci wasn't even with his men during the missions. That seemed strange to her. She would have suspected that he would want to be there when his men attempt to capture the kids. But what was even stranger is that his men hadn't even tried to capture the children. They would usually go about their normal business, contaminating animals with primordial ooze, new batches of it too. It has been increasingly difficult to de-ooze the animals, but they always managed to get the job done. And when Victor's men encounter the Dino Squad, they're no longer as easily frightened off because they knew the dinosaurs were just children. And they would often deliver death threats to them from Victor, addressed to Michelle herself.

Moynihan knew that, out of her children, Victor would want Michelle dead first. Because of her betrayal and because of her actions that destroyed his chances at getting rid of the Dino Squad, Victor wanted to make sure to silence her. Moynihan had warned Victor countless times to leave her alone, as well as the rest of the Dino Squad. But it was hopeless. She knew that, no matter what she did, Victor would always try to come after the kids whenever he could. But the fact that he hasn't tried really hard recently has gotten Michelle very worried. The only time Victor would ever become so quiet for an extended period of time is when he is up to something. Michelle didn't know what kind of experiments he could be working on, but she knew one thing for sure: it was nothing good.

“Do you have any idea what Victor might be up to?” Michelle knew there was no point in asking Moynihan. She might know Victor better than any of them, but even she would be lost in the dark when it comes to what Victor might be doing. Moynihan could try to spy on him using her satellite imaging, but since Victor found out what Moynihan has been up to, he beefed up security to protect his equipment from being manipulated from an outside source. They weren't impossible to break into, but the security has been tightened, and it seemed to get increasingly hard every time Moynihan tried to break into the system.

This was a terrible setback because it meant that it was harder to also detect Victor's men. They've been caught off guard a couple times already, but managed to get the upper hand. The team had asked Michelle once if she knew of any way to keep an eye on Victor without him knowing. She sadly couldn't provide any useful information. She told them that once Victor realizes what's been going wrong, he'd do anything to make sure it doesn't happen again. This meant that after finding out that someone has been manipulating his equipment, he has taken measures to try to stop it. And if he finds out it's been happening again, he would likely beef up the security even more until it was almost impenetrable. Michelle's only advice was that they would have to try to rely on themselves when it came to outsmarting Victor, rather than hacking into his system. She said that they are perfectly capable of thwarting Victor without hacking into his system, which was proven by the battle about a week ago. And from what the team told her, they have faced Victor other times and didn't use equipment to outsmart him.

Moynihan, unfortunately, didn't have an answer for Michelle's question. “I'm sorry, dear. I don't really know what he could be doing.” She gently squeezed Michelle's shoulder to try and comfort her. “But you shouldn't worry about it so much.”

“I know...” Michelle said, a worried look on her face. “I just can't help but feel..afraid. When is he going to strike next? I know I said that we shouldn't rely on the equipment so much, but I...”

Moynihan stopped her. “Don't worry, Michelle. Everything will be fine.”

Michelle smiled, wanting to believe her. But she couldn't shake off the terrible feeling that something was about to happen. “...I hope you're right.”

“It's getting late.” Caruso said, looking up at the sky once more. It was now completely dark and there was no sign of the sun anywhere. The moon was hanging high overhead and the warmth was all but gone. A chilling wind struck him in the face. “My parents are going to be worried if I don't get home soon.”

Fiona nodded her head. “I understand.” She smiled softly. “My parents will be worried too.”

Caruso and Fiona went back inside the lighthouse. They wanted to say goodbye to Moynihan and Michelle before they left. They didn't want to be rude or anything. Moynihan would probably have understood why they left without saying anything, but that would have caused some worrying, especially after what happened recently. They didn't want Michelle or Moynihan thinking that something had happened to them. When they first went into the lighthouse, they saw Rump eating his food still. He looked up at them and barked happily, and then went back to eating. They didn't see Moynihan or Michelle on this floor, but they heard voices coming from downstairs. Curious, they made their way towards the spiral staircase.

When they reached the bottom, they saw Moynihan talking to Michelle. When they got closer, they saw that Michelle was wearing something around her wrist. It didn't take them long to realize that it was a communicator, just like the ones that they had themselves. They weren't too surprised, though, since Moynihan had mentioned before, while Michelle was away, that she was considering giving Michelle one soon. They just didn't expect it to be this soon. They shrugged it off and approached Moynihan and Michelle, approaching slowly because they didn't want to intrude in case Moynihan had wanted privacy with Michelle.

Moynihan looked over and saw the two walking towards her. She moved her hand off of Michelle and turned to face Caruso and Fiona. “Well now..what brings you two down here?”

“We just wanted to say goodbye.” Caruso said. He eyed the communicator Michelle was wearing. Then he glanced up at Michelle and chuckled lightly. “So you're going to be joining us on missions from now one, eh?”

“Well, I hope to...” Michelle said, gently tracing a finger across the communicator's screen. “If you ever need my help that is.”

“Please don't do that.” Fiona pointed at Michelle's finger. “You could scratch the screen and damage it.” Didn't Moynihan tell her not to do that?

“All right..” Michelle moved her finger away. She was slightly annoyed, but didn't complain. “Anyway, what are you two lovebirds going to do the rest of the night?” She asked in a playful tone, a smirk on her face.

Fiona and Caruso looked at each other, their eyes slightly widened by what Michelle had said. They couldn't help but blush and they looked back at Michelle, grinning nervously. “W-Well..we were...” They started to say in unison, looking rather sheepish.

Michelle just chuckled. “You don't have to say it.” She said, gesturing towards them. “I was just playing with you.”

Caruso smirked playfully, tilting his head to one side. “You actually know how to play?”

Michelle just stared at him for a few seconds. At first, she thought he was being serious. But seeing how he was giving her the same playful smile that she had given then, she realized it was just a joke and laughed at herself. There was a reason Caruso made that joke. She had admitted to the Dino Squad that she hadn't really done much playing in her life recently. She knew Caruso wasn't taking a jab at her; he was just having fun, just like she was. “Yeah..you got m there.” She said, rubbing the back of her head.

Fiona chuckled as well and glanced over at Moynihan. “Well, Caruso and I better get going. It's getting late. Our folks are probably worried about us.” Fiona didn't need to look at a clock to know it was probably past eight o'clock now. She didn't want to worry her parents again after what had happened.

Caruso nodded his head. “My parents will probably be having anxiety attacks by the time I get back home. They've become increasingly worried about me recently. Not that I blame them, though..” Caruso glanced down to the ground, remembering what he had gone through a few weeks ago. It was hard for him to believe how little time has passed since being captured by Victor. He still had nightmares concerning the bridle, but he never brought it up. He didn't want to worry his friends and he was confident that, if Victor did catch him again, his friends would help him.

Moynihan nodded her head. “Understandable. When something traumatic happens, it is hard to get over it. Don't feel ashamed, Caruso, if the incident still bothers you. Just realize that your friends and family will help you.”

Irwin nodded his head. “I understand that now, Ms. M.” He smiled at Fiona. “I really do.”

Moynihan glanced over at Michelle. “And the same goes for you, Michelle.”

Michelle nodded as well. But she couldn't help but feel envious towards Fiona and Caruso. They actually have relatives who care about them. She doesn't currently have that luxury. She would have said something, but felt that she shouldn't bother them with it. Right now, it wasn't really her main concern. She was more worried about Victor Veloci. But Moynihan was right. None of them in the Dino Squad were really alone. They always had someone they could count on to help them. “I understand, Ms. Moynihan.” She said.

“Well goodnight, Ms. Moynihan!” Fiona waved goodbye as she walked towards the exit. “Goodnight, Michelle!”

“We'll see ya tomorrow!” Caruso said, walking beside Fiona, but still waving goodbye to Michelle and Moynihan.

“Goodnight, you two!” Moynihan said, waving back and smiling.

At first, Michelle didn't say anything. But she realized it would have been rude if she didn't say anything, so she waved back and said, “Bye!”

Caruso and Fiona made it to their motorcycles. They put on their helmets and hopped in. They turned on the motorbikes and then sped off into the distance. As they left, the lighthouse's light turned on, shining the bright beam to the waters below to guide ships who sail too close to the cliff's edge.

Back at Raptor Dyne, Victor picked up one of the vials of blood. He brought it over to the nearby desk, which had several types of equipment on it, including a microscope. He pulled up a chair and sat down. He took a small piece of plastic and took a small syringe. He took out a tiny portion of blood, barely a drop's worth, and placed it onto the slide. He peered into the lens to take a look. He twisted the small knob on the side of the microscope to zoom in. After a few moments of looking, his eyes widened slightly as he spotted something of interest. There was something in the blood that had astounded him. He zoomed in a little closer to confirm his findings.

“So that's how they do it...” Victor said to himself. He leaned back in his chair. He had been wondering why Moynihan hadn't been able to cure the Dino Squad. It wasn't like her to willingly allow humans that young to engage in combat, let alone against him. He knew there had to be a reason for why Moynihan hadn't cured them. He chuckled to himself. “I should have known this could have been the culprit...”

The microscope had shown that there was something unusual about the cellular structure of the blood. It was hard to tell at first, but Victor could see the nanobots swimming in the blood. But that wasn't the unusual part. All primordial ooze contained the nanobots. They were what made it possible to reconstruct the DNA of living creatures without harming them. What really caught his attention were the blood cells in the drop. He had to zoom in extremely close, but he noticed that the cellular wall had many pieces of primordial ooze embedded in it. This was rather unusual. Victor had seen the blood of a mutantsaur several years ago, before the appearance of the 'perfect dinosaurs', and the ooze had coated the cells. But in the blood of the children, the ooze had fused with them on the molecular level. This would explain why it was so hard to 'cure' the students. With the ooze fused on the molecular level, it had become immune to the Chillers and Spillers. Very interesting, Victor thought to himself.

Victor decided that he could use this information to further enhance the primordial ooze. He would need to somehow replicate the first primordial ooze batch with Peter's nanobots, but then he realized there was another issue. He remembered that there was a shark that was mutated into a Megalodon back then and it was still cured. There had to be a reason for that. The only thing Victor could come up with was that the kids must have all gotten in contact with the same thing, and this thing was the reason the primordial ooze had fused on the molecular level. But was much as he wanted to figure that out, there was something else on Victor's mind today. Something a bit more important.

Victor got up from his seat and walked over to where he had the vials of blood. He swapped the current vial he was using with another. Each vial was labeled so he knew exactly what he was looking at. The one he had used before was Styracosaurus DNA. Now he had grabbed his most prized DNA, Tyrannosaurus Rex. Of all the dinosaurs, next to Velociraptors, Victor was most interested in bringing back T-Rex because of what powerful hunters that they were. He knew humans feared T-Rex more than any other dinosaur. If there was any dinosaur he would want to clone and unleash onto the pathetic human cities, it would be Tyrannosaurus. Victor sat back down and pushed a small batch of primordial ooze closer to him. He took another syringe, not having been used before, and took out a small portion of the primordial ooze and placed it on the slide. Then he placed the needle down and grabbed another. He pulled out a small portion of the T-Rex DNA and placed it on top of the primordial ooze. In an instant, the two liquids mixed together and the primordial ooze started to change color, turning from bright yellow-orange to dark red-orange, still maintaining a bright glow.

Victor glanced at the blood through the microscope again and was pleased with the results. The blood and the primordial ooze had, essentially, become one and the same. The nanobots didn't do anything except for enter a state of suspended animation since the blood was already of a prehistoric type. But the ooze had started to bond with the blood. Victor was careful to use a blank batch of primordial ooze so that it wouldn't ruin the T-Rex DNA. Instead of altering the blood's DNA sequence, the primordial ooze fused with it. The nanobots were on guard, ready to transform any foreign DNA. Victor smirked. If this ooze worked, it should create a perfectly formed T-Rex. And the same could be done with the other DNA he had been able to obtain. He had DNA samples of not just the Dino Squad, but of himself, Moynihan, Peter, Kista, Oscura, and even the treacherous Michelle. He took out a needle he had used before, obtaining a blood sample of a mouse, and put a tiny drop into the primordial ooze and looked. He was pleased to see that the nanobots immediately went to work rewriting the DNA of the foreign blood, changing it from mouse DNA to T-Rex DNA.

Victor couldn't help but laugh as he saw this take place. He would have to find a way to reproduce this on a larger scale. He didn't have a lot of blood to work with on a global scale. But if his hunch is correct, all he would need to do is provide a few drops of blood in a batch of primordial ooze, the nanobots would multiply to accommodate for the larger size. And when they come in contact with an animal, or group of animals, the nanobots would rapidly transform the foreign DNA into dinosaur DNA, changing the animal completely, perfectly. At long last, he's finally found a way to create perfect primordial ooze. Now to increase the variety, all he would need to do was rearrange the DNA to bring forth different species. It would be a grueling task, taking him perhaps a year or so to do, but to him, it was worth it to bring back the dinosaurs. His dream of global dinosaur domination would come true!

“It won't be long now..” Victor said to himself, chuckling. He sneered as he looked at the blood through the microscope again, grinning as he saw no trace of mouse DNA left. It had all been turned to T-Rex DNA. “Those fools should have destroyed this DNA when they had the chance... They've just paved the way for their own downfall...” He bared his razor sharp teeth as he said that.

Just then, someone came walking up behind him. “What are you doing, sir?” Peter asked, his arm still in a sling. Victor turned around and glared at him. Peter's eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks. “Did I disturb you, sir?”

Victor then smiled and shook his head. “No..no you haven't, Peter.” Victor turned his attention back to the primordial ooze. “Not at all.” He reached out to grab the blood-filled tube.

“So..what are you doing?” Peter used his good arm to point at the primordial ooze.

“What does it look like?” Oscura, who had followed Peter, said, walking up to him. Behind her, Kista had also shown up, putting her hands on her hips as she glared at Peter for his stupidity. “He's experimenting with more primordial ooze!”

“It's not like you haven't seen this before, you clamor mongrel...” Kista said, using her usual big words to make herself sound smarter than she really was.

“Ah, but this is different.” Victor said, a smirk on his face. He glanced at the vial of blood.

Kista rolled her eyes. “Oh sure, it is, sir. Just like how all your other failed primordial ooze experiments were.”

“I have perfected the primordial ooze.” Victor said.

Oscura stared at Victor for a few seconds, wondering if he was telling the truth. She was familiar with how Victor wanted to perfect the primordial ooze. Everyone in Raptor Dyne was familiar with that. But she never thought she would live to see the day that Victor had actually perfected it. “..what did you just say..?”

Kista just smirked, shaking her head slowly. She was thinking Victor was getting worked up over nothing. He's tried to perfect the ooze countless times before, and they had all failed miserably. Plus, the Dino Squad had hindered his ability to check to see how the other versions of the ooze was effecting the animals it infected. “Perfected the ooze, eh..? I'll believe it when I see it...” She said, shaking her head again. She wanted to laugh, but stifled herself, knowing how Victor would react.

Peter's eyes widened. “You have? But..how?”

“With this.” Victor showed them the vial that was filled with Max's blood. “Just a few drops of this in a batch of primordial ooze, and once it's introduced to an animal, the nanobots still present in this blood will transform it into a dinosaur!”

Kista narrowed her eyes slightly and nodded her head. “Very impressive.. I suppose.”

Oscura took a step forward. “What do you plan on doing with it, sir?”

Victor turned around and walked back to where he was storing the blood vials. He placed Max's tube back where it originally was. An evil smile spread across his face. Without looking back, he said, “That is pretty obvious, don't you think? I plan on spreading this around the world.” He then turned back and looked back at the group. “Once these new batches are created in large quantities, I'll be able to use them to infect everything on this planet. Everything will transform back to what they rightfully should still be: dinosaurs! And no one will be able to stop me! Nothing will stand in my way! Not even the pesky Dino Squad?” Victor threw his arms into the air as if he was victorious at some kind of sports game. “And if anyone stands in my way, they will die...” Victor's eyes suddenly transformed, large slit pupils appearing and the eye took an eerie yellowish glow.


End file.
